Professor Robert Jay Allen is an internationally recognized jurist, specializing in evidence law and procedure law. Currently the President of the International Association of Evidence Science (IAES), he was previously the Chair of the Section on Evidence under the Association of American Law Schools (AALS), and has taught at the State University of New York at Buffalo, the University of Iowa, Duke University and Northwestern University, where he has served as the John Henry Wigmore Professor of Law since 1992. Professor Allen mainly lectures on topics such as evidence law, constitutional law, criminal law, civil procedure law, etc. His main works include: Constitutional Criminal Procedure：An Examination of the Fourth，Fifth and Sixth Amendments and Related Areas; Comprehensive Criminal Procedure; An Analytical Approach to Evidence: Text, Problems and Cases; Evidence: Text, Cases and Problems (translated & published in Chinese). He has also published over 130 articles, many of which have been translated into Chinese. He is ranked as the fourth most frequently cited author in the field of American evidence studies.
Professor Allen has visited 18 times since January, 2004. In that year, he attended a seminar hosted by the Procedural Law Research Institution at CUPL and subsquently became an adjunct professor. In 2006, he was appointed CUPL adjunct professor, Chair of the Foreign Expert Consulting Committee under the Institute of Evidence Law and Forensic Science at CUPL, as well as a team member of a key project sponsored by the Ministry of Education (MOE): Research on the Theoretical System and Application of Evidence Science. In 2007, the MOE appointed him lecture professor under the Yangtze River Scholar Award Plan (the eighth group). Since that year, he has lectured and researched for one to three months annually at our university. At the same time, he instructed joint doctoral candidates on our campus. From 2007 to 2013, he attended four international symposiums on evidence theory & science in Beijing. He delivered keynote speeches at each one of them. Since 2012, he has served as the sole foreign consultant for Research on Stipulations Concerning Evidence in Litigations, a major project sponsored by the National Social Science Fund. Since 2012, he has also been a core foreign expert specially engaged by the Center of Cooperative Innovation for Judicial Civilization (CCIJC), which is a project under the “2011 plan”. He fulfilled his role in the project by lecturing on cutting edge matters of Evidence Law in an advanced seminar class organized by CCIJC. Since 2013, he has taught American Evidence Law annually for our international summer school attendees（a course of 36 class hours）. The Center for the Innovation and Advancement of Evidence Science at CUPL designated him foreign academic master under the “111 plan”. Next year he will assume such responsibilities as creating new courses, editing course textbooks, providing on-the-job training and providing consultation services.
On the afternoon of September 29, 2014, Professor Allen and his wife attended the annual “Friendship Award” ceremony held in the Great Hall of the People. The next morning, Mr. Shen Deyong, Executive Vice President of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) and Grand Justice of the First Rank met them. On behalf of the SPC and also in his personal capacity, Mr. Shen expressed his warm congratulations to Professor Allen on receiving the “Friendship Award” granted by the Chinese government. Mr. Shen enthusiastically praised Professor Allen for his dedication over the past decade to improving China’s judicial and evidence systems, as well as for his active role in offering advice and suggestions for the development of the rule of law in China. Mr. Shen also said that his outstanding contributions were officially recognized. From afternoon until evening, Professor Allen met with top Chinese leaders and attended a national banquet at the Great Hall of the People. Professor Allen is the first recipient of the “Friendship Award” in CUPL’s history.
Candidates for the Award are initially recommended by foreign experts’ employers, local governments and the relevant administrative branches of the State Council (China’s Cabinet). A diverse judicial panel, chosen in accordance with a strict procedure, then appraises and selects the candidates. The State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs (SAFEA) organizes all of the activities. The Award is generally given to 50 recipients each year. However, the award is given to 100 recipients when the anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China is in a fifth year multiple. Each National Day, the year’s recipients are invited to attend an award ceremony in Bejing, where the top leaders of the State warmly meet with the winners. This is the highest prize the Chinese government grants to foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to our country.
