GW LAW SCHOOL PARTICIPATES IN ESTABLISHMENT OF THE
SOUTH ASIA LEGAL EDUCATION CONSORTIUM

WASHINGTON – The George Washington University Law School has announced GW’s participation in the establishment of the world’s first consortium of law schools from the U.S. and the Indian subcontinent.  The South Asia Legal Education Consortium (SALEC) will work to encourage greater political and economic integration, religious tolerance, and legal development in the region through the development and exchange of ideas, practical training, and scholarship.

“SALEC aims to increase the breadth and depth of understanding among lawyers, law professors, and law students in the U.S. and Asia of the legal challenges in South Asia,” said Professor Raj Bhala, associate dean for international and comparative legal studies, and director of SALEC at GW.  “SALEC views South Asia as at a strategic crossroad.  Our ambition is to help ensure that in the next half-century South Asia takes the road toward a legal future that is far better than the legal history of the 50 years following the 1947 Partition.”

SALEC was conceived at The George Washington University Law School in 2000, and built over the next two years by a group of trade law scholars of South Asian heritage.  In addition to GW, SALEC brings together top law schools in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.  Current members include the Pakistan College of Law, University of Delhi, University of Calcutta, University of Kerala, University of Dhaka, Rajshahi University, and the University of Colombo.  Each of the member law schools will support and sponsor academic conferences, faculty exchanges, scholarly collaboration, research and externship opportunities for students, and the promotion of graduate legal studies programs.

Plans are underway for SALEC conferences to be held in India, Pakistan, and Washington, D.C., in 2002 and 2003.

GW has one of the most extensive international and comparative law curricula in the nation, offering over 30 courses each year to its J.D. and graduate law students. Program faculty include leading scholars in the field, and other academic initiatives include the Oxford-GW Summer Program in International Human Rights Law and membership in the North American Consortium on Legal Education, which facilitates student and faculty exchange among member NAFTA country schools.

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©2002 The George Washington University Office of University Relations, Washington, D.C.
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