Wow, it's been almost a year since I lasted updated this blog. A year ago I was still in Japan doing occasional consulting and speaking about the country's new saiban-in system, now slated to begin in about two months. Shortly thereafter I moved to China to work with a nonprofit called International Bridges to Justice to start a new program to start criminal clinical teaching at China's law schools. My original assignment was six months. During that time I became fascinated with the culture, the nascent legal system, and the dramatic choices government and people confront in this vast complex country. So I decided to stay on. I'm now directing the China program for the Public Interest Law Institute. I started in December, and we still don't have our office space renovated. We face many challenges, and if I can accomplish perhaps 40% of what we want that will be a real success. But how does one measure the impact of human rights work. Indeed, is human rights just another western religion? If it is am I just among the latest wave of missionaries to come to China?
