Asian Law Center

In May 2009, the UW School of Law hosted the Hon. Kang-Kook Lee, president of Korea's Constitutional Court. President Lee delivered an address on the court entitled "The Korean Constitutional Court: History & Challenges," and discussed the establishment, jurisdiction and cases handled by the Korean Constitutional Court.

The Korean Constitutional Court, established in 1988, recently hosted an International Symposium in celebration of its 20th anniversary which brought together the heads of constitutional organs of thirty countries and six regional commissions. President Lee has had a long and distinguished career in the judiciary, including serving as a Justice on the Korean Supreme Court and as the Minister of Court Administration. He has been serving as the President of the Korean Constitutional Court since 2007.

On May 6, 2009 (115 William H. Gates Hall, 12:30-1:20pm), Professor Ilhyung Lee from the University of Missouri School of Law examined efforts in Korea to pursue equality in the education system. The Korean Constitution provides for equality before the law. Prof. Lee encouraged an examination of the extent to which Korean law, instead of merely providing for a general anti-discrimination protection, seeks affirmatively to effect equality, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. His focus in this presentation was on efforts to effect equality in a critical and important aspect of Korean life and society -- education. In the education setting, egalitarian policies designed to level the playing field for all Koreans seem to reflect the Korean desire to avoid “incongruity” or “disharmony” resulting from unequal positions, or we-hwa-gahm. The discussion encouraged further attention to the relationship between law and societal norms in the Korean setting.

Professor Ilhyung Lee is Edward W. Hinton Professor of Law at University of Missouri School of Law, specializing in Comparative Constitutional Law, Cross-cultural Dispute Resolution, International Commercial Arbitration, and intellectual property law (Trademarks and Copyright). Professor Lee previously held positions with Cravath, Swaine & Moore (New York) and Kim & Chang (Seoul, Korea), as well as clerked for the Honorable Joseph F. Weis, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. 

On March 3, 2009, Professor Gyung –Young Jung from Sungkyunkwan University School of Law, Seoul, Korea, offered an overview of the Electronic Financial Transaction Act of Korea and discuss issues concerning the liability of financial institutes for unauthorized electronic financial transactions. Prof. Jung specializes in commercial law including corporations, insurance law, negotiable instruments, and financial law. He holds a B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in law from Seoul National University. A well accomplished scholar, Professor Jung sits on several journal editorial boards, is the VP for Korea Payment & Settlement Association, is the Commissioner of the Ministry of Justice Electronic Negotiable Instrument Dispute Settlement Council and is a member of the Ministry of Justice Legislative Committee for Special Act of Commercial Law.

Dr. Patricia Goedde (J.D. ’98, Ph.D. ‘08) has been appointed as a faculty member at Sungkyunkwan University College of Law. Sungkungkwan is a top tier private law school in Seoul with a distinguished history. Dr Goedde is one of very few female law professor  appointees in Korea. As a researcher with the Asian Law Center, Dr. Goedde co-organized, with Professor Kang and colleauges from Korea University College of Law, the center hosted Topics in Korean Law Conference in Decmber 2006. Her own doctoral dissertation examined how legal activists and citizen movement organizations develop and institutionalize public interest law practice in Korea.

Our partnership with Korea University College of Law has been very active on all fronts: Korea University law students study annually at UW Law School since 2006, and the Center has been hosting visiting Korea University law professors including Zoonil Yi (‘06-‘07), Byung Hyun Yoo (‘07-‘08) and Young-Hwan Chung (‘08-‘09). UW Law faculty members provide editorial support for the Korea University College of Law English-language law journal, and the two institutions hosted a joint conference on Topics in Korean Law in Seattle (December 2006).

Many Asian Law alumni associate their time at UW with studying in the library under the care and guidance of East Asia Law Department head, Bill McCloy. Bill recently retired and it is with great appreciation that we thank him for his many years of service actively supporting Korean, Chinese and Taiwanese legal studies and offering guidance to students, faculty, and researchers alike.

William (Bill) McCloy was one of few law librarians in the U.S. fluent in both Korean and Chinese, and was professionally recognized for producing leading resources for Korean, Chinese and Taiwanese legal research and information. Together with our Japanese collections specialist, Robert Britt, Bill continued to build the Gallagher Law Library's CJK collections. Bill cataloged thousands of Korean and Chinese law books, helping to make the University of Washington's Gallagher Law Library a pre-eminent institution for East Asian legal research.

