IU McKinney's Chinese Law Summer Program Explores Law and Culture
06/19/2017
Now in its third decade, the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law’s Chinese Law Summer Program (CLSP) took place in Beijing at Renmin University of China School of Law from May 19 through June 17. Students, from the University of Oklahoma Law School, Boston College Law School, and the University of Bergen Faculty of Law in Norway, joined IU McKinney students in the program.
Professor Tom Wilson of IU McKinney provided a welcome, as did Renmin Dean Han Dayuan, during opening ceremonies. Participants studied Chinese domestic law, took law-related field trips to destinations including the Supreme People’s Court and the National People’s Congress, and embarked on cultural field trips to sites such as the Great Wall of China, Tiananmen Square, and Forbidden City, which is where the photo at left was taken.
A total of 38 students took part in the program. Courses included Chinese Constitutional Law, Chinese Environmental Law, Chinese Intellectual Property Law, the Law of Foreign Invesement in China, and Chinese Labor Law, among others. The class on Chinese Law: Tradition, Structure, and Reform, was taught by Renmin Professor Zhu Jingwen, who has participated in the CLSP for 20 years. Professor Zhu was a visiting professor at IU McKinney in 2013.
Following each day’s lecture from Renmin faculty, Professor Wilson led a class designed to provide students another opportunity to ask questions, and draw comparisons between the different legal systems.
CLSP students also visited MeritsTree law firm in Beijing as part of their studies, where they were greeted by the firm’s partners and were able to learn about what it is like to work in a Chinese law firm.
And in what has become a CLSP tradition, IU McKinney Master of Laws student Riyad Alhudaithi, who is from Saudi Arabia, arranged a dinner for the students in Beijing at a restaurant that serves traditional Middle Eastern food. This tradition was started in 2015 by Abdulrahman Alwashali, LL.M. ’15, and continued in 2016 by Awadh Almutairi, LL.M. ’17.
