Considering Careers: What is it like to be a solicitor?
By Eunie Jeong
A solicitor is part of the branch of law, and the legal responsibilities include directly interacting with clients and preparing for case trials. You are expected to communicate with various parties. A solicitor is considered a very prestigious profession, requiring 7+ years of studying (including two years pupilage) after graduating from secondary school — but what does the job actually involve?
Chong Yiu Kwong is a senior lecturer at The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK). He majored in Government and Public Administration, and studied law at The University of Hong Kong (HKU). He was admitted as a solicitor in 2000. He practised law in a law firm for eight years. Since then, he has been a full time law lecturer and holds professional consultations, training, and workshops frequently. The RCHK Truth asked him about his experiences.
It is understood that it takes a long time to be a solicitor. Is there an alternative way into the profession?
In Hong Kong, you have to study four years to earn a LLB (Bachelor of Laws), and another year of full-time professional study to get PCLL (a course needed to serve as a solicitor or barrister). After that you have to be a trainee solicitor for two years. [In] those two years, you are a worker, not a student.
Is there any fast track? For those who already have a bachelor's degree… and you want to enter the professional course PCLL, you don’t need to take LLB, but you can take assorted courses, and then you can take professional study. But the required time is longer, because you take another degree.
If study to become a solicitor, is it easy to change your career in the future?
I think so. Because in the modern society, law is everywhere. In our daily life, many matters closely relate to law… as a citizen, we should have [fundamental knowledge regarding] law. After legal studies… because law relates to different careers, it may help, depending on which career you want to pursue. This may assist you to further your other careers. For example, if you go to the government, to be a civil servant, administrative officer, of course law is very helpful. You have to learn many laws. If you want to be active in public affairs, a parliament member, etc, you will find that most people come from the legal profession. Basically in all countries.
Is it true that solicitors need to work very hard, and are busy and stressed?
It is true that solicitors work long hours; and it's like that even for part time jobs. It is also true that the job is stressful. Some matters handled by solicitors are happy cases. However, most are unhappy experiences, and when you face the unhappy clients, then you will be affected. You will work under a very stressful atmosphere. Very often there are so many deadlines. Filing your case, filing a witness statement, etc, involve multiple procedures. But many other occupations in Hong Kong also work in stressful conditions. Therefore what is important is your [emotional intelligence], how you are able to respond to it.
How much freedom do you have, being a solicitor?
In terms of how much are you going to charge? You can set your terms. In Hong Kong, there is no standard term… but at the same time, we are actually at the market. Because these days people ask more than one lawyer to do business, and if you call a high price, they will not come to you. So even if you have terms, it is not necessarily freedom.
What if your client is “guilty”?
If you are a medical doctor, some clients or patients are not good people, but you need to help them. As a lawyer, the same. If you are a professional, no matter if you like your client or not, you have to defend their basic human rights. You have to try your best to defend your client from violation of legal rights. Seen from this angle, it is very simple.
To what extent is technology needed in law?
Many areas of professions are closely related to technology, and so is law. At court, what matters is evidence. For a legal proposition, you have to infer causation, which is also a very complicated matter, involving knowledge of technology. For IT literacy, you need not be an expert of many kinds, but [you need to at least] understand what the expert says, whenever you seek the help of professionals. If you do not have any knowledge of any technology, it is difficult to understand the case. In these regards, you have to enrich your knowledge regularly. Continuing professional development is important.
People seem to be looking more at AI and online consultations. How far do you think that technology can take up the role of solicitors?
I think some parts of lawyers can be replaced by AI in the foreseeable future. However I think that in other aspects, lawyers will still be very difficult to be replaced by AI. The reason is that our profession is not natural science. It involves different kinds of complicated considerations. For example, whether you should sue someone, you need to be sure your legal rights are being violated, and it needs a very comprehensive, in-depth analysis. The second step is that suing someone involves many different considerations. Whether you have enough money to sue, whether the defendant has enough money to compensate. If they don’t have money to compensate, why bother to sue them, because you have to pay a lot of legal costs in the first place? AI may not be able to replace solicitors, because it is very hard to make these complicated considerations. At least for the foreseeable future, AI cannot replace solicitors or lawyers.
What else would you like to add to students in RCHK?
Before you really study law, you may not know whether you are really interested in it. But when you take a rather demanding course, it is difficult to back out, because you already paid a very high price. If you don’t know whether you are really interested and suitable, but pay a high price first — your time, your money — it is like gambling. Taking other courses [are] like gambling too, but law, the sense of gambling becomes more obvious. The cost is higher, the time is longer, and more difficult. [Talk to more] people and try to do [internships] before you choose this career.