Solicitor practising certificate Hong Kong: check and renew

A practising certificate is the certificate a Hong Kong solicitor applies to the Law Society for, year by year, to be allowed to practise. Section 7 of the Legal Practitioners Ordinance (Cap. 159) says nobody is qualified to act as a solicitor unless their name is on the roll of solicitors, they are not suspended from practice, and they have a current practising certificate in force. If you are hiring a solicitor, check the name on the Law Society’s Law List before you sign or pay. If you are a solicitor, the later sections set out what the Society asks for when you apply or renew.

What the law requires

Section 7 sets three conditions. A person may act as a solicitor only if:

• their name is on the roll of solicitors;
• they are not suspended from practice; and
• they have a current practising certificate in force.

The Law Society’s Guide to Professional Conduct, Chapter 2 adds more. A sole practitioner or a partner must hold an unconditional practising certificate (sections 6(6) and 6(6A) of the Ordinance). A solicitor employed in private practice must hold a current certificate if they are held out as a solicitor, or appear before a court of record or certain tribunals, whether or not their name is on the firm’s notepaper. The consequences of acting as a solicitor without a certificate are in the Ordinance, for example section 45.

How to check a solicitor’s certificate

The Law Society publishes the Law List to help the public identify and locate solicitors, foreign lawyers and law firms registered with it. To check one person:

1. Open Members with Practising Certificate. The Society says solicitors in this section hold current practising certificates and are current members.
2. Search the name exactly as it appears on the letter, contract or website you have.
3. If the name appears only under Members without Practising Certificate, the person is a member without a current certificate. Under section 7, they are not qualified to act as a solicitor.
4. Look up the firm in the Law List’s Hong Kong law firms section and compare its details with the letterhead you received.
5. For a foreign lawyer, use the separate Foreign Lawyers section. For counsel, read our guide to the Bar List.

Our guide on how to check the Law List walks through each section in more detail.

Conditional and unconditional certificates

The Solicitors’ Practice Rules define an unconditional practising certificate as “a practising certificate that does not contain a condition preventing its holder from practising on his own account or in partnership”. A solicitor whose certificate carries that kind of condition cannot be a sole practitioner or a partner.

Conditions are dealt with under the Practising Certificate (Special Conditions) Rules. A solicitor to whom those rules apply must lodge a Notice of Intention to Apply for a Practising Certificate at least six weeks before applying. The form says to complete it only if you:

• are applying for a practising certificate for the first time;
• have been censured, or ordered to pay a penalty or costs, by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal since your last certificate;
• have failed or refused to give the Society a sufficient and satisfactory explanation;
• have become bankrupt since your last certificate and have been discharged;
• have had a monetary judgment given against you since your last certificate; or
• have not been in full-time practice of law for two continuous years immediately before giving the notice.

How solicitors apply or renew

1. Decide whether the Notice of Intention applies to you. If it does, lodge it at least six weeks before the application.
2. Complete the Application for Practising Certificate, signed and dated. Online, log in to the Members’ Zone, open Online Applications Forms, then Membership/Registration Renewal Application, and choose Renewal of Membership with a Practising Certificate. The Society has run online and paper renewals in parallel and asks that only one form is submitted for each member.
3. Add the Statement of Compliance with CPD & RME Requirements – Solicitors. CPD is continuing professional development; RME is the Society’s Risk Management Education Programme.
4. Pay by cheque or with a completed credit card authorisation form.
5. Keep the receipt acknowledgement. For online applications, the Society sends it to your Correspondence Email account.

Questions about the form go to the Society’s Registration Section at pcrenewal@hklawsoc.org.hk.

Fees and the CPD year

The fees come from the Law Society’s fees schedule dated 2 January 2026. The Society has since issued a schedule dated 1 April 2026, so check the current schedule before you pay. The CPD figures are from the Continuing Professional Development Scheme, which applies to trainee solicitors and to solicitors with practising certificates.

In-house solicitors

The Law Society’s in-house solicitors FAQ says an in-house solicitor needs a current practising certificate to act as a solicitor in their employment. An employed solicitor may act for the employer and its related bodies, with limits:

• In conveyancing, only in specific circumstances, and never as stakeholder or by giving professional undertakings in the transaction.
• In litigation or conveyancing for the employer, the solicitor needs a certificate with no restricting condition, or supervision by a solicitor who holds an unconditional certificate.
• The same principles of professional conduct apply as in private practice, so far as they are relevant.

What to check before you instruct a solicitor

• Check every person who will act for you, not only the partner named on the website.
• A title on a business card, email signature or firm website is not the certificate. The Law List is the record.
• If a letter or email asks you to send money, compare the firm’s details with the Law List and read our scam alert guide first.
• Agree the scope of work and costs in writing. Our guide on how to instruct a solicitor covers what to ask.

ranked.hk is not the Law Society and does not issue or confirm practising certificates. You can compare Hong Kong solicitor firms in our law directory, written from each firm’s own website, then check the people you choose on the Law List. This page is general information, not legal advice.