Xi’an Jiaotong University School of Law

The origin of Xi’an Jiaotong University (XJTU) School of Law traces to the earlier years of Nanyang Public College. In 1901, Nanyang Public College initiated law courses such as Constitutional Law, Public International Law and Law of International Treaties. These were the earliest practice in legal education at Jiaotong University, as well as one of the earliest in China’s modern legal history. Alumni such as Judge WANG Chung-hui (JSD, Yale University; the first Chinese Judge at the Permanent Court of International Justice), Judge Hsu Mo (the first Chinese Judge at the International Court of Justice) and LI Shutong (the earliest Chinese scholar who translated Private International Law textbooks) had left significant marks in the legal developments both within China and on the world stage.

Xi’an Jiaotong University resumed its legal education in 1985, since when the LLM in Economic Law program was started, as one of the earliest in this field in China. Formally established in 2008, XJTU School of Law is committed to building up a world-class “High-Level, Internationalised and Research-Oriented” law school. In 2011, Law became one of the Key Construction Disciplines of Xi’an Jiaotong University in its third phase of 985 Project. In particular, the university is determined to build International Economic Law and Comparative Law into a world-class subject. In 2012, XJTU School of Law became one of the 13 leading law schools in China recognized by the Ministry of Education (MOE) and other central governmental authorities as both “Outstanding Legal Education Centre for Foreign-related Legal Personnel Cultivation” and “Outstanding Legal Education Centre for Interdisciplinary and Practical Legal Personnel Cultivation”. In 2017, Xi'an Jiaotong University was selected as Double First-class university in Category A by the Ministry of Education of China, and the discipline of law is one of 14 key subjects in the university’s Double First-class plan. Today, the integrated legal education system of Xi’an Jiaotong University School of Law comprises PhD programs (in Law and Governance), LLM programs (in all areas of law), LLB programs, as well as a practise-oriented Juris Master (JM) program. There are currently over 400 registered students (including PhD candidates, Master candidates, Bachelor-Master students, and undergraduates). It is one of the most important international centres of legal education in China.

XJTU School of Law currently has over fifty members of staff, including academic staff who were graduated from leading international and domestic universities such as University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan and Peking University. Among them, there are two Chair Professors, four members of New Century Excellent Talents Program, one member of Shaanxi “Hundred Talents” Program, tow University Tengfei Professors, fifteen full professors nine of which are at the same time qualified PhD supervisors, and twenty-one associate professor.

The School hosts editors of The Chinese Journal of Comparative Law (Oxford University Press) which was selected into ESCI Database in 2017, and monographs series such as Silk Road Studies in International Economic Law (BRILL), China and International Economic Law Series (Hart Publishing Oxford), Overseas Chinese Law Scholars Monograph Series (Peking University Press) and Chinese Review of Common Law (Law Press China). School staffs have published over 100 monographs and textbooks with famous international and Chinese publishers such as Oxford University Press and Peking University Press, as well as over 100 quality articles in leading international and Chinese journals such as American Journal of Comparative Law, European Journal of International Law, The Modern Law Review, Social Sciences in China, Legal Studies, and Chinese Legal Science. The School is also charged with various important international research programs and dozens of national or provincial social science research projects.

The School is well equipped, with a first-class specialized International Law Library in Asian-Pacific area, and a “Legal Workshop” consisting of a moot court, a moot arbitration centre, and a computer-added teaching centre. The School also has convenient access to electronic databases such as Westlaw, LexisNexis, HeinOnline, TDM/OGEL, IAReporter and InvestmentClaims. Under construction is an internationally leading comprehensive law school library.

XJTU School of Law is actively engaged in academic exchange and cooperation with world-class institutes, such as University of Cambridge, British Institute of International and Comparative Law, King’s College London, Max Planck Institute for Private Law, European University Institute, Indiana University, and Monash University. Many students have been selected to conduct research at these institutes.