The People's Courts: Legal and Political Reform in China since 1978 Carl Minzner Washington University in St. Louis, School of Law Friday, November 7 Hyatt Regency  Imperial Ballroom  1200 Louisiana St.

This program has been accredited by the State Bar of Texas for one MCLE hour. Despite China’s many advances, governmental officials– not an independent court – are the final arbiter of law. Rather than on rules, judgments may be based on politics, personalities, or bribes. Chinese citizens lack access to independent legal institutions to resolve differences among themselves or to address their grievances against officials. Facing the demands of governing a complex, modernizing country, China's leaders are beginning to see that the rule of law is the only efficient means of regulating society while preserving innovation and growth. To continue to flourish economically, China must match the reform of the economic state with reform of the willful state. Opposition to a legal system – true law – and political change has softened, allowing the start of regularity and openness. Achieving an independent judiciary, however, will be difficult. What factors influence Chinese leaders to support and comply with courts and rules? How will reform affect relations between China and its people, between it and the West? Carl Minzner is a professor at Washington University in St. Louis, specializing in Chinese law and politics. He has served as senior counsel on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. At the Xibei Institute of Politics and Law in Xi’an, he was a fellow for Yale-China Legal Education. He was a fellow in International Affairs at the Council on Foreign Relations and earlier, an attorney for McCutchen, Doyle, Brown, and Enersen. He earned his bachelor’s in international relations from Stanford University, a doctor of jurisprudence from Columbia University’s Law School, and a master’s of international affairs from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. He speaks Mandarin and French.