The American Society of Comparative Law honors Jerome Cohen

Jerome Cohen with reporters in Taiwan in May 2008.

Professor Jerome Cohen received a Lifetime Achievement Award on October 11 at the annual meeting of the American Society of Comparative Law (ASCL). The award is given to honor legal scholars whose writings have changed the shape or direction of American comparative or private international law.

At a ceremony held at the William H. Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Cohen received a plaque representing the award. He was introduced by Alison Conners, professor of law at the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawai`i at Manoa.

“Jerry Cohen is not only a legend of the legal academy but also a hero of the comparative law field,” said Conners. “He's written it, he's lived it, and he's inspired so many others to continue his work in Chinese and Asian law. I believe his life is a testament to the importance--and power--of comparative law study.”

“Professor Cohen’s stellar work on law in China, combined with a lifetime of humanitarian dedication, made him our choice,” said Vivian Curran, chair of the ASCL prize committee and professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. “He is in a highly select group, joining Professor Damaska of Yale and the late Eric Stein, of Michigan, Professor Merryman of Stanford, all among the greatest living comparatists at the time of receiving the awards.

Cohen, a leading scholar in Chinese law and government, was a pioneer in the field and has been studying and teaching Chinese law since the 1960s. Today his research on Asian law focuses on legal institutions, criminal justice reform, dispute resolution, human rights and the role of international law. Cohen, who is faculty director of the US-Asia Law Institute, has published several books on Chinese law, and most recently published Challenge to China: How Taiwan Abolished its Version of “Re-education Through Labor,” an examination of legal reforms in Taiwan. 

Posted on October 29, 2013