Opportunities for Collaboration among East Asian and US Law Schools

Law schools in East Asia and the US share at least two central challenges. The first relates to globalization and the responsibility of law schools to prepare students to practise in a global environment. The second relates to the contest for control over lawyer licensing that law schools engage in with bar authorities, among others. Is either challenge appropriate for solution through a collaborative approach among law schools from different countries and regions? Research on collaboration identifies the need for a common, shared purpose among collaborators. Local differences make collaboration unlikely with regard to the contest for control, but the goal of developing an approach to prepare students for work in a global environment rises above national differences and is ripe for collaboration.