Perseverance and patience are needed to reform a nation's judicial system, especially in a country developing as rapidly as China.

Paul Gewirtz, a law professor with the Yale Law School, made the comment in the inaugural speech at a Grand Forum of the Most Honorable Juries held at Renmin University of China's Law School yesterday in Beijing.

Gewirtz said great improvements have been made in China's court system since 1978.

He said that, particularly after 1999, the Supreme People's Court has tried to make trials more open and efficient, improve the testing and selection of new judges and give more judicial help to the poor.

Speaking to hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students majoring in law, the visiting professor expounded the role of the courts in the state and society.

Gewirtz said Chinese law students have a historic opportunity to participate in reforms that pose both great challenges and great possibilities.

"For participants, the reform process seems slow, but it is rapid if put in a historical context," said the professor. "China's changes in the last 25 years are incredibly rapid."

He called on students to foster the habit of critical thinking, the essence of a good lawyer.

Gewirtz, who is also the director of the China Law Centre of the Yale Law School, introduced the United States' court system.

The role of the courts is to resolve legal conflicts fairly, set legal norms, protect private rights and constrain illegal actions by government, he said.

As in many other developing countries, local protectionism exists in some places of China where courts are not independent of government, Gewirtz said.

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