The Professional Identity of Hong Kong Solicitors under "One Country, Two Systems"

This pilot study explores the professional identity of Hong Kong solicitors through a qualitative inquiry. Set against the backdrop of the city’s transformation from a British colony to China’s Special Administrative Region which has placed two different legal systems - common law and socialist law - under a single constitutional framework “One Country, Two Systems” since 1997, it features in-depth interviews with a sample of solicitors with a view to, first, investigating how Hong Kong solicitors perceive their identity and changes in the legal profession over the past two decades, and second, ascertaining a common "stereotype" that solicitors are generally profit-driven and inward-looking (compared to the more "outspoken" and "socially conscious" barristers). Findings from this pilot study help highlight the diversities within the legal profession and necessitate a more nuanced understanding of Hong Kong’s place under “One Country, Two Systems”.

M.Y Karen Lee holds a BA (Political Studies) and an LLB from the University of Auckland and a PhD in law from the University of Hong Kong, and is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Sciences at the Education University of Hong Kong. Her research spans law and its dynamics with culture, politics, and society. Her recent publications include: “Lawyers as an interest group in Hong Kong’s democracy movement” in Sonny S.H. Lo (Ed.), Interest Groups and the New Democracy Movement in Hong Kong (Oxford & New York: Routledge, 2018), 34-61; “Lawyers and Hong Kong’s democracy movement: from electoral politics to civil disobedience”, (2017) Asian Journal of Political Science, 25:1, 89-108; and “Beyond the ‘professional project’: The political positioning of Hong Kong lawyers”, (2017) International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, 50, 1-11.