UC law professor seeks to expand LLM program, strengthen global partnerships

Felix Chang, professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, understands the importance of international experience and education. As one of the founders of the LLM program at Cincinnati Law, Chang has fostered relationships between exchange students and JD candidates here at UC.

This summer, Chang had the opportunity to travel to Japan to continue building those relationships, as well as dive deeper into his research with fellow scholars.

Every four years the International Academy of Comparative Law hosts a weeklong workshop where scholars from all over the world participate in discussions of varying topics as they relate to comparative law. The event was held on Japan’s third largest island, Kyushu in Fukuoka City.  And this year, for the first time ever, the workshop was opened to young scholars to present their work and receive feedback from their senior peers.

Chang was accepted as a speaker for a workshop focused on populism. One topic of this workshop focused on how populism in the global south is very different from populism in Europe or the US. Chang presented his current research which “looks at the integration of Europe’s largest minority, the Roma, and comparing that with the Civil Rights movement in the US.”

However, Chang’s intentions for this trip to Japan was two-fold. The first to present his research and meet with fellow international scholars, but also to meet with a partner institution of the University of Cincinnati.

Chiba University is located outside of Tokyo. According the Chang, UC is very excited for the opportunities of this collaboration while working with several areas of study, including legal studies. Chang described the plans for collaboration to include student exchange programs, attracting students to the LLM program, and faculty collaboration on research as well.

Through the LLM program, international students who already have a law degree from another country can earn a master’s degree here at UC to further market themselves and either stay in the US or travel elsewhere and continue to practice or teach.

Representatives from Chiba University will be visiting UC later this year and plan to meet with other departments at UC to further discuss the partnership of the two universities. Several departments, including German studies and the College of Design, Architecture Art, and Planning, already have very robust collaborations with Chiba, and Chang aims to create the same type of partnership with the law school as well.

Chang is hoping that the collaboration with Chiba University will help grow and diversify the LLM program, as well as expand faculty research for comparative law. He says that JD students can gain international knowledge by interacting with the LLM students, as well as consider international travel themselves.

Anyone interested in international or comparative law should check out how they can get involved with the LLM program and keep an eye out for the new partnership with Chiba University to unfold.