February 13, 2024, the fourth day of the judicial exchange program to the United States. In the morning, the Chinese lawyers visited The Fourth Court of Appeals in San Antonio, Texas. The Fourth Court of Appeals is composed of seven judges, responsible for hearing cases from 32 counties in southern Texas and the Texas Hill Country.
Chief Justice Rebecca Martinez and her colleagues provided the Chinese lawyers with a detailed introduction to the Texas Court of Appeals. Texas currently has 14 courts of appeals, which are the first to the fourteenth courts of appeals (the fifteenth court of appeals is under construction). Different courts of appeals are responsible for civil and criminal appeals from different parts of the state. Ninety percent of cases are finally heard by the court of appeals. Texas is one of the few states in the United States that has separate state supreme criminal and civil courts.
It was a very memorable experience to visit the Fourth Court of Appeals in Texas and communicate with Judge Martinez.
Judge Martinez is the Chief Justice of the Fourth Court of Appeals. Interestingly, the other six judges are also female judges. On the issue of the proportion of women lawyers and judges, Judge Martinez also asked about China in the subsequent discussion and exchanged ideas with the Chinese lawyers.
First, Judge Martinez and the Chinese lawyers discussed the topics of the levels of the Texas courts, the appeal process and the allocation of cases among judges. Judge Martinez introduced to the Chinese lawyers the main case handling and working ideas and modes of judges in handling appeal cases.
Then, Judge Martinez invited each of the Chinese lawyers to do self-introduction, and discussed and shared the issues that each person cared about one by one. It was particularly rare that Judge Martinez also shared with everyone his own growth, learning and experience before becoming a judge, and talked about his judicial philosophy on how to become a judge and make a career choice. Judge Martinez is very enthusiastic about external exchanges, including exchanges with legal professionals from different countries. Exchanges are an important way to open justice and promote mutual understanding between people with different cultural backgrounds. In order to ensure the normal conduct of exchanges, some of the Chinese lawyers communicated on the spot through the use of translators developed by China.
In the discussion and sharing part, the students had in-depth exchanges with the judges on the open system of the Texas Court of Appeals, the judge election system, the case ruling system and other issues. The openness of the American judiciary has become the most concerned issue, especially the relationship between judicial openness and the protection of personal privacy, the protection of minors and the human rights of the accused. Judge Martinez gave very detailed instructions and explanations.
During the exchange, Judge Martinez very enthusiastically invited everyone to take a group photo with everyone on the bench. At the end of the visit, he gave everyone a pen with his name as a souvenir. Judge Martinez is a very open and enthusiastic person, with a charming temperament of confidence and generosity. Everyone is very happy about this visit.
Due to the enthusiasm of Judge Martinez and everyone's active participation, the Chinese delegation left the court and directly went to the administrative building of the University of St. Mary to attend the Mexican and Latin American investment law sharing held by the San Antonio Bar Association, without any rest time arranged in between.
The sharing session focused on Mexico's advantageous industries and investment facilitation environment, combined with the main ways of investing in Mexico, anti-corruption laws and their implementation and other special issues. Although this sharing session was based on the context of US investment in Mexico, the sharing guests also made a detailed introduction for Chinese investors. In the communication and exchange link, the students had in-depth exchanges with several lawyers from Mexican law firms and Texas law firms. The discussion focused on topics such as Mexico's incentive policies for foreign investors that the Chinese delegation was concerned about, the development of industrial parks, and the cooperation between Chinese and Mexican lawyers. Due to the trade facilitation conditions of the US-Mexico-Canada Free Trade Agreement and China's strong industrial manufacturing capacity and strong desire for foreign investment, both sides showed a strong willingness to cooperate.
After the exchange in the United States, some of the students will also visit Monterrey, Mexico, near San Antonio, to further deepen their understanding of the investment environment in Mexico.
