Secretary for Justice Paul Lam has called on legal practitioners from the two SARs to obtain Greater Bay Area (GBA) practice qualifications to tap into the area's limitless opportunities.

The GBA lawyers’ scheme – which allows those qualified to practise in nine mainland cities – was regularised in September after a six-year pilot run.

Speaking at the Second Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Lawyers Forum that was held during the Legal Week on Friday, Lam said more than 700 legal practitioners from Hong Kong and Macao have so far obtained the qualification.

“The Greater Bay Area has the characteristic of ‘one country, two systems and three jurisdictions’," he said.

"Greater Bay Area lawyers with dual practice qualifications will serve as pioneers."

Lam noted that the GBA is among the areas with the highest degree of openness and strongest economic vitality in the country.

Hong Kong, he said, will step up the closer interface of rules and laws on the safeguards of the rule of law in the GBA, as laid out in its inaugural five-year plan.

With more than 900 participants attending the event at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai in-person or online, the minister urged them to take the chance to understand the latest GBA developments, grasp new opportunities and expand into new fields.


Edited by Aaron Tam