For Immediate Release
- Contact:
- Herbert J. Hansell, Jones Day, 202-879-3986
R. Michael Gadbaw, General Electric Co., 202-637-4268
John Frisbie, US-China Business Council, 202-429-0340
China Rule of Law Grants Announced by
Business-Backed Legal Fund
Washington, February 27, 2008 - The US-China Legal Cooperation Fund, a charitable program supported by leading American companies engaged in trade and investment with the People's Republic of China, has announced the latest grants in its continuing program of support for joint US-PRC cooperation in China's legal development. The approved grants provide full or partial support of projects dealing with alternative dispute resolution, environmental law, death penalty reforms, minority criminal legal aid, and prevention of sexual harassment.
The Fund's Trustees, co-chaired by Herbert J. Hansell of the law firm Jones Day and R. Michael Gadbaw of the General Electric Company, made the awards from a pool of applications at the Fund's recent semi-annual meeting.
Information on the projects supported by the latest Fund awards follows:
- Conducting empirical research and creating a pilot program on alternative dispute resolution (ADR) options in China's courts, sponsored by the China Judicial Reform Research Center, Sichuan University School of Law in cooperation with Temple University School of Law.
- Conducting a collaborative research project on obstacles/solutions to improved implementation and enforcement of China's environmental laws and organizing workshops for environmental law teachers in Guangdong province. The project is sponsored by the Vermont Law School in cooperation with Sun Yat-sen University School of Law.
- Conducting an assessment of how the Supreme People's Court's new death penalty guidelines are being applied in Beijing, Shandong, and Guangdong, sponsored by the University of Hawaii at Manoa in collaboration with Peking University.
- Expanding a continuing program to enhance the quality and scope of legal representation of ethnic minority criminal defendants in China. The project is sponsored by International Bridges to Justice (IBJ), Boston, Massachusetts, in cooperation with the China National Legal Aid Center, Ministry of Justice.
- Providing legal resources to low-income female workers in China with a particular emphasis on prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace. This project is sponsored by the Legal Aid Society - Employment Law Center, San Francisco, California, in cooperation with Peking University Women's Law Studies and Legal Aid Center.
Through its web site, www.uschinalegalcoop.org, the US-China Legal Cooperation Fund solicits project proposals from American and Chinese partners planning cooperative efforts in legal education, improvement of legal services, protection of legal rights, legislative and judicial procedure, and related areas. This initiative by members of the US-China Business Council has been financed by the following US business supporters of a just, law-abiding, and accessible Chinese legal system:
GE Foundation; ExxonMobil Corporation; Time Warner, Inc.; FedEx Express; Motorola, Inc.; Cargill, Incorporated; CIGNA Foundation; Dewey & LeBoeuf; Mary Kay Inc.; Robert A. Kapp & Associates; and Jones Day. The US-China Legal Cooperation Fund is a program of the China Business Forum (501/c/3), the education and research arm of the US-China Business Council (501/c/6). Further information about the Fund and its grants program is available on its web site shown above.
The US-China Legal Cooperation Fund is a program of the China Business Forum (501/c/3), the education and research arm of the US-China Business Council (501/c/6). Further information about the Fund and its grants program is available on its web site shown above.