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UGA School of Law creates study abroad opportunity in the Far East

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Monday, February 13, 2006

WRITER: Heidi Murphy, 706/542-5172, hmurphy@uga.edu CONTACT: C. Donald Johnson, 706/542-5135, johnsocd@uga.edu André B. Barbic, 706/542-5141, abarbic@uga.edu

UGA School of Law creates study abroad opportunity in the Far East

ATHENS, Ga. – The University of Georgia School of Law will be expanding its study abroad opportunities with the addition of a three-week program in China this summer.

Partnering with two of the country’s top institutions of higher education, Tsinghua University in Beijing and Fudan University in Shanghai, the Georgia Law Summer Program in China will be unique in providing the opportunity for study in China’s largest two cities.

Approved by the American Bar Association to begin this summer, the program will offer an introduction to Chinese legal systems, with an emphasis on commercial and trade law, for up to 30 participants. Law students, who have completed their first year of legal studies and are in good standing at an ABA-accredited law school, will receive three-semester credit hours for their participation. This program is also open to practitioners, with continuing legal education (CLE) credit approval pending.

C. Donald Johnson, chief architect of the educational program and director of the Dean Rusk Center, said the initiative will address a major need among attorneys in the United States – an increased knowledge of the Chinese legal system. "China's dynamic economic growth and potential demands that we become more informed about how this world power operates so opportunities and challenges can be met head on," he said.

As part of the program, Johnson will teach a one-hour course on U.S.-China trade issues under the World Trade Organization. He is uniquely qualified to teach this class, as he was the chief textile negotiator, with the rank of ambassador, when he assisted in negotiating China’s accession to the WTO in 1999 and has remained involved with other Chinese trade issues over the past several years.

Other courses will be taught in English by Chinese law professors.

Additionally, students from the University of Georgia will be offered the opportunity to remain in China at the end of the program for four-six week externships with law firms based in Shanghai, Beijing or Hong Kong.

This is the second Georgia Law study abroad program debuting in 2006. Last month, the law school's semester-long Oxford program began. The Georgia Law at Oxford initiative is one of only a handful of semester study abroad opportunities offered by an American law school.

For more information regarding the programs, please visit: www.law.uga.edu/academics/foreign.

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