Student Programs

Professor Annelise Riles, Clarke Program Director, teaches an annual core course in East Asian law and culture.

Students at Cornell Law School take courses on East Asian law in the law school and in other departments of the university, interact with world-class researchers, practitioners and activists from Asia, and participate in conferences and workshops where policies affecting the region are debated and shaped.

Opportunities for Cornell Law students to pursue East Asian study include:

CORNELL LAW SCHOOL COURSEWORK
A core course is taught each year by Annelise Riles. The course is organized around the theme of a conference so that students participate in the conference at the end of the semester.

To learn more about coursework in international and comparative law at Cornell, please review the Cornell curriculum.

Courses with Asian Law Content, Fall 2011

Chinese Law in Context (LAW 6149)
S. Zhu
This course will address selected topics of Chinese law in its social, historical and cultural context. It makes efforts to make sense of specific rules, institutions, and norms in China from a perspective of social sciences, to cultivate sensitivity in cross-cultural legal practices and especially academic research.
Comparative Law: The Civil Law Tradition (LAW 6161)
M. Lasser
This course introduces students to the institutional and conceptual organization of “civil law” legal systems (which govern almost all of Western and Eastern Europe and Latin America, as well as significant portions of Africa and Asia). The course will therefore provide a broad overview of “civilian” private law and procedure, criminal procedure, administrative law, and constitutional law. The course is particularly interested in the differences between common law and civil law understandings of the relationship between law-making, legal interpretation, and the judiciary.
East Asian Law and Culture Seminar (LAW 7170)
A. Riles
With many of the world's most dynamic economies now in East Asia, today's law graduates are more likely than ever to be involved with legal issues from that region. At the same time, legal problems in East Asia, from human rights, to judicial and legal education reform, to conflicts over labor, environmental and minority rights, to local debates about medical and scientific regulation and ethics, are invaluable sources of comparative insight about our own legal system. This seminar introduces students to the challenges and opportunities of studying law and culture in East Asia from a sophisticated interdisciplinary perspective. Students will participate in a semester-long colloquium and conference series on law and culture in East Asia in which Cornell faculty and guest speakers from around the world will present new research on current legal issues in the region. Students will be required to read a series of background materials in preparation for each seminar and to write six three- to five-page papers responding to the presentations.
East Asian Law and Culture Colloquium (LAW 7171)
A. Riles
Students will participate in a semester-long colloquium and conference series on law and culture in East 2011-12 Course Descriptions (4/18/11) Page 25 of 42 Asia in which Cornell faculty and guest speakers from around the world will present new research on current legal issues in the region. Attendance and participation in all of the 6 to 8 scheduled colloquia as well as the annual Clarke Lecture and Conference is required. Students will prepare a 3-5 page response paper summarizing key findings of one workshop event for a wider public audience over the course of the semester.

Courses with Asian Law Content, Spring 2012

TBA.

CORNELL UNIVERSITY COURSEWORK
Numerous courses on topics of relevance to East Asian law are offered across the university.

Students should consult the Registrar's Office Site to learn more about law school credit and coursework outside the lawschool.

LANGUAGE STUDY
Students with a serious interest in a legal career involving Asia are strongly encouraged to become proficient in an Asian language.

The Department of Asian Studies' FALCON (Full-year Asian Language Concentration) Program enables beginning students of Chinese and Japanese to study in a concentrated and uninterrupted manner over a period of time long enough to gain working proficiency. The Department also offers Korean and a host of other languages.

Students should consult the Registrar's Office Site to learn more about law school credit and language study.

STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAMS

Cornell Law School has established regular exchange programs in English and Japanese with East Asian universities. For more information, see our student exchange programs page.

SUMMER LAW INSTITUTE IN SUZHOU, CHINA
Cornell Law School, in partnership with Kenneth Wang School of Law, Soochow University (Suzhou, China) and Bucerius Law School (Hamburg, Germany), organizes an annual ABA-approved course in Suzhou, China. For more information, visit the Summer Law Institute's website.

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THE CLARKE STUDENT ESSAY PRIZE COMPETITION

Tim Webster, 2005 winner of the Clarke Essay Prize, delivers his prize-winning paper.

Every year, the Clarke Program recognizes scholarly work by a Cornell law student or graduate student that expands the understanding of legal institutions, ideas, or practices in East Asia. The winner receives a cash award of $300 and will be invited to present his or her paper in the Program workshop in the following semester.

We welcome submissions of papers authored by Cornell J.D. students in their second or third years, Cornell L.L.M. students, or graduate students from other departments or schools within the university by May 30. Papers may be submitted by students or by their advisors on their behalf. Papers should be no more than 10,000 words in length. Please submit entries to asianlaw@cornell.edu.

JSD PROGRAM
The Clarke Program offers a vibrant interdisciplinary environment for researchers pursuing an JSD with a focus on East Asian Law and Culture. Further information about Cornell's JSD program is available here. Applicants interested in pursuing a JSD with a focus on East Asia can also contact the program directly at asianlaw@cornell.edu for further information.