Charleston law professor on Fulbright exchange teaches in China

CHARLESTON, SC – Charleston School of Law Professor James Klein recently returned from a two-month visit at the East China University of Political Science and Law in Shanghai where he taught an intensive six-week course on the U.S. judicial process and civil procedure.

“My goal was to teach the way we teach law courses in the U.S. utilizing the case method and encouraging the student to engage in active classroom discussion, rather than lecturing,” Klein said. “This is different from what the students are accustomed.”

Klein, a distinguished visiting professor in Charleston since 2010, was able to make the visit to Shanghai thanks to being picked by as a Fulbright specialist by the Chinese university. The Fulbright Specialist Program is a highly-esteemed, selective international educational exchange program designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the U.S. and the people of other countries.

During the visit, Klein said he also consulted with Chinese law school administrators, faculty and attorneys on recent trends and changes to the United States’ systems of legal education and law practice.

Klein said he was very impressed with his students.

“They were fluent in English in reading, writing and speaking, and they had a tremendous work ethic and desire to learn. At the end of the course, the students took a typical law examination given to American law students and the Chinese students performed extremely well.”

Klein, who has a law degree from Case Western Reserve University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, said he intended to return to Shanghai to collaborate with a Chinese law professor on issues related to resolution of labor disputes, including arbitration and mediation.