CLS Celebrates Sesqui With Events in China, Japan
Part of the Law School’s Global Series of Sesquicentennial Events
January 7, 2007 (NEW YORK) – Columbia Law School will kick off a global celebration of its 150th anniversary and its long connection with China by hosting events in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing in mid-January. A Sesquicentennial event is also scheduled for Tokyo on Jan. 16, to celebrate the Law School’s leadership in Japanese law, embodied in the longtime work of The Center for Japanese Legal Studies.
China Events
The three events in China this month will celebrate both the 25th anniversary of the Law School’s Center for Chinese Legal Studies, led by Professor Benjamin Liebman, as well as the Law School’s Sesquicentennial.
On January 11, 2008 is the Hong Kong event, a cocktail reception with Prof. Liebman and R. Randle Edwards, Walter Gellhorn Professor Emeritus of Law and the Center’s first director, at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.
On January 12, 2008, Profs. Liebman and Edwards will host an evening of conversation and dinner at the Pudong Shangri-La Hotel in Shanghai.
On January 14, 2008, Law School Dean David Schizer will host a symposium and reception at the Raffles Beijing Hotel.
During the symposium, Prof. Liebman will moderate a panel titled ``Justice in the Public Interest: New Challenges for Courts and Lawyers.’’ Panelists will include Phyllis Chang ’88, president of CLD Consultants; Tong Lihua, director of Beijing Children’s Legal Aid and Research Center and Beijing Legal Aid Office for Rural Migrants; the Hon. Li Xiao of the Supreme People’s Court of China; and Chen Zexian, Professor of Law and Director of the Center for International Law Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
A second panel, titled ``China Invests in the World: Legal Implications of Chinese Investment Overseas,’’ will be moderated by Henry Ding ’92, a partner with Sidley Austin LLP. Panelists include George Davidson ’75, managing director of HSBC; Charles Li ’91, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase China; and Jon Christianson ’88, a partner with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LPP.
Columbia was the first American law school to offer courses in Chinese law, in the 1960s, and the first to establish a center dedicated to the study of Chinese law, in 1983. Today, the Center for Chinese Legal Studies is considered the most important center for scholarship on Chinese law in the United States.
Prof. Liebman says the Center focuses on two areas – groundbreaking legal scholarship and developing public interest law in China. ``China matters because it continues to grow, develop and play an increasingly important role in world political and economic development,’’ Prof. Liebman says. ``Improving western understanding of developments in China is crucial and legal scholars can play an important role in boosting this awareness both in the west and in China.’’
The Center’s affiliated faculty and visitors have collaborated on some of the most innovative and incisive research in Chinese law. The Center, by welcoming a steady flow of visiting scholars from China each year, also trains a new geeneration of public interest lawyers in China who have western education and experience. In addition, the Center exposes Law School students to the leading thinkers on the latest trends in Chinese law.
Tokyo Reception
On January 16, 2008, Dean David Schizer will host an invitation-only cocktail reception in Tokyo to celebrate Columbia Law School’s longstanding partnership with Japan. The Law School’s Center for Japanese Legal Studies was founded in 1980 with support from the Fuyo Group and the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission. The Center continues its mission today under the direction of Professor Curtis Milhaupt, who will also attend the reception, in the Grand Hyatt Tokyo. Milhaupt, a leading authority on the legal system of Japan, has a forthcoming book with Columbia Law School colleague Katharina Pistor, Law and Capitalism.
Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, stands at the forefront of legal education and of the law in a global society. Columbia Law School joins traditional strengths in international and comparative law, constitutional law, administrative law, business law and human rights law with pioneering work in the areas of intellectual property, digital technology, sexuality and gender, and criminal law. The Law School offers J.D., J.S.D. and LL.M. degree programs to a diverse student body.