The Fall and Rise of Legal Education in Asia: Inhibition, Imitation, Innovation

Presented at the conference “Legal Education in Asia: From Imitation to Innovation”, Shanghai, 21 November 2015

NUS Law Working Paper No. 2015/015

NUS - Centre for Asian Legal Studies Working Paper No. 15/10

23 Pages Posted: 19 Nov 2015 Last revised: 16 Jul 2016

See all articles by Simon Chesterman

Simon Chesterman

National University of Singapore (NUS) - Faculty of Law

Date Written: November 21, 2015

Abstract

The history of legal education in Asia bears the scars of colonialism. The most obvious evidence of that today lies in the common law/civil law divide between our various countries, a distinction for which the determining factor was typically the legal system of the European power that happened to exercise colonial power. In recent years, however, the rise of Asia has encouraged more confidence and greater independence.

To pick just one crude measure, the number of Asian law schools listed in the top 50 of the QS World University Rankings for law went from three in 2011, when the rankings were first published, to nine in the most recent rankings. Just four years ago, no Asian law school was listed in the top 20; today there are four. In such an environment, it is appropriate and expected that Asian law schools should feel free to chart their own path — to innovate, rather than merely imitate.

This paper discusses early efforts to inhibit legal education in Asia, due in part to neglect and in part to the desire of the colonizing powers to avoid encouraging “troublemakers”. Secondly, and more briefly, it considers the manner in which many efforts to encourage imitation, in particular the law and development school, produced uncertain and sometimes unhelpful results. Thirdly, it turns to more recent innovations by law faculties across the region in three discrete areas of their national, global, and regional roles.

Keywords: legal education, comparative law, globalization, Asia, law & technology, legal profession

Suggested Citation

Chesterman, Simon, The Fall and Rise of Legal Education in Asia: Inhibition, Imitation, Innovation (November 21, 2015). Presented at the conference “Legal Education in Asia: From Imitation to Innovation”, Shanghai, 21 November 2015, NUS Law Working Paper No. 2015/015, NUS - Centre for Asian Legal Studies Working Paper No. 15/10, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2692951

Simon Chesterman (Contact Author)

National University of Singapore (NUS) - Faculty of Law ( email )

469G Bukit Timah Road
Eu Tong Sen Building
Singapore, 259776
Singapore

HOME PAGE: www.SimonChesterman.com

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
225
Abstract Views
1,429
Rank
246,374
PlumX Metrics