CannonFodder

The John S. & Marilyn Long U.S.-China Institute for Business and Law formally launched during a signing ceremony at Fudan University, Shanghai. 

Fudan and UC Irvine agreed to develop student and faculty exchanges, create a think-tank for practical solutions to U.S.-China investment challenges, and implement a 3-year initiative to further bilateral unerstanding of Intellectual Property / Innovation in both countries.

UCI School of Law is working closely with The Newkirk Center for Science & Society, led by Professor Joseph DiMento. Professor DiMento shares joint appointments with the School of Law and the School of Social Ecology (pictured hosting The Newkirk Center table at the recent UCI Medal Dinner). Working with Liz Eastin, Professor DiMento recently staged an international symposium on marine and fresh water conservation. 

Professors from UCLA Law and multiple UCI departments will present a forensic science forum, “Badly Fragmented: When Courts and Science Clash,”  October 19, 4:00 p.m.
E-mail newkirckcenter@uci.edu to RSVP.

– CGC

The John and Marilyn Long U.S.-China Institute for Business and Law is now housed in the UCI MPAA law suite. Donor John Long presented the office keys to interim co-directors Professor John Graham and Professor Archie Kleingartner on August 25.  Recruitment now begins in earnest for the permanent director and executive director. 

– CGC

Reports are inadequate at introducing the vibrancy of Shanghai, local universities and firms included.  The business, law and journalism schools of Fudan University have been extremely gracious in their welcome; so too Jiao Tong University’s KoGuan Law School and Antai College of Economics & Management.
 

Can we mention the architecture too often? Of business towers, shops, housing, and, yes, university buildings?  Does everywhere else now appear staid by comparison?  

–CGC

How graciously LG Electronics has hosted us here in Beijing! Thanks to Nam Woo and Sang Hoon Lee, all doors – and restaurants – have been opened to the UCI envoy.

We are determined to create a truly bilateral collaboration between Chinese and U.S. universities to organize the Long Institute’s research focus.

Meetings with Tsinghua University, The People’s Universityof China, China University of Political Science & Law, China Daily, and Guangming Daily have confirmed the need for an entity serving both sides of the Pacific.

–CGC

As UC Irvine prepares to establish the U.S.-China business and law institute, an exploratory envoy is discussing the optimal bilateral approach with universities and corporations in Hong Kong and the mainland.  Here with Archie Kleingartner, Allison Long, John Long,  Marilyn Long,  and Chia-Wei Woo, founding president of Hong Kong University of Science & Technology.

Professor Woo, as a former president of SF State and provost of UCSD, has provided prominent contacts throughout Hong Kong and China.  Certainly one of the most influential, he also may be the most charming man in China!

–CGC

John and Marilyn Long have signed an agreement to establish the John & Marilyn Long U.S.-China Institute for Business and Law.

UC Emeritus VP Archie Kleingartner, Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, John Long, Asst. Dean Donna Mumford, Asst. Dean Charles Cannon

This multimillion-dollar undertaking is a joint initiative of UCI School of Law and The Paul Merage School of Business, aiming to ”serve as a bridge for cross-cultural dialogue, an unbiased platform for understanding and promoting U.S.-China  business and legal relations, and a think tank for local, national and global constituencies and stakeholders on both sides of the Pacific.”

A formal announcement of the Longs’ gift and the establishment of the Institute will be made shortly.  In the meantime, an outline of the initiative is available at UCILongInstitute.org.  We will make our first journey to Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai with the Longs, next week.

– CGC

The OC Korean American Bar Association was kind enough to invite me to speak at the kick-off of their annual “Community Law School.”  Kia Motors hosted the event at their North American Headquarters, which makes for a great conference facility, complete with new car showroom.

This was a nice opportunity to formally acknowledge the intense work Ryul Kim has put into the launch of the UCI Korea Law Center.  A great pleasure, then, to announce that the efforts of the community have been realized in the school’s second class, which will include a number of Korean-Americans students, ready to play a pivotal role in shaping the Korea Law Center.

In a conversation with Peter Kim it was brought home how successful this inaugural year’s mentor program has been.  Peter is proud mentor to 1L Adam Brauner, who worked as an intern this past semester with classmate Jenifer Swanson, providing legal services to Camp Pendleton departing Marines and their families.  A reminder of another feat accomplished in our first year, with 60 students and 120 mentors coming together to create a sturdy mechanism for social service.

–CGC

April 14, 2010

Beginnings and endings naturally overlap.  CannonFodder, the external affairs blog of the UC Irvine School of Law, launches as the inaugural class finishes its first academic year with every student booked for a summer law job.  While the school’s web site documents many aspects of our remarkable first year, this blog will provide friends of the school with a more casual glimpse behind the scenes of institution-building in the legal academy.

Seoul celebratory launch: Ryul Kim, Ju Hwang, Erwin Chemerinsky, Charles Cannon

Professors recruited from top-tier law schools and inaugural students with a profile equal to that of the nation’s top dozen law schools have combined to create a remarkable milestone for the University of California.   Less apparent is the immediate impact on the local legal and business communities.

Leading local and national practitioners and academics appeared at dozens of inaugural lectures, symposia, colloquia, conferences and salons staged for audiences varying from the Federalist Society to the ACLU, Planned Parenthood to the J. Reuben Clark Law Society. 

Surprisingly to some, the school’s first external event was the July 2009 launch of the UCI Korea Law Center in Seoul, South Korea.  Dean Erwin Chemerinsky addressed the Constitutional Court and met with top Korean law schools to establish collaborative ties with both public and private universities.  In February a memorandum of understanding was signed with Sogang University School of Law, to create faculty and student exchanges.

Dean Kenneth Starr

Highlights of our inaugural year include two public debates between Dean Kenneth Starr and Dean Chemerinsky, the inaugural Mark Robinson Lecture featuring Burt Neuborne, a Marsy’s Law attorney training forum on victim’s rights, and a gala fundraiser to launch the UCI Public Interest Law Fund, which will provide stipends to law students working in summer public interest jobs.

Dr. Henry Nicholas sponsors attorney training on victim's rights

Along with virtually the entire founding staff of UCI School of Law, I moved to Irvine to join Erwin in building this law school after having been convinced that the support of the local community for a top-tier law school in Orange County ran deeper than anything I had encountered among law school alumni.  The professional, moral, financial and occasionally on-hands-and-knees support have is truly unprecedented.

PILF Gala: Prof. Mario Barnes, Emma Soichet 1L, Dean Chemerinsky

And so we end the year and begin the blog with profound thanks to our advisors and boosters, donors and occasional nay-sayers, for raising us to dizzying heights in our first year of existence.  I hope a few of us will be able to join the inaugural class for its 50^th reunion in 2062 when they properly and with a knowing view celebrate what we began this year.

–CGC