In the afternoon of April 10, 2015, the First Lawyers’ Reading Salon, jointly sponsored by a number of on-line media in China, including “Wusong Reading”, “China Law Review”, “Guike’s Messages”, “Lawreader”, “ The Beijing News: Weekly Book Review”, “Leadingreader” and “Method”, was held in Beijing. A number of prominent legal scholars and practitioners, including Professor Deng Zibin, a research fellow at the CASS Law Institute and the Head Librarian of CASS Law Library, Professor Xu Zhangrun from Law School of Tsinghua University, Mr. Liu Guiming, Editor-in-Chief of the journal “Democracy and the Legal System”, Professor Xu Shenjian from China University of Political Science and Law, Mr. Song Hongyin, Director of the Research Office of the Third Intermediate Court of Beijing Municipality, Mr. Jiang Yong, chief partner of the law firm Tiantong & Partners and founder of “Wusong Reading”, were invited to the Salon as special guests. The Salon was also attended by over 100 other guests from various courts, procuratorates, law firms, publishing houses, research institutions, colleges and universities, paper media and new media.
On March 18, 2015, the organizers of the Salon invited 100 prominent lawyers in China—including leading authorities and promising young scholars in the field of law, judges, procurators, practicing lawyers, and legal editors—to recommend their favorite books in the field of law. The lists of books they recommended are rich and diversified in content, representing the reading tastes of contemporary Chinese lawyers. The organizers selected 100 titles from these lists and compiled them into a “Reading List of 100 Lawyers”. The list was announced at the Salon and then a vote was held by which “Ten Best Books of the First Lawyers’ Reading Salon” were selected from the list by all the participants of the Salon. The signing up for the Reading Salon, the announcement of the reading list and the vote for the “Ten Best Books” had all been conducted using the technology of mobile Internet, which embodied the new mode and characteristics of “Internet + legal reading”.
The Salon was presided over by Mr. Liu Guiming. Professor Deng Zibin, Professor Xu Zhangrun, Professor Xu Shenjian and Mr. Jiang Yong each gave a thought-provoking speech on such topics as “whether is it still necessary to read paper books”, “the fun of reading”, “the attitude, behavior and life of reading”, “new reading methods” and “my personal experience in reading”. In the interactive session that followed, they discussed with participants such topics as “can you still remember the good books you have read in the past ten years?” and “what are the books you want most to recommend to others?”
Among the 100 books in “the Reading List of 100 Lawyers” are the Chinese translation of “Before the Law: An Introduction to the Legal Process” (eighth edition), written by John J. Bonsignore, Ethan Katsh, Peter d'Errico, Ronald Pipkin and Stephen Arons, translated by Professor Deng Zibin, and published by Huaxia Publishing House in 2007, and the condensed Chinese edition of “Before the Law”, co-authored by Professor Peter d'Errico and Professor Deng Zibin and published by Peking University Press in 2012. The Chinese edition of “Before the Law” also ranks number two in the list of “Ten Best Books of the First Lawyers’ Reading Salon”.
The book “Before the Law” has long been known as “a Micro-encyclopedia of Anglo-American Law” and used as the classical textbook of jurisprudence by law schools throughout the U.S. Updated in eight editions, it has been a bestselling masterwork in the field of law. Two editions of the book, the sixth and the eighth editions, have been translated into Chinese by Professor Deng Zibin and published by Huaxia Publishing House—both of them have been very well received by Chinese readers since their publication. The condensed Chinese edition of “Before the Law” is a rewriting of “Before the Law” by Professor Deng Zibin and Professor Peter d'Errico—one of authors of the original English version of “Before the Law”—that contains the essences of various versions of the original English book and is especially adapted for Chinese law school students and Chinese readers who are interested in the U.S. judicial mode. The inclusion of the two books in the “Reading List of 100 Lawyers” and of the Chinese translation of “Before the Law” in the list of “Ten Best Books of the First Lawyers’ Reading Salon” again reflects the continued popularity of the two books among Chinese readers.
Link to the introduction to the Chinese edition of “Before the Law”:
http://baike.baidu.com/link?url=me6vuWT3mtemkCldkHwA5FIek7NGxu_RiKstNXrzrYYV8k2zeyGX3aBcZo0txP4p0twAtUoGPVvJvL7tfZGFna
Link to the introduction to the condensed Chinese edition of “Before the Law”
http://baike.baidu.com/link?url=BjgsV3PIKlqIV9NF4lXG1jdlpUZpOz9R7qXJdqcZzs_tL6wU7ypDQe_idfGdoXSOHvoPyiTRX-LctlOHeUks6K
Link to the list of “Ten Best Books of the First Lawyers’ Reading Salon”:
http://www.vccoo.com/v/f660ac
Reported by Xu Chi