Law
Mentor: Mr. Tim Casewell (District Court Judge)
Michelle Wai & Jynx Poon
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From July 27 to 8 August 2017, we were fortunate to job shadow Judge Casewell and learn about the legal profession. After observing some court cases, Judge Casewell spent time discussing the cases with us. We were able to gain some real life, practical experience when Judge Casewell assigned us to conduct research along with some PCLL students in the judiciary library. During the first few days, he taught us about enhanced sentence laws and guided us on how to analyze cases from different perspectives. Observing how he passed judgements and how the defendant was sentenced was indeed exciting. It was a great learning experience to observe cross-examinations, especially when witnesses gave different versions in their testimony. Judge Casewell also introduced us to Judge Yiu who presides at the District court. We spent two days observing and discussing a burglary case with him, in which three MacBooks were stolen. He taught us that one's past criminal records shouldn't be taken into consideration when deciding the sentence for the current offence. Overall, it was a meaningful experience, allowing us to gain insight into the legal profession.
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Mentor: Ms Kamina Lai (Barrister)
Trammy Leung & Twinkle Chow
Our job shadowing experience under Ms Kamina Lai on 14 August, 2017 was an eye-opening experience. Ms. Kamina Lai, an experienced barrister specializing in criminal law at Wellington Chambers, was dealing with a kidnapping case that day. She passed us the summary of facts and asked us to read through the documents. Later on, she questioned us on the case to assess how well we understood the facts. She explained the importance of being cautious when reading through these documents as a minor mistake may affect the case in a big way. After the court trial, Ms Lai had lunch with us and we discussed a lot about our future plans, not only about university applications but also about the different job options in the legal field. We also asked Ms Lai about the operations of the Department of Justice. Ms Lai was extremely patient in answering all our questions and gave us detailed explanations. Overall, it was an unforgettable and fruitful job shadowing experience which allowed us to understand more about our career options.
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Mentor: Ms Karen Leung (Permanent Magistrate)
Natalie Cheung & Sheena Yeung
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From 31st July to 3rd August, Sheena and I were very lucky to job shadow Ms Karen Leung Ka-kie, a Special Magistrate at Kowloon City Magistrates’ Court. Throughout the week, we attended all kinds of court hearings, ranging from summons to full trials. After each court session, Ms Leung would discuss the case details with us, and we would ask her questions if we needed clarification. She also introduced us to other Magistrates at different courts. Mr Michael Leung Lai-yin, a deputy Magistrate was kind enough to invite us into his chamber to brief us and to discuss a case, before and after the trial, on practicing Chinese Medicine without registration. It was a very interesting case and we were fortunate to witness the full trial.
The good thing about Magistracies is that trials usually last about a day only so we were able to follow through most cases from beginning to end. Our mentor, Ms Leung, is an SPCS alumnus, which made the experience even better, as she was really caring and gave us a lot of very useful advice.
Overall, we had a fruitful experience and gained more practical knowledge about the legal field. We are grateful to the school and Ms Leung for this invaluable learning opportunity.
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Mentor: Ms En-Li Lim and Mr. Michael Gu, Solicitors (Linklaters)
Vicky Chiu & Vanessa Li
On August 1, 2017, Vanessa Li and I had the opportunity to shadow Ms. En-Li Lim and Mr. Michael Gu, two experienced solicitors at Linklater’s Hong Kong. Both of our mentors were very friendly and patient in answering questions about their work, such as how they handled their clients, what documents they had to prepare on a daily basis as well as explain the inner-workings of project financing – a lesser known but important part of commercial law. We also felt lucky to be able to listen in on an international conference call with a current client. Through this experience, we were able to not only pick up some project finance jargon but also learnt how to deal with clients – being calm and helping them identify potential problems and risks and how to solve them. We also had a chance to review some project finance related documentation, such as contracts and read related emails. This helped us realise the importance of precise and concise English language skills, as every word matters in a terms of agreement and any addition or deletion of words could potentially change the meaning of the condition. Overall, our job-shadowing experience was a fruitful one that helped us consolidate our desire to pursue a career in law in the future.
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Mentor: Ms. Frances Lok (Barrister)
Twinkle Chow
On 20th and 21st July, it was indeed a precious and remarkable job shadowing experience under the mentorship of Ms. Frances Lok, an experienced barrister at Des Voeux Chamber. As Ms. Lok specializes in Company Law, I had the opportunity to review actual law cases and observe trials on breaching of duty involved in suing a listed company. Not only did I learn legal principles like the Norwich Pharmacal relief and Gagging orders, Ms. Lok’s expertise and eloquent closing statements gave me a deeper insight into how submissions were prepared before a trial. Unlike the cases I had come across in school Mock Trials, I found these real life cases to be more interesting as I had the opportunity to see how attorneys cooperated with each other and reviewed previous jurisdictions.
Overall, this job shadowing experience was an eye-opening one. The dynamics I observed in the court room have inspired me to keep striving for my goal to take up law in university. A heartfelt thanks to the Careers Team for giving me this valuable opportunity!
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Mentor: Mr. Andrew Marray (Barrister)
Chloe Lee & Priscilla Ng
Our 7-day job shadowing program in July under the guidance of our mentor, Mr. Marray, was a great learning experience. Mr. Marray took us to the high court to see the trial of DR Group in which he himself was one of the prosecution barristers. Observing the tremendous effort of the barristers, we realized how much reading they had to do for court cases. During the trial, we felt lucky to have had a chance to glimpse a few objections raised and how the Judge overruled or sustained them.
The days when we did not have to attend any court sessions, Mr. Marray would give us a case file to study, one that he himself would also be reading. One case that was particularly interesting was that about a non-refoulement claim filed by Christian-Muslim couple. Their claim had been rejected by the Immigration Department. There was something about the case that inspired us, reading about the claimants' narration and the report of the Director of Immigration. It was fascinating to realize how things could be viewed from two angles and still be reasonably convincing.
Being high school students, so far we haven’t had much exposure to the high court trial cases. We have been talking to our friends and parents about what we heard in the court ever since and had a few interesting conversations. Overall, we learnt a lot through this job shadowing programme and we thank the school and Mr. Marray for giving us this opportunity.
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