In a recent issue of the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, Pat Milhizer. Law Bulletin staff writer, wrote about Dorothy In-lan Wang Li's contribution in training Chinese intellectual property law. Below are parts of his article:
The foreign law professionals are enrolled in the school's Asian Alliance Program that provides a master's degree in intellectual property law. And the students wouldn't be here if it weren't for the efforts and connections of Dorothy Li, a senior consultant for the program. Li, 68, has helped coordinate John Marshall's outreach work in China since she traveled back to her home country in 1993 to recruit students.
The first class started in 1994, and today, the school accepts Chinese judges, attorneys in private practice and officials in the State Intellectual Property Office. For her efforts, the People's Republic of China gave Li its Friendship Award last month after SIPO, the Chinese agency for
patent approvals, nominated her for the award. On Tuesday, the law school will honor Li's work with a reception. Like any teacher, when you see your students successful, you feel very rewarded," said Li, the senior consultant for the Asian Alliance Program. "Since they came, they have twice revised patent law. It's more connected to the international patent law standard. Many times when I've heard others tell me, 'The Chinese patent law is the best,' you feel very rewarded because we know we did have some influence," Li said. "But then they say that they have to beef up their enforcement."
In 1993, Lulin Gao, then the director general of the Chinese Patent Office, visited John Marshall. Gao told Li and John Marshall Associate Dean Robert Gilbert Johnston that he was concerned about a lack of staff training at SIPO. Well, I looked at Dorothy and said, 'We can do it,' " Johnston said. So Li and Johnston traveled to China, and in a 15-minute tea meeting
with Gao, they had a deal. He would pay to send people over, we would take care of everything
else. We wouldn't charge tuition and [would] put them up. So we went to corporations that wanted to do business in China and squeezed out $10,000 to $15,000 ? we didn't have the money to do this," Johnston recalls. Johnston credits Li for making the project come to fruition.
"Wherever you go, Dorothy's reputation was waiting there to make things happen. With her energy and imagination, she could make almost anything happen," Johnston said.
Each summer, John Marshall sends two professors to Beijing to prepare potential John Marshall students for an American legal education. There, the teachers find that the students have the highest respect for teachers. "In China, you never question your teacher. You listen," Li said.
"If you raise questions about your teacher, it's not respectful. After school, students have very high respect for teachers. Once you taught them, they have to do anything to help you." When the students come to John Marshall, they're here for a semester. (Source: Pat Milhizer, Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, Nov 6, 2007).