Some of the Faculty's undergraduate students, while carrying a heavy course load, are going international in their endeavour to learn, to gain exposure, and to find out more about how to apply their course content and what they are learning at the Kramer Law School to broader society.  The students include, amongst others, Boitumelo Sediti (final-year LLB) who is currently in Beijing, China attending the annual 3-day Yenching Global Symposium (29 - 31 March 2019); and Tanya Magaisa (final-year LLB) who will be travelling to Athens, Greece in April to attend the Association Internationale des Jeunes Avocats (AIJA – the International Association of Young Lawyers) to attend their 3^rd Annual T.R.A.D.E conference in Athens, Greece from 11 - 13 April 2019.

Yenching Global Symposium (YGS)

The Faculty congratulates Boitumelo on being selected as one of two South Africans to attend the Yenching Global Symposium (YGS). Sediti is one of 100 applicants selected from a total applicant pool of 5 605 from over 160 countries.

By way of background, Peking University founded the Yenching Academy, a Master’s program for the multidisciplinary study of China, in 2014 - with the hope of cultivating a new generation of global leaders. The Academy’s flagship event, the Yenching Global Symposium (YGS), for which Sediti was selected, is a continuation of this mission.   

YGS is a 3-day event hosted annually on the Peking University campus comprising engaging lectures, panel discussions, and interactive sessions about China’s impact on the world and the influence that the world has on China.   Each year, YGS aims to foster the next generation of thought leadership on China and serve as an agenda-setting event by hosting prominent Chinese and international scholars and leading professionals from a wide range of fields. These leaders share their insights with YGS delegates – and the UCT Faculty of Law is proud to be the academic home of such a delegate.

The 2019 YGS is themed “Women: Retelling the China Stories”. This year’s symposium seeks to identify key components of the global “China stories” and interpret them through a gendered lens, and to contribute to incorporating a gender nuance into the larger discourse on China. To this end, gender-related perspectives are the unifying thread through which YGS will explore contemporary China’s most important issues.

AIJA – the International Association of Young Lawyers

Tanya Magaisa, final year LLB student at UCT’s Kramer Law School, is hugely excited to have been awarded a scholarship by the Association Internationale des Jeunes Avocats (AIJA – the International Association of Young Lawyers) to attend their 3^rd Annual T.R.A.D.E conference in Athens, Greece from 11 - 13 April 2019.  This conference provides the opportunity for young professionals to learn more about the legal challenges and opportunities for brand owners, platforms and resellers in a globalised word. High-profile speakers will be sharing their views and experiences on current legal developments in trade, distribution and e-commerce.  As the global digital revolution is transforming the way international trade is conducted, so the business of many companies will face a more competitive environment in the foreseeable future.

AIJA is the only global association of lawyers working specifically in the interests of lawyers and in-house counsel aged 45 and under. Since 1962 AIJA provides outstanding international opportunities for young lawyers to network, learn and develop.  Currently with 4,000 members globally, and supporters in 90 different countries (including over 60 collective members and Bar Associations), the AIJA community is very diverse, with members from law firms of all sizes and cultures.

The organisation is committed to defend and take active part in promoting core legal principles, such as the rule of law and human rights principles, with a particular aim being to advance cross-cultural understanding between members and other participants in the legal profession as a whole.

To find out more about AIJA, and about how to join as a law student or young professional, go to www.aija.org and follow them on twitter at @AIJAASSOCIATION 

More information on the 3^rd Annual T.R.A.D.E conference is available at https://www.aija.org/en/upcoming-events.html