Back from Break

With only a few hours of spring break remaining, it’s time to shift gears and start thinking of the week ahead. As tough as it will be to leave vacation behind, my first class should be a good one. On Monday afternoons I have Chinese Business Law, a small, discussion-based class of about 12 students.  Our professor comes to us from the World Bank, where she served formerly as Senior Advisor to the Corporate Secretary and as the Bank’s Chief Counsel for the East Asia & Pacific Region. Today we’ll discuss intellectual property and technology transfer in China while using the current trademark dispute between Apple and Proview as a case study. Our professor split us into two groups to argue the merits of each party’s position, and I’m looking forward to the debate.

During the second hour of class, GW’s Associate Dean for Government Procurement Law and former White House Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy will join us for an examination of China’s procurement policies. He’s our third guest lecturer this semester.

For me, this class exemplifies one of the lesser-known benefits of attending law school in DC. When I was choosing where to go to school, I was already living in DC and considering going to a school back home. I opted to attend GW as an evening student primarily because I wanted to stay plugged into the political world. I work in energy policy, and I saw the GW evening program as a chance to earn my JD without losing track of legislative and regulatory developments.

What I failed to appreciate fully, however, was the vast number of opportunities that exists simply by virtue of attending law school in such close proximity to federal agencies and the courts.  Last semester, I attended Justice Scalia’s keynote address to the George Washington Law Review Symposium, and it wasn’t uncommon to spot Justice Thomas in the hallway before he stepped into a classroom to co-teach a constitutional law seminar. Although the ability to learn from current and former practitioners was not a factor I weighed heavily in making my law school decision,  hearing about their real-life experiences during class is easily one of the most enjoyable and most rewarding aspects of my law school experience.