Curriculum Guide · Courses

Dean Cantalupo

J.D. Practicum 115 | 5 credit hours

This practicum course examines how civil society in China is being advanced under the rubric of rule of law promotion through work with and reflection upon the activities of non-governmental organizations (“NGOs”) in China. This year students in the course will work on research related to health care for the elderly, in light of a looming demographic crisis in China precipitated in large part by three decades of the “One-Child Policy.” As the Chinese elderly population increases rapidly in proportion to the working-age population, traditional methods of care such as care by children and family members will not be possible, and China needs to develop alternative methods of elder care. However, the lack of legal infrastructure in China’s developing legal system presents serious challenges in developing such alternative methods, including lacking reliable legal guidelines for assisted living and nursing home housing developers, dispute resolution methods, training requirements for employees, licensing requirements for facilities, etc. Students will conduct comparative legal research to begin to fill in those gaps.

The seminar component will introduce students to the structure, history and current issues related to the Chinese legal system, to health care reform efforts of the Chinese government, to current issues for the elderly in China, and how the One-Child Policy and other policies implicating women and girls in particular have led to the current demographic crisis. In the experiential component, students will spend 2.5 weeks working with NGOs in either Beijing, China or Washington, D.C., under the professor’s supervision, researching health care issues for the elderly. The experiential component will also include preparation beforehand and several drafts of a report afterwards. Working in two teams of four - eight (four Georgetown Law students and two - four Chinese law student interpreters) and playing a role often played by American rule of law attorneys, student projects will be “technical assistance”-oriented, seeking to use comparative and international research to present a range of legal options that may be helpful in addressing the elder care issues in China. Students’ research will therefore be conducted both in China and in the United States. Students’ research in China and the U.S. will seek to understand and compare, through interviewing, fact-finding methodologies, and “paper” research, what kinds of care concerns face the elderly in China and what comparative and international approaches have been used by other countries, particularly the U.S., to address similar concerns. Students will present their findings in Beijing and/or D.C. and produce a final report at the conclusion of the course, to be provided to and used by the Chinese partner NGOs as the NGOs deem appropriate. Students are not required or guaranteed to travel to Beijing. Students also do not need to speak Chinese to take this course, although if they travel to China to conduct research, learning “survival Chinese” prior to traveling is recommended.

Students may not concurrently enroll in this seminar and an externship or a clinic.

THIS IS A PRACTICUM COURSE. This is an intensive, 5-credit course. Seminars will be held at the Law Center beginning at 5:45 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from Thursday, May 24, through Thursday, June 14, 2012. The seminar meetings will begin by 5:45 p.m. and end by 8:45 p.m. The tentative dates for any travel to Beijing, China are Wednesday, June 27, through Friday, July 13 (this 2.5 weeks does not include travel time to-and-from China). Students will complete at least 110 hours of experiential work over the course of the summer session. Attendance at all sessions of the seminar and participation in all course project work is mandatory. All credits will be graded. This course is limited to 8 students and part-time students receive a preference for enrollment. This course is enrolled by professor permission. Students who wish to enroll must email their firm intent to enroll to Professor Cantalupo (cantalun@law.georgetown.edu) after attending an information session. Subject to certain logical restrictions, part-time students will be given an enrollment preference for the course. Due to the international travel and partnerships involved, once enrolled, no student may withdraw from the course without the permission of the professor. After May 1, 2012, and before May 23, 2012, no student may withdraw from the course without the permission of the professor and an “EW” or “W” will appear on the students’ transcript even if permission for the withdrawal is granted by the professor. The professor will conduct the following information sessions about the course: from 5:00 p.m. to 5:35 p.m. on Mondays, January 23, February 13, and March 19; from 5:00 p.m. to 5:35 p.m. on Fridays, February 3, March 2, and March 30, and from 2:00-3:00pm on Sundays, February 5, February 26 and March 24. Students should contact the professor with their interest in attending an information session, and the professor will respond with more information about both the course and the location of the information session.