This blog post is part of our ongoing guest Blog Series: “Opportunity Knocks.” For a full schedule, please see: http://law.scu.edu/lcs-blog/upcoming-blog-series-opportunity-knocks/
I spent my 1L summer on an SCU-organized study abroad and internship trip to Hong Kong. I had a great time and learned a lot about the legal systems in Hong Kong and China while also earning 8 credit hours. I would say about half the students that were in our group were from SCU while the other half were from other law schools around the country. It was a great opportunity to meet other law students from outside our school.
The program consisted of about three weeks of every day classroom instruction about the Hong Kong and Chinese legal systems and then an optional 5-6 week internship with various firms and judges in Hong Kong. Alternatively, some of the HK students chose internships in mainland China (I believe it was Shanghai), while a couple that had taken classes in China came down for internships in Hong Kong. I stayed in Hong Kong for both parts of the program.
Hong Kong, being a British colony for almost 100 years, is very English friendly. Most people understand English to some degree, so getting around is not really a problem. The program allows for a lot of free time to explore and experience the area. Weekend trips to mainland China, Buddhist temples, street markets, horse racing and even Disneyland are just a few of the things you can do when not in class or working. Even just walking around the busy streets of this major financial center of Asia is an amazing experience.
Almost everyone in the program stayed at the hotel recommended by SCU for the classroom portion. After that, a group of us lived in a temporary apartment during our internship weeks. Having the freedom to live in different locations allowed us to really experience Hong Kong and get to know different areas of the vast city.
As far as applying is concerned, finish your application on time and as early as possible. Internships are granted on a first come, first serve basis. Although SCU tries to get everyone that applies some form of an internship, nothing is guaranteed.
Overall, I had an awesome time in Hong Kong and loved my experience there. Hopefully I can get back there in the near future!
John Richards
John Richards graduated from Brigham Young University with a BS of Information Systems in April 2010. He worked at an exciting startup, EnticeLabs, as an online advertising campaign manager and helped run the 2011 season of BoomStartup, a tech startup incubator in Utah. He is currently a JD/MBA candidate in the class of 2015 at Santa Clara University School of Law and Leavey School of Business.