On June 14, organized by STL Society of Women in Law (“SWL”), over 20 faculty and students from Peking University School of Transnational Law (STL) visited Shenzhen Municipal Intermediate People’s Court successfully with the strong supports and active cooperation from the intermediate court from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
It was an extraordinary experience for the first level students who have started their career in law. With respect for justice and desire to become a lawyer, they entered the tribunals of the intermediate court to listen to the oral argument from the counsel on both sides, experienced the law in reality and saw how the august judges interpreted fairness and justice beyond the book.
The event consists of two parts: attending the trial and visiting the intermediate court.
Attending the trial is very important for a law school student. It’s a precious opportunity to meet the judge and experience how the law works in real life. The visiting students were divided into three groups and attended three trials separately. Among those trials were claims arose out of various issues, including disputes between neighbors on the installation of air conditioner, insurance liability caused by the traffic accident, patent infringement of food packaging. Though these cases are ordinary and common, it better reflected the real social reality. The session lasted for nearly two hours. The visiting students had a deep feeling that there is nothing trivial in law and it is necessary to combine the law with daily life perfectly. They also learned that it is not easy to become a lawyer. The wisdom of the judges, the proficiency of the clerks and the strategy of the adversarial counsel are all indispensable skills that a law school student should practice and gain beyond the textbooks.
The second part of the event is visiting the intermediate court to have a better understanding of law.
Guided by Mr. Zhao from Political Department, the STL students visited the corridor on the fifth floor of the main building. There are a plenty of documentary pictures displaying goals and achievements of the intermediate court’s recent work. Mr. Zhao firstly introduced the general information of the court such as the structure of the court and the manning level to help the students acquire a comprehensive understanding. He next explained in details how the intermediate court implements the idea of “the combination of mediation and judgment” and “mediation priority” in recent years, how to strive for further improvement from the top court in Guangdong to the nationwide, how to carry out the reform focusing on seven key points including judicial openness, which establishes three promotion platforms for the Party school members, the public and the judges to help more people understand the people’s court and the law and promote the construction of socialist country ruled by law.
At the end of the corridor is the law library. Thanks to the warm reception from the librarian, the student had a summary visit of the library containing fifty thousand volumes and complete collection of books of Hong Kong and Taiwan and took a group photo.
The event lasting for three hours came to the end. It deeply impressed the visiting students – a better understanding of law, a more persistent dream of becoming a lawyer, a stronger belief in justice and fairness.
Written by Wu Yuenian
