Program of Instruction

2009 Courses

Dates
Classes will meet Monday through Friday for four weeks, beginning on Monday, June 29, 2009, and ending on Friday, July 24, 2009. Students seeking academic credit will begin the written final examinations on July 26 and finish by noon on July 28. Registration is on Sunday, June 28. Students typically enroll for the full four-week course of instruction. Local lawyers will be permitted to attend one term only and also may enroll in a single course.

Classes and Academic Credit
The courses focus on topics important to legal practitioners especially in international business transactions. All instruction will be in English. Written materials for each course will be supplied at no extra charge at the time of registration. Any additional reference materials will be available at the program site. Students may use the University of Hong Kong Law Library and the University's main library, but it is not anticipated that library research will be necessary for courses taught in the Institute. Computer facilities will be available at the University and at the residential site.

Classes will meet on weekdays in the Law Faculty building from 8am to 2pm. There will also be two extra review/supplementary classes. Each class period will be one hour in length, and no courses will be offered simultaneously. Participants will, therefore, be able to enroll in courses of their choice as long as space is available. A schedule of class times will be provided to applicants. Courses will be divided into two two-week terms, each of which will be taught by a separate faculty member from a different legal culture in order better to expose participants not only to the comparative aspects of law study, but also to different methods of teaching.

Classes will be small enough to facilitate interaction between faculty members and students. Foreign students considering further study or the practice of law in the United States will benefit from the introduction to the American legal system, from the case method of teaching, and from frequent interaction with faculty members and fellow students. Classroom instruction will be enriched by attendance at the afternoon seminars, panel discussions, and excursions to the Stock Exchange, the Court of Final Appeal, and law firms engaged in international transactions.

Each course will carry two semester-hours of academic credit (one per term), and participants may enroll in as many as three courses for a maximum of six semester-hours of credit. Students must enroll in the same courses for both terms of the program. Lawyers may, however, attend a single course for one or both terms.

Those participants who are matriculated at the Duke University School of Law may apply academic credits earned in the program towards their degree requirements. Member schools of the Association of American Law Schools will normally award J.D. credit for any course satisfactorily completed in the program as well. The program is offered as part of the fully accredited curriculum of the Duke University School of Law and is approved by the American Bar Association.

Seminars
An integral part of the academic program of the Asia-America Institute in Transnational Law is the series of special afternoon seminars that are scheduled throughout the month. Experts from Hong Kong and other Asian legal, political, and financial communities will speak on important and timely topics. Students will have opportunities to engage speakers in informal discussion at the conclusion of the seminars.

Transcripts
American law students who achieve appropriate final examination results normally will be able to receive academic credit from their home institutions. Students are responsible for obtaining approval to transfer credit and information about the possibility of accelerated graduation from their own law schools. All students can request official transcripts from Duke University at no extra charge. The grading system will be the same as that regularly used at Duke Law School. Information on grades is on the Law School website (www.law.duke.edu/about/community/rules/sec3.html#rule3-1). (Although no grade and no academic credit will be awarded for any course in which the participant has not taken the written examination, the notation "Audit" will be recorded for any course regularly attended by the participant.) Students who do not wish to receive academic credit for their courses are not required to take final examinations, but all students are strongly advised to consider sitting for a minimum of two examinations.