Korean and Japanese Judicial Scholars come to UC Davis Law School
Soosaeng Moon, a judge in the Incheon District Court of Korea, is a visiting scholar at UC Davis School of Law this year.
Judge Moon's research interests are in environmental issues and environmental law, such as the function of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in legal proceedings and civil law suits. He is also interested in studying existing legal cases related to the National Environment Policy Act (NEPA).
Judge Moon received a bachelor of laws and a master of laws from Seoul National University. He completed a two-year program at the Judicial Research and Training Institute of the Supreme Court of Korea.
The UC Davis School of Law established the one-year visiting scholar program with the Korean Supreme Court in 2001. The Law School approves one Korean judicial candidate each year.
The program offers visiting judges the opportunity to participate in classes, conduct research, and meet U.S. judges. Judges, in turn, contribute to the School of Law community by giving presentation on the Korean judicial systems and problems they encounter.
Rieko Tabata, a judge of the Utsunomiya District Court in Japan, is visiting the UC Davis School of Law as part of the Japanese Judicial Scholar Program. Since the program's inception in 2000, a Japanese judge is chosen each year by the Supreme Court of Japan to participate in the year-long Davis scholars program.
In addition to gaining a fundamental knowledge of the U.S. legal system by participating in Davis law school classes, Judge Tabata will research the U.S. judicial system.
Judge Tabata is a graduate of the Faculty of Law of the University of Tokyo. She was a legal apprentice at the Legal Training and Research Institute of the Japanese Supreme Court. In October 2004, she was appointed a judge and assigned to the Utsunomiya District Court.
Judge Tabata's research interests are in civil and criminal law.