Program Overview

Temple Law has always taken great pride in providing an excellent legal education that prepares its graduates for the challenges they will meet in practice. Globalization has significantly changed the nature of these challenges. In the decade that U.S. trade across the Pacific surpassed that across the Atlantic, clear recognition arose in the legal profession that Asia is an area of practice in which lawyers should receive special training. The growing number of commercial Asia-U.S. transactions continues to flame both domestic and foreign demand for U.S. lawyers who specialize in Asian law. While this demand continues and will likely grow, only a limited number of academic programs in the United States exist that are specifically designed to create such specialists.

This program is designed primarily for those who hold a Juris Doctor (JD) degree, potential JD students, and lawyers from foreign common law jurisdictions who would use Temple's curricular strengths and existing programs as a bridge to expand their careers to Asia, the most dynamic region in the 21st-century world.

The Beasley School of Law has long regarded its international law programs as a core center of excellence. Indeed, our expertise in international law generally is reflected in our strong national ranking in that area. Our substantive depth and our existing physical presence in the capitals of the nations with the three largest economies in Asia make us the program of choice for those wishing to become Asian law specialists. Our program is unique in requiring candidates to spend a semester at a law school program in Asia, ensuring that graduates of the program are exposed not just to substantive aspects of the law, but to the almost equally important nuances of the legal, economic and social culture from which those laws spring.

Our tenured faculty specialize in Chinese Law, Japanese Law, and legal issues in Asia. Our roots run deep in legal education in Asia. In 1994, we became the only U.S. law school to offer a full semester of JD study and a full academic year for LLM students in Asia at Temple University's Japan campus in Tokyo. In 1999, the Beasley School of Law expanded into China in a groundbreaking program to train Chinese lawyers, judges and professors. In addition, we send students every fall to study Chinese Law in Tsinghua University's LLM in Chinese Law program for non-Chinese students. In 2011, Temple entered into an exchange partnership with Jindal Global University Law School in National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi, India.