ALI-ABA Goes Global, Offers Programs for Chinese Law Students

ALI-ABA, the national CLE organization jointly overseen by the ALI and the American Bar Association, nominally cosponsored two courses of study on U.S. civil litigation at China’s premier law schools this past summer: at Renmin University School of Law in Beijing from June 7 to 9, and at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Law from June 12 to 14. The courses were designed for and attended principally by law students from the two universities; no tuition was charged. Both courses were chaired by ALI member Sol Schreiber of Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman LLP in New York, who is a 1985 recipient of ALI-ABA’s Francis Rawle Award for outstanding achievements in post-admission legal education. The courses were supported by generous grants from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP and from Milberg Weiss. This was not ALI-ABA’s first venture in China; it cosponsored a similar event in June 2005 at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Law.

Julene Franki, ALI-ABA’s Executive Director, who attended both courses and met with the deans at both law schools, found the law students she met filled with a sense of energy, optimism, and interest in the rule of law. One aspect of the changes in Chinese society that must be addressed by the legal system is the rapid growth of nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs, which fill in the gaps in aid and services that underfunded government agencies cannot provide. She anticipates that ALI-ABA will continue to explore ways to offer programs in China through cosponsorships with other educational organizations.

Law students listen intently at the program cosponsored by ALI-ABA and Renmin University of China Law School in June.

ALI-ABA Executive Director Julene Franki and Wang Liming, Dean of Renmin University of China Law School, Beijing

A plaque at Renmin University in Beijing celebrates the common-law tradition of Great Britain and the United States, depicting a barrister's wig and a gavel, as well as representations of (clockwise, from lower left) the U.S. Code, the U.S. Constitution, the Restatements of the Law, the Uniform Commercial Code, the Act of Settlement, the Magna Carta, and Blackstone's Commentaries.