Tag Archives: Asia

Snapshot: Stephen Lam ’13

Posted on by

Stephen’s winter term writing project focused on understanding the legal and regulatory impact that efforts to transform the Chinese Renminbi into an international currency will have on the development of Chinese capital markets and on the future development of China as a financial actor. By traveling to Beijing and Hong Kong in January, he was able to interview experts — including law firm partners, financial economists, journalists and ratings officials — and refine his research thesis. There was a clear benefit in “being able to sit down with practitioners in the field and talk about what is going on,” Stephen noted; “there’s only so much you can get from secondary sources, especially in a subject area like this, where there is so much change.” His project grew out of a long-standing interest in East Asian and Chinese legal studies, reflected in the courses, independent research, and Chayes International Public Service Fellowship he has undertaken during the last three years. Stephen grew up speaking Cantonese, but the four semesters of advanced Mandarin that he took through cross-registration allowed him to delve more deeply into the cultural and social aspects of his research, as well as the legal ones. “The resources available to internationally focused students are one of the things that attracted me to HLS,” he explained.

(Please visit “Winter Term 2013: Snapshots from Students” to read about other recent projects.)

 

Meet the 2013 Chayes Fellows

Posted on by

Twenty-three Harvard Law School students have been awarded the 2013 Chayes International Public Service Fellowship this summer. They are working abroad in Afghanistan, Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, France, India, Italy, Hungary, Japan, Myanmar, the Netherlands, Portugal, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Yemen, as well as in New York City and Washington, DC. Please click here to read brief biographies and descriptions of their summer placements submitted by the students

Cravath Fellow Victor Ban, JD ’13, on spending winter term in Japan

Posted on by

Victor Ban “I’m spending J-term in Japan researching agricultural trade policy. Specifically, I’m interested in Japan’s shift from multilateral negotiations in the World Trade Organization to bilateral Economic Partnership Agreement (“EPA”) negotiations and the extent to which this structural transition in international law has impacted policy dynamics. I’m in the middle of a quick trip to Tokyo, where I’m meeting with government officials and picking up some documents and books. Meetings today were very helpful; officials from two agencies, normally on opposite sides of the agricultural liberalization debate, gave a fairly consistent and candid picture of the transition to EPAs, and also shared insights on trade policy more generally. Tomorrow, I’ll meet with an interest group representative well versed in EPA matters and then head to the National Diet Library.

Many thanks to the Cravath International Fellowship Program and the International Legal Studies team for making this project possible.”

To learn more about Cravath International Fellowships, please click here.

Chayes Fellow Lillian Langford (JD’ 13), working in the Kyrgyz Republic with the Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia

Posted on by

Chayes Fellow Lillian Langford with EBL lawyers

“I’m now in the middle of about a month of field visits to remote areas to interview the project’s lawyers and clients for a final report …The stories of our clients are often tragic, but the lawyers seem to be doing great work for people who otherwise would have no access to legal aid.”

Lillian is working this summer with Equal Before the Law: Access to Justice in Central Asia, a a program designed to increase access to justice for vulnerable populations, in particular for rural women, at-risk children and persons with disabilities.

“What strikes me most, hearing the stories and reactions of the clients we have met in our first week of field visits, is how astonished many of them were when they realized that someone was able and willing to help them with their problems.”

Lillian and her fellow interns are blogging about their experiences on the Equal Before the Law web site; please click here to read Lillian’s posts.

Jordan Baehr (JD ’13), 2011 Chayes Fellow, on his summer work in Hong Kong

Posted on by

“I have spent the bulk of my time conducting research and developing educational materials based on the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act, which requires certain companies to publicly disclose their ‘efforts to combat slavery and human trafficking in their supply chains.’ Because the materials I have produced are for a wide range of audiences (including some of the companies affected by the act, suppliers and vendors who might be American or East Asian, and local Chinese factories) the research required me to look into a wide range of California, US, and international law, and to carefully consider their commonalities, differences, interactions and implementations. I also had to learn about common Chinese factory practices, both through published reports by NGOs, the US Government and the UN and through visits to factories, conversations with our staff and study of the records and reports that they have produced. All in all this has been incredibly fascinating, both in its sheer breadth and in the opportunities it has afforded to connect legal text, theory and practice with the social realities with which they are concerned.”