On June 12th 2019, the First Circuit of the Supreme People’s Court held an administrative retrial case at STL. This event is the first of a series of activities titled “Open Court Hearing on Campus”, which was the result of a memorandum of cooperation that the two entities signed on April 13, 2019. Through the memorandum, the two sides decided to strengthen cooperation between them in an attempt to further enrich the students educational experience as well as infuse the Court with some fresh blood from one of China’s most elite legal schools.
The memorandum seeks to innovate the training mechanism for STL students in more than one way. For example, it allows STL graduate students to clerk with Circuit Courts. Moreover, it allows STL to routinely invite Judges to offer courses on trial practice. Not to mention that it also allows for carrying out legal education and judicial practice exchanges.
As for the benefits to the First Circuit of the Supreme People’s Court, the Court regards the “Open Court Hearing on Campus” as an opportunity to publicize judicial reform efforts while simultaneously promoting college education of law and the judicial practice. The combination of innovative talent cultivation mechanism under the rule of law achieves the win-win cooperation between the Supreme People’s Court and law school.
The event was received with a lot of enthusiasm. More than 70 teachers and students from STL attended the court hearing. The trial was also broadcasted live online through platforms such as Tingshen.Court.Gov.Cn and Sina Judicial Channel.
Under the tide of globalization, it is hard to exaggerate the import of such innovative educational opportunities that are bound to create an unprecedented caliber of legal professionals. STL is proud to be one of the schools involved with such an exciting project.
