朱毅：美国南卫理工会大学法学院（2009-2010学年）
时间：2010-04-16 来源：作者：
The exchange program between PKU and SMU lasts for one year. The candidates selected to come to SMU will be awarded full scholarship and $8000 living fees for total. At the end of the program they will receive a LL.M. degree. It is an excellent chance to experience the life in American law schools.
The LL.M. program in SMU has a requirement of 24 credit hours for the whole year. For the past fall semester, I chose six courses, 13 credit hours in total, and have a lot of burden. One of the significant differences between American law school and Chinese law school is the stunning reading assignments before class, approximately 250 pages of reading for a week. The motive to read largely came from the Socratic Method of teaching. In other words, there were large possibilities students would be “called on” in class by professors and it was really a shame to stumble or even confess that you had not done your homework.
LL.M. students in SMU were not called on very often, partly because the professors concerned that the language may still be a large barrier for LL.M. students to overcome. However, as international students, good preparation is a must to catch up with the professor in class, for most of the courses what the professors discuss in class would be in the context of cases, and there are no possibilities to participate the discussion without going through the fact, procedure history, reasoning and holding of the cases.
The hardest time for me in this semester was with no doubt the exam period. I had 2 close book exams and 4 take-homes. Since each course would cover large amounts of contents during the semester, law school students would typically make outlines for each course, which was really a heavy work load. Some professors’ exams were very detailed and even inquire into the facts of certain cases. I have kept in mind over 40 cases before taking the contract law exams. Of course, law school exams aimed not at testing the memory of the students, but their abilities to apply rules to certain fact patterns. And this is why professors love to present essay questions in their exams.
After the one-semester training in law, I found that I did improve a lot in thinking logically and considering issues from various angles. Maybe this is what they call “think as a lawyer”.
Apart from the study, I have made many friends here in Dallas. LL.M. has a diverse composition. There are about 30 students in the class for fall semester and they come from over 15 different countries. I experience difference cultures when communicating with difference classmates. Some of them became very close friends of mine and we often hang out and had parties together, which made living in this foreign country not so lonely and stressful. These relationships, I think, are as valuable as the thinking method we learn in class.
In sum, this is a amazing study and life experience I really cherish. And I will keep on fighting passionately in the remaining semester as a LL.M student in SMU!
The LL.M. program in SMU has a requirement of 24 credit hours for the whole year. For the past fall semester, I chose six courses, 13 credit hours in total, and have a lot of burden. One of the significant differences between American law school and Chinese law school is the stunning reading assignments before class, approximately 250 pages of reading for a week. The motive to read largely came from the Socratic Method of teaching. In other words, there were large possibilities students would be “called on” in class by professors and it was really a shame to stumble or even confess that you had not done your homework.
LL.M. students in SMU were not called on very often, partly because the professors concerned that the language may still be a large barrier for LL.M. students to overcome. However, as international students, good preparation is a must to catch up with the professor in class, for most of the courses what the professors discuss in class would be in the context of cases, and there are no possibilities to participate the discussion without going through the fact, procedure history, reasoning and holding of the cases.
The hardest time for me in this semester was with no doubt the exam period. I had 2 close book exams and 4 take-homes. Since each course would cover large amounts of contents during the semester, law school students would typically make outlines for each course, which was really a heavy work load. Some professors’ exams were very detailed and even inquire into the facts of certain cases. I have kept in mind over 40 cases before taking the contract law exams. Of course, law school exams aimed not at testing the memory of the students, but their abilities to apply rules to certain fact patterns. And this is why professors love to present essay questions in their exams.
After the one-semester training in law, I found that I did improve a lot in thinking logically and considering issues from various angles. Maybe this is what they call “think as a lawyer”.
Apart from the study, I have made many friends here in Dallas. LL.M. has a diverse composition. There are about 30 students in the class for fall semester and they come from over 15 different countries. I experience difference cultures when communicating with difference classmates. Some of them became very close friends of mine and we often hang out and had parties together, which made living in this foreign country not so lonely and stressful. These relationships, I think, are as valuable as the thinking method we learn in class.
In sum, this is a amazing study and life experience I really cherish. And I will keep on fighting passionately in the remaining semester as a LL.M student in SMU!