This article is from the archives of the UB Reporter.
News

Law School class studying in Thailand

  • “A trip like this changes peoples’ understanding of themselves.”

    David M. Engel
    SUNY Distinguished Service Professor, UB Law School
By ILENE FLEISCHMANN
Published: January 7, 2010

For the second time, a UB Law School class has traveled to Thailand to study its unique legal culture.

Twelve students are spending two and a half weeks (Jan. 7-24) in a region of the Southeast Asian nation in the foothills of the Himalayas with SUNY Distinguished Service Professor David M. Engel, a specialist in interdisciplinary studies of law and society in the U.S. and other countries, who has studied and written about Thai law for more than 30 years. Accompanying the group is Jaruwan Engel, Engel’s spouse and a professional translator, author and Thai language instructor.

“It helps students to understand the unique features of the American legal system if they are exposed to a civil law system, which is what most of the world has, as compared with the U.S. common law system,” Engel told the UB Reporter before the group left Buffalo. “When they see how Thai law works in its cultural and social context and see other possibilities, other ways of doing things, it may inspire creativity when they’re working in the U.S. legal system.

“No matter what career people pursue, we live in a globalized world and a globalized economy, and students are going to come into contact with people and organizations that are not U.S.-based,” he added. “It behooves us to understand how people from other countries and cultures work and think. A trip like this changes peoples’ understanding of themselves. It makes them more confident and more mature.”

The learning experience serves as a bridge course, one of the UB Law School’s January offerings between full semesters. In addition to extensive pre-travel reading and study, and a post-trip writing requirement, a key component of the course is a residence in Chiangmai, Thailand, where students will engage in structured “conversations” with village chiefs, Buddhist monks, Thai law professors, students, attorneys and representatives of non-governmental organizations. In addition, students will visit important historical and legal sites in northern Thailand. The in-country experience has been arranged in cooperation with the Chiangmai University Law School, a longtime exchange partner with UB Law School.

“We tailor the course to the interests of students, and this year we’re including some things we did not include last time,” said Engel, who speaks fluent Thai. New additions, he said, include a visit to a hill tribe village; a meeting with Burmese refugees to highlight issues concerning refugees and migrant workers; and discussions with the director of an agency that works on human trafficking issues. In addition, because some of the students bring an interest in international business, the course will include a session on foreign direct investment in Thailand and a look at multinational corporations that are establishing factories there.

The Engels are co-authors of a book about Thai legal culture, “Tort, Custom and Karma: Globalization and the Decline of Law in Thailand,” forthcoming from Stanford University Press.