Canadian Lawyer

8 J a n u a r y 2 0 1 5 w w w . C a n a D I a n L a w y e r m a g . c o m I n October, Université de Mon- tréal's Faculty of Law hosted a group of 14 Chinese judges for a training program that introduced them to the main principles of Cana- dian law and their judicial application. The judges were invited to Montreal thanks to a co-operation agreement signed in May of 2014 between the law school and China's National College of Supreme Court Judges. The event was organized in collaboration with the Canadian Institute for the Administra- tion of Justice. The group of Chinese jurists were eager to learn, judging by their focused attention as they were listening to Jacques Frémont, president of the Quebec Human Rights Commission and professor at UdeM. He was delivering a constitutional and administrative law lecture on the last day of the three-week training program. "I'm right here," Frémont says point- ing to one of the three connecting circles he drew on the whiteboard, each repre- senting a branch of the Quebec govern- ment. "I'm part of the executive, paid by the executive, and my job is sometimes to criticize and recommend actions against the executive." The interpreter, young, bright, and enthusiastic, sudden- ly looks a bit bewildered, marks a brief pause to process what was just said, then translates to his audience. A brief silence ensues. The Chinese judges, looking no less surprised, engage in a heated discus- sion with each other. "That's what administrative adjudi- cators do," says Frémont. "Of course, if he or she delivers opinions that are always against the government . . . there could be problems with the renewal of his or her mandate," he adds with a smirk, eliciting a collective — and knowing — "Aaaah!" from the group. Although the concept of the rule of law has a different meaning in China, Chinese leaders want to reform the legal system toward a fairer and more transparent one, reported The New York Times on Oct. 23. Judicial independence or fundamental rights, as defined by western legal systems, have no real equivalent in China, it said, but authori- ties still want to rid the judiciary of cor- ruption, inside and outside the system, by increasing the judges' status through better legal education and better pay, as well as giving them the power to apply a more impartial and rules-based system. C E n t r a L \ at L a n t I C \ C E n t r a L \ w E s t Building Sino-Canadian legal bridges rEgIonaL wrap-up Our bite is even worse than our roar. We are accomplished trial lawyers with years of study in science and engineering and we have the courtroom successes to prove it. It's treacherous out there, so if your client's IP is threatened – talk to us. Editors of the Canadian Patent Reporter it all starts somewhere www.ridoutmaybee.com Client's IP at Risk? ntitled-3 1 13-12-09 7:10 PM

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