Abstract

This article contributes to the expanding body of literature studying Chinese law and the Chinese legal profession by exploring Chinese legal ethics from the perspective of an American professional responsibility professor teaching in China. Based on the vast differences between Chinese and American law in general, and between Chinese and American legal ethics in particular, one may expect to find that Chinese law students differ from American law students in significant, ideological and explicit ways. Notes from Tsinghua argues, however, that differences between Chinese and American law students emerge in subtle and implicit details: methods of reasoning and arguing; habits of learning and of teaching; and ways of communicating and interacting. It explores aspects of the typical Chinese approach to law study and some specific aspects of professional responsibility issues as framed by Chinese students. Moreover, this article shows how the experience of teaching a familiar subject in an unfamiliar setting can bring a person's typical teaching methods into clearer view.