Sep 09 2008
foreigners following the american law school method
Or perhaps I could rename this post, “ABA accredited school coming to China part II” (following this post about Beijing Daxue’s new law school). I saw this article from the National Law Journal today, and since it piggy backs so well with the discussions about BeiDa’s J.D. style law school, I had to include it on my blog:
Jeffrey Lehman sat down with about 50 brand-new law students last month and watched “The Paper Chase.” At the end of the movie, they wanted to know one thing: Were all American law professors as mean as professor Kingsfield?
Lehman, dean of the just-launched Peking University School of Transnational Law, didn’t show the movie featuring John Houseman’s browbeating character to intimidate the group of Chinese students enrolled in the school’s inaugural class.
Instead, the film from 1973 served as a kind of introduction to the pressure and competition bred in American law schools, something that these students — at least to a certain degree — could expect while attending the School of Transnational Law’s U.S.-style program.
Classic movie… but they don’t even teach that way in American law schools anymore. I’ve found and heard from others at other Tier 1 schools that professors are far more kind and relational and less antagonistic. Anyways…
The first of its kind in China, the School of Transnational Law exemplifies the global spread of U.S.-style education in foreign countries. Like the school in China, a number of higher education institutions around the world are emulating the United States’ three-year J.D. program and the admissions processes.
The trend is not only an endorsement of American legal education but it also creates a consistency of training that many observers say is critical in a global legal market.
Last month, South Korea announced the debut of 25 law schools that have adopted U.S.-style programs. Recently, several Canadian law schools announced that they would switch to offering juris doctor degrees as opposed to LL.B. degrees.
Melbourne Law School in Australia this year began offering a juris doctor degree program. Japan also has revamped its legal education to a system more akin to a juris doctor program, in which students have an undergraduate degree before attending law school.
So now its BeiDa, Melbourne, and 25 schools in Korea which could be vying potentially for ABA accreditation. (and dollars from potential law students) That is an interesting thought. I don’t think that even a fraction of them would get it though.
The Melbourne J.D. program takes the best of the U.S.-style legal education and combines it with a program that is “a lot more inventive and thoughtful,” Hathaway said.
His school is not seeking ABA accreditation, which gives it some flexibility in the course work offered. For example, the first class that students take is a two-week immersion into legal method and reasoning, which has a heavy emphasis on statutory interpretation. The courses that follow build upon that foundation, Hathaway said.
I don’t buy it. Melbourne, as the article points out, started requiring the LSAT. It may not be seeking the accreditation now, but I would say that it will want it in the future. Is it really such a stretch if it requires the LSAT? And wants to be on part with American law schools? It isn’t. So I would expect it…
Although the ABA does not specifically prohibit foreign law schools from obtaining accreditation from its Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, meeting the stringent ABA requirements that are designed for U.S. law schools may be difficult for foreign schools, said Hulett Askew, consultant on legal education to the accrediting section of the ABA.
Agreed. Though there are others who seem to think otherwise:
Paul Hastings partner Timothy Dickinson said that the transnational law school program will train a new “cadre” of lawyers educated to handle international work.
“We now can create lawyers well-equipped to practice in a global environment without leaving China. It gives them a huge competitive advantage,” he said.
Dickinson, whose practice focuses on international commercial matters, was a member of the U.S.-China nongovernmental organization that helped establish the School of Transnational Law.
I have my doubts. But I’ve been wrong before… so we’ll see what happens. Stay tuned.
