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Reflections on Legal Education in Asia

Building on its conference series (which is fast becoming a must attend event in the annual calendar of legal scholars in, and interested, in Asia), the Asian Law Institute launched a complementary symposium series in November this year for smaller groups of scholars to gather and discuss specific topics in greater depth and detail.

The inaugural ASLI Symposium was jointly organised by member institutions International Islamic University Malaysia (“IIUM”) and National University of Singapore
( NUS ). NUS hosted the event, which was held on 10 and 11 November 2005 and which brought together more than 40 scholars from 18 institutions to consider topics under the theme of Reflections on Legal Education in Asia . It was particularly gratifying to welcome participants from as far away as America and England to this two-day gathering.

The opening keynote and overview session on the first morning set the stage for the four panel discussions to follow. Prof. Nik Ahmad Kamal Nik Mahmod, Dean of IIUM, opened the symposium with his paper on The Importance of Understanding and Teaching Islamic Law in Asia . Prof. Tan Cheng Han, Dean of NUS, then spoke on Legal Education in Asia: An Overview . The question and answer session was lively and probing, and quite undeterred by the imminent onset of lunch!

The symposium included two country survey panels that surveyed the state of legal educations in specific countries in Asia.

In Session 2, the changing face of legal education China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan was the focus of papers by Prof. Lo Changfa (Dean, College of Law, National Taiwan University), Prof. Nak-In Sung (Dean, Seoul National University Law Faculty), Prof. Ding Linghua (East China University of Politics and Law), Mr. Lai Jinsheng (also of ECUPL), Prof. Zhang Zhiyong (Assistant Dean, Peking University, presenting a paper authored by Dean Suli Zhu) and Prof. Shiro Kawashima (Kyushu University).

In Session 5, the legal education landscapes of India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand were explored in the presentations of Prof. V.Vijaykumar (Dean, National Law School of India University), Prof. Ranbir Singh (Vice-Chancellor, NALSAR University of Law), Prof. Hikmahanto Juwana (Dean, Univesity of Indonesia Law Faculty), Prof. Khaw Lake Tee (Dean, University of Malaya Law Faculty) and Assist.

Prof. Tithiphan Cheurboonchai (Dean, Chulalongkorn University Law Faculty).

The symposium also included two panels that discussed the challenges of teaching certain subjects in Asia.

In the panel on Culture Neutral? Are there Asian challenges for teaching specific subjects or skills? , papers looked at the teaching of comparative law (Assoc. Prof. Gary Bell, NUS), public international law (Prof. Ago Shin-Ichi, Dean, Kyushu University Law School) and legal skills (Assoc. Prof. Eleanor Wong, NUS). In this panel, Mr. Afshin A-Khavari (Griffith Law School) also considered the opportunities and challenges for internationalising legal education in Asia.

Effective teaching of legal skills was on enough minds to require its own panel titled: Are all Legal Skills created equal? Cultural starting points and their impact on teaching specific skills. Sharing their experiences from the Hong Kong University PCLL programme were Dr. Felix W.H. Chan, Mr. Wilson W.S. Chow and Assoc. Prof. Jessica Y.K. Young. Assistant Prof. Helena Whalen-Bridge of NUS also presented a paper on Comparative Rhetoric in this session.

With the relatively intimate symposium setting and the richness of the issues raised, discussions were frank and challenging. Asian law schools face many common issues and challenges: finding the right balance between academic and professional learning objectives, between law and non-law subjects; considering whether law education should be a graduate endeavour rather an undergraduate degree; funding and autonomy. At the same time, the symposium gave participants a valuable opportunity to learn about different developments in other jurisdictions.

Judging from the animated discussions that continued into tea breaks and meals, most participants would welcome the prospect of more ALSI symposia on topics of common interest.

Meanwhile, preparations are underway for the third ASLI Annual Conference to be organised by ECUPL and held in Shanghai from 25-26 May 2006.