Saturday, January 02, 2010

Vermont Law School Strengthens Cooperative Ties with its Chinese Partners

VLS President Jeff Shields and CUPL Vice President Zhu Yong (with VLS hat)

The week of December 7 was a busy one for the Vermont Law School team in China. On December 7, VLS President and Dean Jeff Shields met with Vice President Zhu Yong of the China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL) to discuss strengthening of the academic collaboration between VLS and CUPL through a formal MOU, which was later signed by Dean Shields and CUPL President Huang Jin. (Photos)

Vermont Law School also renewed its memorandum of understanding with Sun Yat-sen University Law School for another three years. The December 11 MOU extends the general framework for cooperation between VLS and SYSU and is implemented on the VLS side through the VLS China program. Dean Jeff Shields signed the MOU for VLS and Dean Xu Zhongming signed it for SYSU Law School. (Photos)

SYSU Vice President Liang Qingyin presents SYSU photo to VLS President Shields at the MOU signing ceremony

VLS also met with the NDRC Training Center on December 9 to discuss joint training activities. In particular VLS and the NDRC Training Center agreed to sponsor training workshops on energy efficiency as well as on environmental impact assessment issues faced by Chinese state-owned enterprises engaged in natural resource extraction activities abroad. (Photos)

NDRC Training Center Director Ping Du, VLS President, Prof. Michael Dworkin, Prof. Tseming Yang

In addition, VLS hosted two round table events. VLS Energy Institute Director Michael Dworkin and Regulatory Assistance Project Director David Moskovitz led a workshop on electric power resource planning, wholesale electric power markets reform, and potential ‘smart-grid’ developments at the State Electric Regulatory Commission. The December 8 event included the Directors and senior officials of six major departments of the agency. On December 9, VLS Professor David Mears led an environmental law clinic roundtable at the China University of Political Science and Law’s Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims. Faculty from CUPL, Renmin University Law School, andBeijing Normal Universiity Law School participated in the round table. (Photos)