During 2006-07 the Law School and the Asian Law Center signed collaborative agreements with top Korean law departments, including Korea University (April 2006), Seoul National University (October 2007), Sungkyunkwan University –BK 21 Project Team (April 2007), and Yeungnam University (September 2007). These partnerships will allow us to exchange faculty and students, to develop joint research and teaching, and to hold joint conferences, workshops and publications.

Beginning with the 2007-08 academic year, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Korea has designated the Gallagher Law Library as an "Overseas Contact Library," one of a privileged few in the world.  The first fruit of this enhanced relationship was a gift of 137 volumes of up-to-date books and journals on the Korean legal system, focusing especially on the judicial branch and the decisions of the Supreme Court.  Many of these materials are the only library copies in the world outside of Korea, and they should greatly enhance the field of Korean Legal Studies at the UW. 

The Supreme Court's gift adds to what is already one of the largest and best collections of Korean legal materials in North America, complementing a world-renowned Korean Studies Collection in the University of Washington Libraries.

At the 2007 Alumni Recognition Banquet the Law School celebrated the accomplishments of Mr. Chang Rok Woo, who received his LL.M in Asian and Comparative Law in 1983. Dean Knight presented Mr. Woo with the 2007 Distinguished Alumni award in recognition of his civic, professional, and community service. Chang Rok Woo is the founding partner and current managing partner at Yulchon, one of the largest and fastest-growing full-service law firms in Korea. Under C.R.’s leadership Yulchon has grown to more then 140 professionals. In addition to his executive duties as managing partner, C.R. has an active tax law practice and is widely regarded as a preeminent specialist in the tax field.  In addition to being an active member and past president of the International Association of Korean Lawyers, C.R. volunteers for many educational and charitable organizations. For six years he has been the president of the University of Washington Alumni Association in Korea, and in that role, he conducted the first Korean alumni homecoming at the UW in 2001. C.R. has also led the fundraising campaign for the University’s Korea Study Center.

The Law School has been privileged to host Dr. Chan Jin Kim during 2005-08; in 2007 he taught a cutting edge course on Korean Law and Economic Development at the Law School. Dr. Kim is a former National Assembly Member of the Republic of Korea, founder of a leading international legal practice, and the author of several significant books on Korean commercial law and trade. He was the first graduate of the UW Ph.D. Program in Asian and Comparative Law. During his time at UW he has been writing a new book on the history of law and economic development in Korea.

In October 2006, then Dean Knight and Professors Taylor, Takenaka and Kang traveled to Korea to continue to develop our relationships with the legal and business community in Korea. They visited several of our parter law schools. They visited with the Dean and faculty of Korea University’s College of Law, with whom we formally partnered earlier that year. Dean Knight also enjoyed returning to Seoul National University College of Law which has continued to grow and evolve since his last visit. While visiting Yonsei University, our faculty met with an impressive group of law professors, including UW alumnus Professor Hyung Doo Nam (Ph.D. '05) who now teaches Intellectual Property Law at Yonsei. Our faculty also accompanied Washington State Senator Paull Shin to the city of Gwangju to visit Chosun University's College of Law. Lastly, Dean Knight was honored to present to faculty and students at Sungkyunkwan University College of Law on challenges confronting US law schools.

In addition, our faculty visited the Supreme Court of Korea, where they met with the Minister for National Court Administration, as well as visited the Ministry of Justice. Professors Taylor, Takenaka and Kang also paid a visit to the general counsel of LG, the legal offices of Samsung, and the Korea Foundation.

Our visit to Korea afforded us a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with many of our graduates and former visiting scholars. The UW alumni club of Seoul hosted a lovely dinner party. The number and achievements of those in attendance was astounding. Many UW alumni were also included in a group of more than 150 of the most successful attorneys and business people in Seoul who joined a final dinner at the residence of U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow, with Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire and UW President Mark Emmert.

We were delighted to hire Assistant Professor Yong-Sung Jonathan Kang, making UW the only top-tier law school in the U.S. with a tenure-track professor teaching comparative Korean law.

Professor Kang joined the faculty in Fall 2006 after experience as a visiting assistant professor at Fordham Law School and legal practice with Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton and Latham & Watkins, and at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. His teaching and research interests are in the areas of contract law and theory, international business transactions, Korean law, and moral and legal philosophy. A fluent speaker of Korean and a proficient speaker of Mandarin Chinese, Professor Kang was born in Seoul and grew up in Singapore. He attended Oxford University, where he read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Jesus College, obtaining a first class Honor’s degree. Professor Kang is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School. He clerked for Judge Robert A. Katzmann of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.