Curriculum

The curriculum features lectures and discussions primarily in the morning coupled with field trips to legal institutions and tours to cultural and historic sites in the afternoons. Classes and field trips require mandatory attendance, as they are part of the academic program. The cultural and historic tours are included in the package price, but attendance is optional and not required for academic credit.

The academic program is a single broad survey of Chinese Law, including the following:

• History and Political System of China

• Chinese Criminal Law

• The Sino-American Relationship

• Trial Practice and Rules of Evidence

• Introduction to the Legal System of the People's Republic of China

• Chinese Contract Law

• China and the Rule of Law

• Chinese Recognition of Intellectual Property Rights

• Law of Business Organizations

• Principles of Chinese Civil Law (including torts)

• Family Law (including inheritance)

• Intellectual Property Rights Judicial Protection in China

• Dispute Resolution – Arbitration and Mediation

• Chinese Real Estate Law

• China's Foreign Investment Law and Practice

There will be an opportunity for informal exchanges with Chinese professors, lawyers, government officials and university students. For those interested, email correspondence with a Chinese law student may be arranged prior to the program.

Externship Opportunity

A limited number of students may be placed with Chinese law firms for a period of three weeks following successful completion of the course. Externs receive no compensation and must pay all of their own living expenses, but may earn up to 1.5 academic credit hours of Independent Study at no additional tuition cost. Placement is by application and selection. Qualified externship candidates will be notified of acceptance with their course confirming letter. A mandatory meeting for all externship candidates will take place with the program’s Academic Director during the first week of the coursework. Some firms wish to examine the résumés and select their own interns; consequently, we will not know the specific externship assignments until after the program commences, and cannot guarantee a specific law firm. Although we have indicated that limitations are possible, we have never failed to place an intern in the past and presently know of no problems for placing qualified applicants for next summer. We are likely to have placement opportunities in Guangzhou, ~~Shanghai~~ and Beijing. Shanghai placements have reached capacity. Students may indicate their placement city's preference on the registration form. Students indicating no preference will most likely be placed in Beijing. Some individual schools may choose to accept credit for the classroom portion of the program but not for the externship, or may place special requirements for receipt of externship credit. Therefore, all students are responsible for consulting with their home school’s dean or registrar in advance to ensure externship credit will be accepted by their home school. The deadline for externship placement requests is March 15, 2008.

Students requesting an externship placement must submit their current résumé, a cover letter which clearly states future practice plans and how the externship fits into those plans, and the $25 processing fee along with their registration form. Both the résumé and cover letter should also be submitted electronically to:

umkclawoverseas@umkc.edu.

Examination and Grading

There will be a written examination at the end of the course. The UMKC course director will grade it as pass/fail unless your school requires an alphanumeric grade. Most visiting students schools require an alphanumeric grade for transfer of credit. UMKC retains sole authority to evaluate student performance for ABA-approved credit.

Students not participating in the externship may obtain an additional 0.5 hours Independent Study academic credit at no additional charge by submitting a paper to the Academic Director no later than July 2, 2008. Specific paper requirements may be obtained from the Director. If interested in enrolling in the optional one-half credit paper, please indicate your intent on the registration form to ensure proper enrollment of total credit hours.

Credit Transfers

The program is ABA-approved for 4.5 hours academic credit. Transcript request information will be provided to visiting students after completion of the program. UMKC will provide supporting documents for credit transfer, but ultimately the decision to accept transfer credits and grades is the responsibility of each academic institution. Further, overseas study programs may not meet your school's residency or accelerated graduation requirements. Accordingly, you are advised to confer with your home school's Dean or Registrar prior to application.

Students

We anticipate that the core group of students will be from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. Class size will be limited to approximately 50 students. We seek participation by a highly diverse group of visiting law students. In prior years we have enrolled visiting students from the following schools:

American University Washington College of Law	Arizona State University College of Law
Baylor University School of Law	Chapman University School of Law
Cleveland Marshall College of Law	Columbia University Law School
Creighton University School of Law	Florida State University College of Law
Fordham University Law School	George Mason University School of Law
George Washington University Law School	Georgetown University Law Center
Golden Gate University School of Law, San Francisco	Gonzaga University School of Law
Howard University School of Law	Lewis & Clark College - Northwestern School of Law
Louis D. Brandeis School of Law, University of Louisville	Loyola University Chicago School of Law
Marquette University Law School	McGill University Faculty of Law (Canada)
National University of Singapore Faculty of Law (Singapore)	New England School of Law
New York Law School	Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad Law Center
Ohio State University Moritz College of Law	Oklahoma City University School of Law
Regent University School of Law	Roger Williams University Ralph R. Papitto School of Law
St. John’s University School of Law	St. Louis University School of Law
Seton Hall University School of Law	Stetson University College of Law
Texas Southern University - Thurgood Marshall School of Law	Thomas Jefferson School of Law
Tulane University Law School	University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law
University of Baltimore School of Law	University of California, Hastings College of Law
University of California, Los Angeles School of Law	University of Colorado at Boulder School of Law
University of Denver Sturm College of Law	University of Florida Levin College of Law
University of Iowa College of Law	University of Miami School of Law
University of Michigan School of Law	University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law
University of New Mexico School of Law	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law
University of the Pacific-McGeorge School of Law	University of Pittsburgh School of Law
University of Salzburg (Austria)	University of San Diego School of Law
University of Southern California Law School	University of Toronto Faculty of Law (Canada)
University of Tulsa College of Law	University of Utah S. J. Quincey College of Law
University of Waikato Law School (New Zealand)	University of West Los Angeles School of Law
University of Windsor Faculty of Law (Canada)	University of Wisconsin Law School
University of Wyoming College of Law	Wayne State University School of Law
Western New England College of Law	Whittier College Law School
William S. Boyd School of Law	William Mitchell College of Law
Yale Law School	York University Osgoode Hall Law School (Canada)

Eligibility

Registration is open to US and foreign law students in good academic standing who will have completed at least one full year of law school study by May 2008, and to law school graduates.

Current law students must submit a letter from their Dean or Registrar certifying good standing.
Law school graduates are required to submit an official copy of their transcripts or certificate of graduation.
Practicing attorneys may enroll on a non-academic credit basis to obtain CLE credits.
Graduate students in curricula other than law may apply on a space-available basis.
Companions of registered students may accompany and participate in tours and cultural activities at a reduced rate on a space-available basis. (Companions must be over 16 years of age.)