Outreach Programs

Shanghai Minhang District Seminar on Municipal Government Administration

Twenty municipal workers from the Minhang District of Shanghai, China, were in Madison  August 18 through October 27, 2007, to participate in a ten-week training program in Madison, Wisconsin, and other cities in the U.S.  As part of this "Seminar on Municipal Government Administration," the twenty were part of  fifty government officials from the Minhang District who participated in a two-week seminar, June 9-23, 2007 in Shanghai.  Twenty of the fifty were selected to attend the seminar in the U.S.   

A recent article about the program can be found at

The program was designed around three central aspects of governance and administrative law in the United States: 1) the making of rules and regulations by government agencies, and the law governing that process; 2) the deciding of individual cases by government agencies, and the law governing those types of decisions; and 3) the ability of private actors to seek judicial review of either type of action, and the standards by which the courts review those actions.  This approach allows the presentation of both the actual practices of American governmental bodies in various fields and at various levels, as well as the ways in which American administrative law seeks to facilitate effective government action, while at the same time advancing broader goals such as transparency, fairness, and legality.

Judicial Skills Training Seminar (Shanghai Judges Program)

Since 2002, the East Asian  Legal Studies Center and the Shanghai High People's Court have jointly sponsored a judicial skills training seminar for Shanghai judges.  With strong support and active involvement from the Wisconsin and federal judiciaries, the four judicial training programs completed thus far have provided intensive, one-week training sessions in Shanghai on U.S. judicial practice to approximately 120 young Shanghai judges, and have provided three-week advanced training sessions in Madison, Wisconsin, to approximately eighty of those judges. During each of the programs, judges from the Shanghai district courts, intermediate courts, and the High People's Court participate in courtroom observations, formal lectures, and informal discussions with Wisconsin and federal judges, and with faculty from the University of Wisconsin Law School. 

The 2008 program: Twenty judges from Shanghai will participate in the Sixth Annual Judicial Skills Training Seminar, to be held in Madison October 19 to November 8, 2008.  

The 2007 program:  Twenty judges from Shanghai participated in the Fifth Annual Judicial Skills Training Seminar July 21- August 11, 2007.    During each of the programs, judges from the Shanghai district courts, intermediate courts, and the High People's Court participate in courtroom observations, formal lectures, and informal discussions with Wisconsin and federal judges, and with faculty from the University of Wisconsin Law School. 

The 2007 program began in Shanghai during the week of June 9, 2007 in Shanghai, when four judges from the Dane County Circuit Court, Judges Michael Nowakowski, Angela Bartell, Sarah O'Brien, and John Albert, and Law School Professor John Ohnesorge went to Shanghai to teach the first section of the program.  The judges began the U.S. part of the program with a trip to Minneapolis/St. Paul to meet with members of the federal judiciary. (See photo on this page.)  Their program continued in Madison with extensive court observations, discussions with judges, and classes at the Law School.  The program concluded on August 11, 2007 in Madison.  

For one of the many articles that appeared in the press about the Law School 's Shanghai Judges program, see http://www.wislawjournal.com/archive/2006/0726/china.html.

The "Shanghai Judges" program is fortunate to have had the able assistance of the Center's Associate Outreach Specialist, Ms. Wenjie Hu, and LL.M. Candidate, Ms. Cindy Whang, who once again brought their extensive experience in administering high caliber professional programs to the Fifth Annual Seminar.

Advanced Judicial Skills Training Seminar

The Center also carries out the Advanced Judicial Skills Training Seminar, in which two Shanghai judges are in residence at the University of Wisconsin Law School for one semester as visiting scholars and close observers of the U.S. judiciary. This seminar, which is partly financed by the U.S.-China Legal Cooperation Fund, allows the two judges to undertake in-depth research at the University of Wisconsin Law School at the same time they are exposed to U.S. judicial practices. The first Advanced Judicial Skills Seminar was held during the fall semester of 2005, and the second in spring of 2007.  A third seminar took place in the fall of 2007.  The Center has been awarded grants totaling of $29,800 by the U.S.-China Legal Cooperation Fund to help fund these three seminars.

Zhejiang Procurators' Program (China)

A professional program of training and observation for the Zhejiang Provincial Procurators was held in Madison and other cities in early December 2007. This program was presented by the Zhejiang Provincial Procuratorate and the East Asian Legal Studies Center. Zhejiang procurators had an eight day course of study and were able to observe the different court systems in Madison, and also visited New York, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia.

Short courses for UW Law students (Bangkok, Thailand; Xiamen, China; Hanoi, Vietnam) 

In January 2006, under a program developed and sponsored by the Center, University of Wisconsin law students joined students from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok for a two week course on cross-cultural negotiations. The course was taught by Professor Ralph Cagle of the University of Wisconsin Law School.  In January 2005, John Ohnesorge taught a two-week course in Comparative Corporate Governarnce at Thammasat University, Bangkok, for UW law students and Thammasat law students.  In January 2006, Professor Ohnesorge taught a short, intensive course on law and development in Northeast Asia at Xiamen University, Xiamen, China, to another group of Wisconsin students and students from Xiamen University. 

In January 2007, the Center, again in connection with Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, offered a two-week course on cross-cultural negotiations.  Professor Cagle taught the course.  Also in Bangkok during January 2007, Professor Allison Christians, UW Law School professor, taught a short course on International Tax and Treaty issues at Thammasat University for a group of UW Law School students and Thammasat law students.

In May 2007, Professor Stephanie Tai, under the auspices of the East Asian Legal Studies Center, taught a short course on Water Law issues.  The course was held at Hanoi Law University and was attended by students of HLU and the UW Law School.

Past programs: 

International Conference on Legal Education Reform, Taipei, Taiwan

On September 16 and 17, 2005, the Center co-sponsored a conference on reforms in global legal education. The conference was in Taipei, with National Taiwan University and Hokkaido University as co-sponsors.  Papers presented at the conference are available in volume 24 of the Wisconsin International Law Journal (Winter 2006).

International Trade Conference, VungTau, Vietnam

On February 20 and 21, 2006 the Center co-sponsored a conference on international trade law in VungTau, Vietnam. The conference attendees were principally mid-level Vietnamese government officials. The Vietnamese government, Lund University ( Sweden), and Nagoya University ( Japan) were co-sponsors. The VungTau conference was part of the ongoing activities of a consortium of the law faculties of Lund University, Nagoya University, and the University of Wisconsin's East Asian Legal Studies Center.

Corporate Governance and Taiwan's Capital Markets, Taipei, Taiwan 

On April 6 and 7, 2006, the Center co-sponsored a conference entitled "Corporate Governance and Taiwan's Capital Markets." The conference was in Taipei, and was attended by international institutional investors, the Taiwan business community, and senior officials from the Taiwan government's regulatory agencies. The co-sponsors were the Taiwan Securities Association, and the Fuhwa Cultural and Educational Foundation. At the conclusion of the conference, plans were made to hold a similar conference in 2007, with the possibility of the conference then becoming an annual event. More detailed information about the 2006 conference is available online at http://www.law.wisc.edu/ealsc/wicgi/.