The legal community in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has hailed the nation’s top legislature for revising the Lawyers Law of the People’s Republic of China, creating a framework allowing lawyers from Hong Kong and Macao to practice in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

The amendment, which takes effect on Tuesday, has been described as an important step toward regional integration in professional practices, and a milestone in cross-boundary legal practice in a region spanning three distinct legal jurisdictions.

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress -- the country’s top legislative body -- approved the amendment on Friday, allowing qualified lawyers from the Hong Kong and Macao SARs, who’ve passed the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Legal Professional Examination organized by the Ministry of Justice, to obtain practicing qualifications in the nine Chinese mainland cities of the bay area.

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Once certified, eligible lawyers may handle a defined scope of legal business in the Greater Bay Area’s nine-city cluster in Guangdong province -- Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing.

Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok welcomed the decision, saying the amendment provides a legal basis for regularizing the practice system that had been operating on a pilot basis since 2020.

He said dual-qualified Greater Bay Area lawyers can help strengthen regulatory alignment and mechanism integration across the region in line with the nation’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) to build a more integrated and prosperous region.

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The Law Society of Hong Kong -- the city’s oldest professional legal body founded in 1907 -- called the amendment a “highly significant” development, noting that it places the Greater Bay Area lawyer practice regime on a permanent statutory footing rather than treating it as a pilot arrangement.

“This provides long-term certainty for Hong Kong solicitors, strengthens cross-boundary legal services in the Greater Bay Area and reinforces Hong Kong’s unique role as an international legal and dispute resolution services center under ‘one country, two systems’,” Roden Tong Man-lung, president of the Law Society, told China Daily.

To support the regime’s long-term development, the organization proposed exploring a professional indemnity pilot program in other cities in the region to strengthen client protection and confidence in cross-boundary legal services.

The Hong Kong Bar Association said the amendment offers a legal foundation for making the program and examination permanent, adding that it fully supports the change.

“Many of our young members have been very enthusiastic about widening their horizons, taking advantage of the program to the benefit of Chinese mainland enterprises going global, and protecting their legitimate interests,” said Jose-Antonio Maurellet, chairman of the association.

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So far, dozens of the association’s members have passed the qualification exam and joined mainland law firms since the pilot program began, and that number is expected to climb.

According to the Department of Justice, more than 650 Hong Kong and Macao legal professionals had obtained certificates to practice in the Greater Bay Area as of June this year. Some have already appeared as litigation agents in courts in the mainland’s bay area city cluster by representing clients in regional arbitration cases.

Hong Kong lawyers are expected to bring common law expertise, international perspectives, bilingual capabilities and cross-border experience, allowing them to work alongside mainland lawyers to provide more integrated legal support to enterprises operating across the Greater Bay Area and internationally, Tong said.

Contact the writer at jessicachen@chinadailyhk.com