Legal Education in China: Reforms and Requirements

Abstract

AbstractThis article argues that two types of pressure, specifically pressure from international competition and pressure resulting from the low employment rate of law graduates, are the major motivations for the new wave of legal education reforms in China. The direction of the reforms is from a single model into more diversified models. However, there is tension between “the universities’ pursuit of academic freedom and featured education” and “the government’s focal investment associated with deliberation and calculation.” In recent years, Chinese legal education reform has placed more and more emphasis on practical skills training, and Chinese law schools are now required to open legal practice courses that must make up no less than 15% of the curricula. The author thinks this developmental trend is correct, but points to a potential problem: the costs of practical skills training, historically borne by mostly courts, procuratorates, and law firms, are now being transferred to law schools. Therefore, reform of the legal education sector in China should be adopted together with reforms in the tuition and fees system, as well as the bar exam, so that planned changes can be applied outside of the academic sector.