Institute of Technology Law, National Chiao Tung University
The Institute of Technology Law (Chinese: 科技法律研究所; pinyin: Kējì Fǎlǜ Yánjiūsuǒ), founded in 2000, is the postgraduate law school for National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan. It provides programs awarding advanced degrees including master's degrees as well as doctorate degrees. It is designed to take the role as a postgraduate professional school, aiming to provide legal training for people with bachelor's or more advanced degree, and focusing on establishing a cross-disciplinary legal education environment. Also noticeably, ITL stands as one of the few law schools in Taiwan, being one sovereignty of civil law jurisprudence, that teaches law subjects of Anglo-American common law system, alongside traditional civil law.
Student body
As a result of providing courses focusing on inter-disciplinary needs, as well as an emphasis on intellectual property right laws and American common law system, the Institute of Technology Law hosts a more diverse student body than most of the traditional law schools or departments of Taiwan's legal education environment, wherein the main stream has been awarding bachelor's degree in law and accepting only those of a first law degree into more advanced legal institutes. ITL recruits people of legal educational background, such as those with a first or more advanced law degrees, and also people from other academical disciplines, such as literature, science, or engineering. ITL accepts full-time students, at the same time also part-time students, among which those of legal background includes legal professions such as judges, prosecutors, and lawyers and counsels who seek more advanced study, and those of technical background includes engineers, salespersons, and businessholders, a lot of them being from corporations of the nearby Hsinchu Science Park, who intend to acquire knowledge of law.
Cooperation with US Law School
The Institute of Technology Law maintains a cooperative relationship with John Marshall Law School, Chicago, Illinois, and provides a cross-campus program which, upon fulfillment of successful completion of sufficient credit hours, awards the degree of master of law from ITL, together with an LL.M. degree from John Marshall Law. In the summer, faculties of John Marshall Law also occasionally lecture at ITL as visiting scholars.