Gerken also spoke about the School’s historical commitment to exchanging ideas with legal scholars around the world and welcoming international scholars and students into the Law School community. She described the development of the New Haven School of International Law — an approach to understanding international law born at Yale Law School — and the important efforts of former Dean and Sterling Professor of International Law Harold Hongju Koh to expand the Law School’s global reach.
In her speech, Gerken noted that Yale Law School’s international impact stems in large part from the work of its faculty-led centers and programs focused on law and the larger world.
The Paul Tsai China Center, founded in 1999 by Potter Stewart Professor of Constitutional Law Paul Gewirtz ’70, is devoted to studying China’s legal reforms, contributing to China-U.S. relations, and broadening understanding of China across the United States. The Center facilitates workshops and seminars as well as research visits to and from China and supports scholarly work by Chinese and U.S. scholars.
Gerken also noted some of the many centers and programs related to international law, including the Owen Fiss Latin American Linkage Program, the Center for Global Legal Challenges, and the Global Health Justice Partnership, to name a few.
“The work of all of these centers is of course powered by our extraordinary faculty, who work tirelessly to advance and elevate scholarship that engages with international legal issues,” Gerken noted.
