It’s an exciting time to be alive(5)
We are just beginning to explore the best way to collaborate and work in and with China. It’s a daunting task mainly because there are so many wonderful opportunities. This coming year, we will be offering two courses in Chinese Law, taught by an academic/practitioner from China. We are looking into extending our executive education program into China and will hopefully run one or more conferences there next year. We are engaged in several large scale research projects on Chinese law with Chinese academics, including one very exciting project on intellectual property law. I hope soon to establish an exchange program for faculty and students with one of China’s many law schools. We already have a number of Chinese students each year, typically seeking LLMs or JSMs (because they studies law as an undergraduate). I hope to increase the number over time.
The bottom line is that the opportunities are boundless. It’s a very exciting time and we’re very fortunate to be alive to participate in it. I only wish I could be here 200 years from now to see what comes of our efforts.
Xing Zong: Let’s talk about numbers. What is the percentage of international students in SLS? How many do you admit each year from mainland China?
Kramer: At the Law School, we admit approximately 55 international students each year, most of whom are seeking LLMs, JSMs, or JSDs. This is slightly more than 10% of the total student body of 540 students. I’m not sure of the numbers from mainland China in particular.
Xing Zong: Any closing thoughts to our Chinese readers? Especially to an aspiring young Chinese student who is eager to receive legal training?
Kramer: I would repeat what I said before: it’s an exciting time to be alive, to be part of the transformation of legal systems throughout the world. Studying law in the United States is a great opportunity. We approach legal education differently in this county, with a greater emphasis on analytical process, and the mix of our approach with yours can be especially fruitful. More broadly, it is imperative for students who will work in a pervasively transnational environment to work with and learn from students from other nations. So my advice is to be bold, recognize that we live in a time of potentially limitless opportunity, and come learn how to use law to make the world a better place.
About Dean Kramer
Considered one of the leading legal scholars in the country, Dean Kramer has contributed path-breaking work on state-state and state-federal conflict of laws, federalism and its history, and most recently, the role of courts in society. His latest book, The People Themselves: Popular Constitutionalism and Judicial Review, has sparked renewed interest in the ongoing debate about the relationship between the U.S. Supreme Court and politics, and established Dean Kramer as a maverick in the field of constitutional theory and interpretation. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an elected member of the American Philosophical Society and the American Law Institute. Before joining the Stanford faculty in 2004, Dean Kramer served as Associate Dean for Research and Academics and Russell D. Niles Professor of Law at New York University School of Law; professor of law at the University of Chicago and University of Michigan law schools; and consultant for Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP. Early in his career, Dean Kramer clerked for Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Henry J. Friendly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
