Fourth GBA Legal Professional Examination to be held in June

     The Department of Justice (DoJ) welcomed the notice issued by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) yesterday (February 26) on the details of the 2024 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Legal Professional Examination (GBA Examination). The examination will be held on June 29 in Shenzhen and Zhuhai, Guangdong. Eligible applicants can apply to sit for the examination through the website of the MoJ from March 1 to 10. For more details, please visit: www.moj.gov.cn/pub/sfbgw/zwxxgk/fdzdgknr/fdzdgknrtzwj/202402/t20240226_495031.html (in Chinese only).
 
     The GBA Examination was successfully held three times. Currently, over 380 Hong Kong and Macao legal practitioners have passed the examination and obtained the Lawyer's License (Guangdong-Hongkong-Macao Greater Bay Area) to provide legal services in the nine Mainland municipalities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) on specified civil and commercial matters to which the Mainland laws apply. The period of the pilot scheme for Hong Kong and Macao legal practitioners to practise in the nine Mainland municipalities in the GBA was for a period of three years and would originally have expired on October 4 last year. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passed a decision in September last year to extend the period of the pilot scheme until October 4, 2026. The General Office of the State Council also revised the relevant pilot measures and lowered the practice experience threshold for enrolment in the GBA Examination from five years to three years.
 
     The Secretary for Justice, Mr Paul Lam, SC, said, "I am thankful to the MoJ for their tremendous efforts in implementing the fourth GBA Examination. With the benefit of the lowered practice experience threshold, more Hong Kong and Macao legal practitioners will be eligible to enrol in the GBA Examination this year. I wish to encourage young Hong Kong barristers and solicitors to actively enrol in the examination, obtain dual qualification on the Mainland and Hong Kong, and seize the unlimited opportunities brought by the developments in the GBA as soon as possible."
 
     The DoJ will continue to work closely with authorities including the MoJ and the Department of Justice of Guangdong Province in their work to implement the fourth GBA Examination.