Law school partners with Russian university

The UW Law School is partnering with a Russian university to strengthen international legal education.

The three-year partnership with Far Eastern State University includes the exchange of faculty and students, research and library support for FESU’s Institute of Law, and possible opportunities for distance education.

FESU is located in Vladivostok, situated near China and North Korea on the Sea of Japan. The city was a closed military zone until 1991, when Russian President Boris Yeltsin opened it to international commerce and travel.

“We will improve the quality of education delivered here and at Far Eastern State,” says Charles R. Irish, Volkman-Bascom professor of law and director of the UW Law School’s East Asian Legal Studies Center. “With the globalization of the economy and social activity, education was bound to follow.”

The partnership began last fall with a three-year, $149,210 grant from the United States Information Agency. The Law School is providing $50,000 in support, mostly in staff time and travel expenses, and FESU is providing $25,000 in staff and travel support.

The educational exchange has already begun between the two legal institutions. Natalya G. Prisekina, assistant director for international affairs at FESU’s law institute is developing the Russian component of a joint course in international commercial transactions. The course’s American component will be taught at FESU by UW Law School faculty.

Prisekina, a senior instructor at FESU and practicing attorney, also has lectured in some classes and conducted research on curriculum and the law school library. She returned to Vladivostok Tuesday, April 27. “My time here has been very busy,” Prisekina says. “I’ve had to cover a number of areas.”

Law librarians will visit FESU as well during the first two years of the partnership to help the university further develop its law library. In addition, three FESU faculty members will participate in the Law School’s summer program in U.S. Law and Legal Institutions, held in Madison.