ABOUT THE PAUL KENT LEGAL TRAINING OLQE 2024 COURSE
INTRODUCTION
Paul Kent Legal Training (‘PKLT’) provides tuition in all Heads of the Overseas Lawyers Qualification Examination (‘OLQE’), an annual examination administered by the Law Society of Hong Kong (‘LSHK’).
The examination comprises 6 ‘Heads’ as follows:
Head I (Conveyancing);
Head II (Civil and Criminal Procedure);
Head III (Commercial and Company Law);
Head IV (Accounts and Professional Conduct);
Head V (Principles of Common Law) *
Head VI (Hong Kong Constitutional Law).
[ * Please note that candidates admitted in a common law jurisdiction are not required to take Head V. Candidates admitted in a non-common law jurisdiction who are interested in tuition for Head V should send an email to psk@pskent.com for further information].
CORE RESOURCES
If you register for The Paul Kent Legal Training OLQE 2024 Course you will:
(1) Receive, in each subject for which you register:
(a) Course Notes setting out the core principles and authorities in each subject, including relevant cases and legislation, which you must KNOW to have a chance of passing the examinations.
(b) Video Recordings focussing on exam practice, demonstrating what you need to do to demonstrate that you UNDERSTAND the law and can APPLY it to solve the kinds of problems which might come up in the exam. You will be able to watch the recordings as often as you like. The recordings will be accompanied by “Key Points” you should use in answering typical examination questions.
(c) Casebooks setting out summaries of relevant judicial decisions.
(d) A mock examination in each subject.
(e) Feedback on the mock exam, including comments on individual submissions to the mock exams.
(f) Updates for revision.
(2) Have unlimited email contact with Paul Kent up to the eve of the examinations. This service provides each client with 1 to 1 tuition.
(3) Live online sessions by arrangement on a first come first served basis. 1 to 1 or group with a maximum of 5 members. Fee = HK$2000 per hour. These are sessions in which you raise issues with me you wish to discuss.
START READING EARLY
We strongly advise candidates for the OLQE to start reading as soon as possible. The syllabuses are large, and the exams are tough. Candidates must be very familiar with Hong Kong Law to pass any subject in the OLQE.
Furthermore, candidates may not find out if they are eligible to sit the OLQE until shortly before the date of the first examination. It is not advisable to wait until then before you start studying.
REFUND POLICY
If you register with Paul Kent Legal Training, and you start studying the written Heads before your application for the current OLQE is submitted to the Law Society of Hong Kong (‘LSHK’), or before your application has been determined by the LSHK, Paul Kent Legal Training will offer you a full refund of the fee you have paid to PKLT if the LSHK decides that you are not eligible to sit the OLQE, unless the reason for the decision is that you have not provided all the required documents in support of your application, either at all or in time, or that you have not otherwise satisfied the eligibility requirements.
If the LSHK decides that you are eligible to sit the OLQE, and that you are exempt from a written Head, PKLT will offer you a full refund of any payment you may have made to receive tuition for that Head.
In any other case, you should send an email to Paul Kent at psk@pskent.com for consideration on a case-by-case basis.
For the avoidance of doubt, the above policies do not apply to Head V (the oral examination for non-common lawyers). This is because no fee is payable for Head V unless, and until, the LSHK confirms that a candidate is eligible to sit the Head V exam.
ADVICE ON APPLYING TO SIT THE OLQE
Candidates will not be able to apply to sit the exam until after the Law Society of Hong Kong (LSHK) issues the Information package for the 2024 Exam. This is likely to be at the end of January 2024. Applications may be submitted in early February 2024. There will a deadline which is usually around March 15. This is a very short period. If you plan to apply to sit the exam, you should start getting the required documents together NOW.
The Information Package issued by the LSHK contains a very clear warning to candidates to comply precisely with the stated requirements. Not surprisingly, therefore, applications may be rejected for failure to do do so, particularly if candidates fail to provide supporting documents on time, or otherwise fail to follow exactly the procedures specified in the Information Package. Candidates must take great care and time in preparing their application because a rejection means loss of the application fee and a year’s delay in sitting the exam.
If you register for The Paul Kent Legal Training OLQE 2024 Course, we will do our best to answer any questions you may have about the application process but if in doubt you should contact the LSHK directly.
PAUL KENT LEGAL TRAINING’S PROBLEM-SOLVING’ APPROACH TO LEARNING
Paul Kent’s teaching is aimed at showing students/lawyers how to solve the kinds of problems that law examiners typically set, and which may arise in practice. He has been using this approach for 48 years.
The approach is implemented by examining and practising the following key skills:
• analysing the narratives that are the basis of every problem,
• identifying the general issue(s) arising from those narratives,
• analysing the law,
• identifying specific legal issues generated by applying that law to the narratives,
• recognising alternative possible outcomes to the issues; and
• writing appropriate written responses to the questions set.
This means that, while it is essential to provide a good set of notes setting out key legal principles and authorities, that is not enough. In the PKLT problem solving approach, knowledge of the law is a means to an end, not an end in itself.
Exam practice
Exam Practice is a fundamental feature of PKLT’s problem-solving approach to legal training. For hundreds of years law teachers have presented problems to help students learn the law and solve legal problems. Carefully prepared expository lectures are useful but they can never be enough because law exams test more than knowledge. It is only by working on the kinds of problems that arise, both in practice and in law school, that candidates can acquire a deep understanding of the subjects and can learn how to apply the law in solving those problems.
This is precisely the approach PKLT adopts. Candidates work on many different kinds of problems and in the process practise the key legal skills outlined above. In this way, they are already looking for key issues, and relating the core law long before they enter the exam hall.
1 to 1 tuition
Valuable as group learning is, regular 1 to 1 contact with a tutor is rated very highly by students, especially since people respond in different ways to the challenge of legal study.
Paul Kent Legal Training provides 1 to 1 tuition by offering unlimited email contact with Paul Kent. Everyone who enrols on a course with PKLT can contact Paul directly by email at any time, and Paul aims to respond to all inquiries within 24 hours. Candidates who have taken advantage of this resource from the moment they started studying have done very well in the exams.
In addition, live online sessions may be arranged with individual students where time permits.
REGISTRATION
Please contact us for the Registration Form for the 2024 Course. Completed registration forms should be signed and sent by email to psk@pskent.com.
FEES
Please see the Registration Form for information on fees.
Substantial discounts are offered to candidates who register with Paul Kent Legal Training for more than 1 subject, or for 2 or more persons register for the Paul Kent Legal Training OLQE 2024 Course (i.e. “group discounts”).
FURTHER INFORMATION
If you need any further information to decide whether to register for The Paul Kent Legal Training OLQE 2024 Course, please do not hesitate to contact us by sending an email to Paul Kent at psk@pskent.com
If you have not already done so, please visit our website at www.pskent.com and read the testimonials.
Paul Kent
For and on behalf of Paul Kent Legal Training