MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF CLEA

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the Hong Kong Commonwealth Legal Education Association (CLEA) Conference from 31 March to 2 April 2009 which immediately precedes the Commonwealth Law Conference. The latter will run from 4 to 8 April 2009, and incorporates the Commonwealth Moot Competition which is sponsored by the CLEA and coordinated by Professor Ros Macdonald from the Queensland University of Technology.

The CLEA Conference is being co-hosted by the CLEA and the City University of Hong Kong and we are very grateful to Professor Wang Guiguo, Dean of the Law School, and Professor Anton Cooray, the Conference Chair, for their generosity and enthusiasm regarding the hosting of the Conference. The CLEA Conferences give its members an opportunity not only to meet with colleagues from around the Commonwealth, but also to exchange ideas regarding teaching, research and the challenges facing law schools in different parts of the Commonwealth, particularly in the developing world.

Hong Kong is one of the leading financial hubs on our planet, and for this reason it is appropriate that the theme of the 2009 CLEA Conference is ‘Teaching Law in the Modern Global Business Environment’. Although this theme provides a focus for the Conference and we encourage delegates to explore it, in the tradition of the CLEA’s spirit of inclusiveness, delegates are free to present papers on any other aspects of the law.

We hope that after enjoying the cut and thrust of academic debate and discussion with your colleagues from different parts of the Commonwealth, you will also make time to enjoy the excitement and stimulation that Hong Kong offers to its visitors.

On behalf of the more than 600 Commonwealth law schools represented by the CLEA I would again like to thank the City University of Hong Kong for acting as our hosts during this important Conference.



Professor David McQuoid-Mason
President, Commonwealth Legal Education Association