In conversation with Birmingham Law School alumnus Geoffrey Ma

On 25th March 2025, Birmingham Law School alumnus Geoffrey Ma returned to our campus to meet with students and dine with the Vice-Chancellor.

Since graduating in 1977, Geoffrey became the Chief Justice of Hong Kong and the first honourary president of the University of Birmingham Hong Kong Foundation. Named in his honour, the Geoffrey Ma Birmingham Hong Kong Masters Scholarship provides the opportunity for Hong Kong-based students to come and study in Birmingham.

During his visit, we sat down with Geoffrey to ask him some questions.

When were you at the University of Birmingham?

"I started in 1974. graduated in 1977, and I studied law."

What's it like being back?

"Being here, you feel the atmosphere again. What I mean by that is that it reminds me of those three years, of just how friendly the people were and the students. It's great to see how generally happy the students are to be here. It’s changed a lot since 1977, it's changed a lot because there are so many more buildings on campus!

"When I came in 1974, and you tell people that you're going to the University of Birmingham, they sort of look in horror because they think about Birmingham being this not so nice city, but you come here and in fact, you're very pleasantly surprised. Especially as the University is in beautiful Edgbaston."

For someone coming here as an international student, what advice would you give? 

"Well, the important thing is to feel at home in a foreign land. That makes sense because you can be seriously affected if you just feel out of sorts. You’ve got to feel at home, and feeling at home means making a conscious effort, if you're from Hong Kong or indeed from anywhere, to adapt to England. If you've never lived here before, you have to make it a priority to enjoy your time because you're going to be here for three or four years studying, and you don't want to waste those three or four years by not enjoying yourself.

"Of course, the very first thing to enable you to do that, and I say to a lot of people from Hong Kong, is do not underestimate the necessity of getting used to, for example, speaking English. A lot of people from Hong Kong are fine reading English, writing English; they are proficient, but they don't like to speak it or feel bashful. Now, if you don't make an effort to use the language, you're not going to be able to adapt here well or enjoy yourself."

To what degree do you feel your time at Birmingham set you up for success in your career?

"Well, these things you can only analyze when you look back because at the time, you have to be honest, you have no idea what lies in the future. You don't even know what you're gonna do, so in Birmingham while I was studying law, while you have an idea, you're gonna be a lawyer, you really don't know. And having decided to go embark on a career in law, you don't know how well you're going to do as a barrister, which is what I chose, or as a solicitor as many choose, but years later, when you look back and you think then, in your career, what has Birmingham contributed?

"The answer is, of course, in two things. The first is a specific part of it, the specific part is that it has introduced you to various aspects of the law. It's given you a grounding, in other words, in the discipline that you've been reading. The second is a more general and more important part. A lot of law schools teach you the law, you can even do it yourself. But what this University in particular gave me is that Birmingham has always regarded the practicalities and being practical as a priority and you need that in the law as indeed you need it in many other professions. And that, above all, is what Birmingham has given me. A practical training. That's what makes the Birmingham Law School so special. It makes the whole University special, but that is what the law school has as one of its objectives. Speaking to the Dean and others this morning, I can confirm that."

What does it mean to you to have the Hong Kong Foundation and the scholarships be part of the legacy of your time here?

"Well, I get somewhat sort of shy when someone talks about legacy. What is more important is to look at what it really means and the significance and relevance of the foundation and within it, the scholarship. The relevance I see of the foundation and the scholarships apart from maintaining the links between Birmingham and one's home, which is Hong Kong, apart from doing that, it also gives you a sense of pride when you know that the one of the objectives of the foundation is not simply to raise money into supporting various ventures and projects within the University. All these projects have a view to developing something good within Hong Kong. So all these projects are Hong Kong orientated, and it's a sense of pride that your old University is doing something which helps your home. So it's not just a question of raising money for old time's sake, and it benefits diversity. That itself is a laudable objective, but when the objective extends to helping your home, then you know that the university really has some meaning, and that is where the pride I feel about the foundation stems from."

You spoke about pride there, is that something you felt when meeting the current Geoffrey Ma Scholars today?

"Very much so. In my mind, the University has always had the objective of practicality in education and making sure that people actually have a proper experience and have a happy time here. Realizing that is still the reality, notwithstanding the change in the number of new buildings coming up, notwithstanding all the luxury things which we see in the union etc. I see from my day that these fundamentals don't change. I had the privilege of meeting many students throughout the whole of today, and I felt that we could relate to each other; at least I felt we were talking on the same wavelength."

For anybody who's considering pursuing a degree in law, what advice would you give?

"Well, first, do your homework.  Be serious about it as opposed to just stumbling onto something which sounds good. Inevitably, there'll be many people who would say, let's go for the best law schools anywhere in the world, you know, we have these very famous law schools in America and in England, too, you know, Oxford and Cambridge, and so on. But you've got to look beyond that and not stop at big names. There are many better or as good or particular courses, law courses that will suit your own character. In doing that and doing your research, you will come across a place like Birmingham and see its strengths for what it is. So my advice is to do your research."

For somebody that does that degree and then wants to take that next step into law as a career, what advice would you give?

"Well, make use of the fact that the law taught here is a practical course. If you understand that and you want to become a lawyer, that is exactly what law firms are after. They are looking for someone who is practical, who understands what is relevant, what is practical in the law, because that's really what it is about, the practice of law, more so than the prestige of having been to either this university or that. At the end of the day people are looking at how well you've done in a career. They're not looking at what university you've been to, they're looking at what the University has actually taught you and what sort of lawyer it has made you. That is what you should have in mind in real time when you study law, when you're about to embark on a career and apply for jobs and so on. In other words, do not miss out on what the university is trying to achieve with you and what it is providing you."