Eddy, Jon --- "The Asian Law Center: An evolution" [2014] ELECD 832; in Haley, O. John; Takenaka, Toshiko (eds), "Legal Innovations in Asia" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2014) 48

Book Title: Legal Innovations in Asia

Editor(s): Haley, O. John; Takenaka, Toshiko

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781783472789

Section: Chapter 1.3

Section Title: The Asian Law Center: An evolution

Author(s): Eddy, Jon

Number of pages: 11

Abstract/Description:

What role can or should a center for the comparative study of Asian legal systems play in the present day? More than 50 years ago, the University of Washington School of Law became a leader in establishing such studies. An initial Japanese law program quickly expanded to include other corners of Northeast Asia and in time areas well beyond. In this short chapter, I wish to examine the evolution of the Asian Law Center as it may shed light upon the contributions such a center can make to legal scholarship as the world becomes increasingly globalized. In January 2010, I was asked to step in as Director of the Asian Law Center. It was a period of great stress, for American higher education, the University of Washington, the School of Law, and particularly for the Asian Law Center. On the positive side, the Center was nearing its 50th anniversary, an accomplishment in a world when centers often come and go in a single budget cycle. The Center’s founding Director, Dan Fenno Henderson, and his illustrious successor, John O. Haley, played seminal roles in defining the study of the Japanese legal system. My immediate predecessor, Veronica Taylor, had added promising young faculty members, and continued to widen the geographic scope of the Center beyond Northeast Asia. Notably, in a time of very constrained resources, she had successfully brought significant federal grant funds to the Center, a development which has continued to grow in strength.