Dean Gerken Visits Japan and China to Strengthen International Ties

During the first stage of the trip, Gerken visited the University of Tokyo’s Faculty of Law, where she met with Vice Dean Shusuke Kakiuchi, Professor Kichimoto Asaka, and Professor Masami Okino to discuss the shared goals for training the next generation of lawyers and leaders. Among other issues, the group spoke about the challenges and opportunities posed by artificial intelligence and faculty work on this issue at both institutions.  

Dean Gerken also visited Waseda Law School, where she met with university officials to discuss international affairs and the unique challenges facing higher education institutions. Following this meeting, Gerken met with Aiji Tanaka, President of Waseda University, to discuss interdisciplinary educational approaches at Waseda and Yale, and to affirm the enduring friendship between the two institutions.

Michael  Wishnie ’93, the William O. Douglas Clinical Professor of Law at Yale Law School, joined Gerken for a fireside chat with alumni as part of an evening reception hosted by Yale Law School with support from the Yale Club of Japan.  Wishnie spoke about his clinical work serving the veteran and immigrant communities, and the value of hands-on training for future lawyers.

The next stage of the trip brought Gerken to Beijing, where Tsinghua University law students gave her a tour of their campus and law school library.

Following the tour, Gerken met with Tsinghua Law School Dean Guangquan Zhou and several faculty members and administrators with experience in international affairs. The wide-ranging discussion touched on the benefits of a global perspective for future lawyers and leaders, the shared challenges posed by artificial intelligence, and the importance of exchanges where students and scholars can experience new cultures and approaches to legal education.

The capstone of the trip was the Peking University-Yale Law School Forum on Legal Scholarship and Education, held Jan. 9 at Peking University Law School, for which Gerken delivered the keynote address. Gerken was introduced by Peking University Law School Dean Guo Li. 

In her remarks, Gerken spoke about the importance of training lawyers who are good global citizens — whether in New Haven or Beijing. 

“As partners in the project of legal education, we cannot do better than to remember that our shared legacy is our students, and we must ensure that they have the tools they need to create a bright future,” she said during her address.

Gerken also spoke about the School’s historical commitment to exchanging ideas with legal scholars around the world and welcoming international scholars and students into the Law School community. She described the development of the New Haven School of International Law — an approach to understanding international law born at Yale Law School — and the important efforts of former Dean and Sterling Professor of International Law Harold Hongju Koh to expand the Law School’s global reach.

In her speech, Gerken noted that Yale Law School’s international impact stems in large part from the work of its faculty-led centers and programs focused on law and the larger world. 

The Paul Tsai China Center, founded in 1999 by Potter Stewart Professor of Constitutional Law Paul Gewirtz ’70, is devoted to studying China’s legal reforms, contributing to China-U.S. relations, and broadening understanding of China across the United States. The Center facilitates workshops and seminars as well as research visits to and from China and supports scholarly work by Chinese and U.S. scholars. 

Gerken also noted some of the many centers and programs related to international law, including the Owen Fiss Latin American Linkage Program, the Center for Global Legal Challenges, and the Global Health Justice Partnership, to name a few.

“The work of all of these centers is of course powered by our extraordinary faculty, who work tirelessly to advance and elevate scholarship that engages with international legal issues,” Gerken noted. 

Following Gerken’s speech, Yale Law School Professor of Law Taisu Zhang ’08 chaired a discussion on legal academia with law faculty from institutions across China, many of whom have ties to Yale. They spoke about the impact Yale had on their worldviews and their careers in the law.

Zhang joined Gerken the following evening for a fireside chat with alumni at Beijing’s Puxuan Hotel, co-hosted by Yale Law School and the Yale Club of Beijing. They discussed trends in legal education in the U.S. and China, as well as the importance of maintaining connections with peer institutions around the world as the global environment becomes more complex.

For Gerken, the relationships formed during this trip highlighted the critical importance of the School’s mission. 

“I witnessed firsthand the profound impact Yale Law School has had on scholars and students in other countries and the many ways that they in turn have contributed to the Law School’s intellectual life. Those conversations affirmed why we have long aimed to train global citizens, why international scholars and students are such treasured members of this community, and why this law school places its faith in the power of ideas and the role universities can play in bridging divides,” she said. “Faculty across the globe share a common mission — training the next generation of lawyers to repair this fractured world.”