Columbia Law School Hosts Visiting Professors from the University of Tokyo School of Law

 

New York, March 11, 2013—Two visiting professors from the University of Tokyo School of Law have been speaking to Columbia Law School students on topics ranging from handling information in disasters to the creation of the Japanese constitution as part of a series sponsored by the Center for Japanese Legal Studies.

 

Visiting Professors Shozo Ota and Yasuo Hasebe are on campus as part of an ongoing exchange program between the University of Tokyo and Columbia Law School. In all, the professors are giving eight lectures, which began in February and continue this month. In one talk, Ota presented his research on the lay jury system in Japan, which took effect in 2009.

 

Hasebe, former dean of the University of Tokyo School of Law, is an expert on constitutional law, information law, and jurisprudence. Ota’s areas of expertise are law and economics, law and society, law and negotiation, dispute resolution, and civil procedure.

 

Columbia Law School is sending Professors Suzanne B. Goldberg and Merritt B. Fox to Tokyo as part of this year’s exchange.

 

The Center for Japanese Legal Studies actively promotes research on Japanese law under the direction of Professor Curtis J. Milhaupt, the Parker Professor of Comparative Corporate Law and the Fuyo Professor of Japanese Law.

 

"The lecture series by Professors Ota and Hasebe continues the two-decade long exchange of faculty members between Columbia Law School and the University of Tokyo,” Milhaupt said. “This exchange program has benefitted a generation of American and Japanese law students, and created lasting friendships among our respective faculties."