July 6-16, 2008

The International Legal Exchange (ILEX) Program of the ABA Section of International Law organized a Briefing Trip in July 2008 to the Republic of Korea, Japan, the People’s Republic of China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China. Led by ABA SIL Chair Jeffrey Golden, the delegation included prominent lawyers, judges and academics, including U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.

In Seoul, the delegation attended briefings and lectures by the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, AmCham Legal Affairs Committee and the Korean Bar Association. Once in Tokyo, delegation members toured the Supreme Court of Japan and met with a former Supreme Court Justice and the Japan Federation of Bar Associations

The delegation had the opportunity to visit both Shanghai and Beijing, meeting with the China Law Society, the All China Lawyers’ Association and the Shanghai Lawyers’ Association. While in Hong Kong, delegation members attended briefings on the International Arbitration Center and the “One Country, Two Systems” policy that is maintained with China, in addition to meeting with the Chief Justice of the Final Court of Appeals.

The trip was intended to achieve the following objectives:

To engage in a dialogue--among ABA International leaders, local government regulators, key local practitioners, local lawyers’ associations, and leading jurists and regulators from the United States and Asia--about the contributions of rule of law reforms to economic development in Japan, South Korea, the People’s Republic of China, and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China;

To understand better the extent to which rule of law reforms have supported or encouraged economic development in recent decades in Japan, South Korea, the People’s Republic of China, and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China;

To foster an exchange on the role of lawyers and bar/lawyers associations in the development of national economies, including development of financial systems/markets;

As requested by local lawyers associations, regulators or other interest groups in those countries we visit, to offer ABA International’s support, through technical legal assistance efforts, for rule of law reforms that foster economic development;

In cooperation with local government regulators, key local practitioners, local lawyers associations, and leading jurists, to develop a consensus of best practices related to rule of law reforms that foster economic development, for use by the legal profession in assisting with economic development;

ILEX Asia Itinerary and Delegation

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