Day Three in Taiwan -- A Two Fer’ on Steroids

Thursday morning saw us tour the beautiful Lin Family Gardens and Mansion in central Taipei.  The weather was Florida-like, which made a walking tour in a suit and tie less enjoyable than one could otherwise anticipate.  However, the gardens and family compound of one of Taiwan’s leading families of the 19th and early 20th centuries were exquisite.  No pics, unfortunately, because I had left my memory card in my computer.

Then on to the Army Officers’ Club for a multi-course lunch with the dean and leading members of the faculty of Soochow University School of Law. 

Soochow’s law school was established in Shanghai on the mainland in the early 20th century as a joint venture of the Harvard and Michigan law schools.  If I understood correctly, Roscoe Pound was its first dean.  Soochow originally had a common law curriculum but was forced to switch to the civil law in the early 1920s after the revolution led by Sun Yat-sen.  Soochow was forced off the mainland in 1949 after the victory of Mao and was reestablished in Taipei in 1954.

Soochow today has a mixed civil law/common law curriculum that would enhance the ability of its grads to get an LL.M. in American Legal Studies at Regent or any other American law school.  Our discussions with the folks from Soochow were very helpful in better understanding the market for such an on-line LL.M.

Next we took a short drive to Ming Chuan University Law School where we met at length with Dean Yung Sheng (“Ezra”) Wu as well as several members of his faculty.  Then a lecture (by Dean Brauch, not me this time) to an SRO seminar room of students and faculty on the value of an LL.M. in American Legal Studies and the peculiar nature of the bar examination process in the U.S.  We concluded with our respective deans signing MOUs by which we hope to increase cooperative efforts between our schools. One immediate area might be participation by Regent in a conference that Dean Wu hopes to sponsor this fall on proposed legislative action by the government of Taiwan that would force congregational Christian churches into a hierarchical form of church government even if that would conflict with conscientiously held beliefs.

Penultimately, we found ourselves at an extraordinary multi-, multi-course dinner hosted by Dean Wu.  I found myself seated next to Steve Wang, president of the Taiwan Futures Exchange (which corresponds to America’s CFTC) and was able to enjoy a scintillating discussion of the futures markets, trading in derivatives, and the financial reform legislation currently pending in the U.S. Senate.

The evening ended with a brief shopping trip to the Shilin Night Market.  I had visited Shilin with my wife once or twice last year and enjoyed it just as much this time around.

Tomorrow, a ride on Taiwan’s high-speed rail line to Taichung  where we will meet the law faculty of Overseas Chinese University.