Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 July 2016
Taiwanese legal education is undergoing transformation and diversification. While the traditional approach to legal education has produced legal professionals who have led civil rights movements and contributed to the democratization of Taiwan, it has failed to meet the challenges of today’s world. Under globalization, Taiwanese industries and society now require lawyers capable of solving transnational legal disputes and legal issues regarding developments in technology and changes in society. However, these new challenges also provide law schools in Taiwan with an opportunity to apply experimental approaches, to innovate legal education. This essay describes the past and present state of legal education in Taiwan, especially its development since the government’s failed attempt at reform. Furthermore, it introduces the successful example of National Chiao Tung University’s Law School—a new law school that has developed a creative model of “innovation hub” and “social enterprise” that is transforming Taiwan’s legal education.
Associate Dean, Associate Professor, National Chiao Tung University School of Law, Taiwan. S.J.D., Duke University School of Law.
Assistant Professor, National Chiao Tung University School of Law, Taiwan. S.J.D., Duke University School of Law.
Dean, Professor, National Chiao Tung University School of Law, Taiwan. Ph.D., Texas A& M University. This essay was originally presented at the panel “Innovations in East Asian Law Schools and Collaborative Possibilities for US Law Schools” at the 110th Annual Meeting of Association of American Law Schools (AALS) in New York in January 2016. The authors thank Professor Setsuo Miyazawa, the Chair of the East Asian Legal Education panel at AALS, for his invitation to present this essay. They would also like to thank the attendees of the panel for providing feedback.