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Please take note that the following major amendments to the Overseas Lawyers Qualification for Admission Rules are being proposed. They are now in the drafting stage and upon completion, they will be gazetted and tabled for consideration by the Legislative Council followed by a negative vetting procedure. They will not, however, affect the OLQE 2008 examination. The implementation date will depend on the progress of the legislative amendment procedure.
- there will be an addition written head on Hong Kong Basic Law;
- the pre-requisite requirement of 5 years of experience in the practice of law enabling an applicant to become eligible to apply for exemption from sitting a written Head will count the following;
- experience gained during a period of service as a trainee solicitor, articled clerk or pupil or a practical legal training course in lieu thereof, that is required to be completed for the purpose of admission in the person's jurisdiction of admission;
- experience gained in providing legal services to the public in the capacity as a lawyer practicing the law of common law jurisdiction - this provision is intended to cover lawyers in private practice;
- experience gained in providing legal services otherwise than to the public the nature of which is regarded by the Law Society as being similar to those in those in sub-paragraph (ii) above - this provision is intended to cover lawyers practicing in-house and yet the nature of work is regarded by the Law Society as similar to that in private practice.
- the exemption from sitting Head II (Civil and Criminal Procedure) available to applicants from common law jurisdictions with not less than 5 years of experience in the practice of law will be abolished;
- Head II (Civil and Criminal procedure) will be subject to discretionary exemption whereby the applicant must demonstrate that he has at least 5 years of experience in the practice of law and has experience, knowledge and/or training that is relevant to Head II;
To prepare for the coming into operation of the proposed legislative amendments, please note the following:
- No extension will be granted to any Section 3(2) Certificate for the purpose of enabling the holder of the Certificate to sit the 2008 or 2009 Examinations;
- All applications for the 2008 or 2009 Examinations by former candidates must be made by way of a fresh application in accordance with the rules and guidelines applicable at the time;
- Candidates who failed the Examination prior 2009 and who are eligible to resit it in 2009 or later are allowed to rely on the pass result they obtained in respect of any written Head as well as the exemption from sitting Heads I, III and/or IV granted to them before 2009 for the purpose of determining what subjects they have to site for the 2009 Examination. However, the candidates shall not rely on any automatic exemption from sitting Head II granted before 2009 and all applications for exemption from sitting Head II in the 2009 Examination or later will be determined in accordance with the rules and guidelines applicable at the time.
For those who plan to take the OLQE examination and fulfill the existing requirement, you should make every effort to take the examination this year as you can see there will be an additional written Head on Hong Kong Basic Law and Head II (Civil and Criminal Procedure) may not be exempted in the near future.
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OLQE 2008
Our Speakers
OLQE Calendar
Examination Dates
Head I
28 October 2008 (Tue)
Head II
31 October 2008 (Fri)
Head III
4 November 2008 (Tue)
Head IV
7 November 2008 (Fri)
Head V
12 December 2008 (Fri)
| Important Dates |
Closing date for lodging application to sit the 2008 OLQE Examinations
11 Jul 2008 (Fri)
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Closing date for registration to sit the 2008 OLQE Examinations
22 Aug 2008 (Fri)
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The Examination will test candidates on the relevant law up to
31 Aug 2008 (Sun)
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Issue of candidate slips
15-19 Sep 2008
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Last date to advise of disability
27 Sep 2008 (Sat)
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Last day to withdraw from Examiantion to be eligible for part refund of registration fee
14 Oct 2008 (Tue)
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Provisional date for release of the results
30 Jan 2009 (Fri)
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