EIU Media Relations

Chinese Supreme Court Justice to Visit, Speak at EIU

Justice Jingmin Zhai, vice president of the Beijing Supreme Court, will speak through an interpreter on the rule of law in China when he visits Eastern Illinois University.

The forum will take place at 7 p.m. Monday, April 11, in EIU’s Lumpkin Hall Auditorium.  Members of the university community, as well as the general public, are invited to attend this free event and ask questions about China’s judicial establishment. 

A reception will follow at 8:30 p.m., allowing audience members to personally greet the speaker and other guests, including Vikram Amar, dean of the University of Illinois’ College of Law.  Amar, who will be chairing the EIU event, is also hosting Zhai during his Illinois visit.

Zhai has served nearly 30 years on the Beijing Supreme Court, the highest of three levels of courts in a city of 20 million people.  He has considered both criminal and civil cases in all fields with an emphasis on intellectual property rights, anti-corruption and appellate jurisdiction.  In addition to trying cases, Zhai is also involved in court administration and in command of the Judicial Police of Beijing (1,000 officers with duties similar to that of federal marshals or local sheriffs).  He was a visiting scholar to the University of Illinois’ School of Law in 2004.

The April 11 program is being sponsored jointly by EIU’s Asian Heritage Month Committee, Pre-Law Society and the Public Policy Institute.