Director's Message
A Message from the Program Director, Professor Brian K. Landsberg
The Pacific McGeorge/US Agency for International Development Rule of Law program in China which we have undertaken with our partner schools has completed its first phase and entered phase two.
The objectives of phase one were to work with American University Washington College of Law and our Chinese partners to develop strong experiential education programs at China University of Political Science and Law, South China University of Technology, and Zhejiang Gongshang University to create templates for experiential legal education that could be used in other Chinese law schools. By concentrating on these three schools, our LL.M. programs and our summer workshops in Guangzhou and Hangzhou were able to provide greater depth to existing programs as well as creation of new ones. Our Chinese partners initiated new clinical and advocacy courses. They introduced experiential techniques into existing courses. And they brought newly honed skills into existing clinical courses.
In conferences in Sacramento in 2008 and in Beijing in 2009, participants in the program examined the needs of Chinese legal education and provided concrete examples of how to deliver experiential education to Chinese law students. Demonstrations, DVDs, and a book of Chinese simulation case files provided tools for the future. Articles by program participants are beginning to appear in both American and Chinese law reviews and provide theoretical support and practical advice regarding experiential education in China. This brings us to phase two. Phase two, then, will focus on spreading experiential legal education to law schools in the less affluent regions of China. We plan to begin with a planning session in July 2009, with CCCLE professors and partner school professors who have participated in our program and who are committed to training professors from other law schools in experiential legal education techniques.
In the 2009-10 school year, four professors from the less affluent regions of China who are committed to experiential education will study for an LL.M. degree from Pacific McGeorge School of Law or American University Washington College of Law. In addition, in December 2009 and May or June 2010, Chinese and American experiential education professors will conduct intensive week-end training at law schools in the less affluent regions of China. We will also work with our partner CCCLE to publish more teaching materials and articles about experiential legal education.
