Campbell Law School in North Carolina has signed a partnership with China's Southwest University School of Law that will allow Chinese students to earn a US law degree, which is useful in an age of global connectivity, Campbell Law's dean said.

Under the agreement signed earlier in November, up to 10 students from the Chongqing-based Southwest University School of Law can take classes at the law school in Raleigh for credit toward their degree from Southwest University, or they can take classes and earn a JD degree in the US.

"The program may start out slow, but we just want to get our feet on the ground to get a regular cohort of visiting students in here from China," said J. Rich Leonard, dean of the law school.

For those seeking a JD degree, they will be required to take Campbell Law's first-year curriculum during their first year at the school and then the remaining required courses during their second year. If they want to get a Chinese law degree, they can receive up to 29 hours of transfer credits.

The partnership also includes the creation of a scholars program that allows faculty from both schools to spend a semester or academic year at the other institution.

"We're headed toward a world where the two great political and economic powers are going to be China and the United States. Raleigh is an increasingly global community, and we think it's a wonderful opportunity for our students to study with Chinese students to acquaint Chinese lawyers with our legal culture here and provide a base in which they can work together going forward," the dean told China Daily.

He said that China has an increasingly sophisticated legal environment, one in which companies have to do business both in the US and China, so it's important for law students to learn about both environments.

"We're told by a lot of folks that when US businesses go shopping in China for lawyers, a lawyer who actually has a JD degree and is bar-admitted in the United States is a huge asset," he said.

A law degree from Campbell Law will allow students to take the bar exam in any state in the country, but Leonard said he believes a lot of them will take it in North Carolina.

Campbell Law, which is part of Campbell University, founded in 1887, will be bringing international students to the school for the first time, having just received the right to sponsor overseas students, the dean said.

amyhe@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily USA 12/01/2015 page2)