IBJ’s National Defender Resource Center in Beijing is in the process of expanding library access for China defenders and IBJ trainers, through a law book donation drive and a bilingual library system for ready access to its legal resources.
Since January, IBJ has solicited and received legal resource donations from the U.S. and Hong Kong universities. The City University of Hong Kong, the University of California, Hastings School of Law, and Seattle University School of Law donated a total of 29 law books to IBJ’s Beijing office. The City University of Hong Kong donated seventeen books, Seattle University School of Law donated nine books, while the University of California, Hastings School of Law donated three books and is in the process of donating more books to IBJ China.

Professor Keith Hand, Associate Professor of Law at UC Hastings, visited the Beijing office to personally deliver three law books, as well as meet with IBJ staff to discuss future projects

The donated English and Chinese language law books mostly focus on the critical areas of trial advocacy, criminal procedure and criminal law. The books will be available as a resource for IBJ trainers and Chinese defenders.
Concurrent to the donation drive, IBJ is engaged in creating a bilingual library system that has a detailed catalogue of its physical and electronic legal resources. The library system will include resources from both the Wuhan and Xi’an offices. An expansive bilingual library that can provide international comparisons of criminal laws, procedures, and trial advocacy is a critical tool in IBJ’s training and support of China’s criminal defense lawyers.