As part of its annual China Program, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers (IATL) will host 10 government lawyers (delegates) from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the U.S. for three weeks.
The Program will celebrate the arrival of the China delegates with a Welcoming Dinner. Attended by the region’s leading attorneys, judges, politicians and special guests, this year’s dinner will be held at The Fairmont Hotel in San Jose on Sunday, May 17, with a reception at 5 p.m. and dinner at 6 p.m.
“In the past two decades, the China Program has been very influential in promoting the Rule of Law in the People’s Republic of China and in improving U.S. – China relations as a whole. We look forward to having another successful year and to celebrate the program and delegates at the Welcoming Dinner,” said James McManis, IATL’s China Program Chair and head of McManis Faulkner.
Following a week long orientation hosted by McManis Faulkner, the delegates will travel to the homes of IATL Fellows in various cities across the U.S., experiencing the life of an American trial lawyer with the Fellows and their families. After two weeks in residence, the delegates will reconvene in San Jose to share their experiences before returning to Beijing.
The Academy’s China Program was started in 1994 to assist in the development of the legal, economic and financial infrastructure of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). To date, about 200 Chinese lawyers have participated and returned to the PRC to serve in prominent positions in the Chinese government.
The International Academy is a group of elite trial lawyers representing both sides of the bar: prosecutors and defense attorneys in criminal cases, and plaintiff’s lawyers and defense counsel in civil matters (including business and personal injury cases). While the majority of its Fellows come from the U.S., the Academy includes lawyers from more than 36 countries. Fellowship is by invitation only, and trial lawyers are invited to become Fellows only after an extremely careful vetting process that includes discreet inquiries of both judges and other trial lawyers of high standing. U.S. membership is limited to the top 500 trial lawyers under the age of 70. The Academy's purposes are to promote reforms in the law, facilitate the administration of justice, promote the rule of law internationally and elevate the standards of integrity, honor and courtesy in the legal profession.