Jieying Liang

Dr Jieying Liang joined Durham Law School on September 1, 2018 and currently holds the position of Assistant Professor of Private International Law and Chinese Law. Previously she was a Senior Research Assistant at the Faculty of Law of the University of Hong Kong. She has been engaged in a research project funded by the Research Grants Council in Hong Kong for several years, conducting research on a wide range of issues arising from cross-border corporate, financial and securities dealings. She is a recipient of the prestigious Fulbright Fellowship and a scholarship from The Hague Academy of International Law.

In 2012, Jieying published an article in the Journal of Private International Law, which analysed the provisions relating to the party autonomy principle in China’s 2010 Conflict of Laws Statute. It was later cited by the Hague Conference on Private International Law in drafting the Hague Principles on Choice of Law in International Contracts, by Professor Symeon C. Symeonides, a leading conflict of laws scholar, in his book and article concerning the private international law rules on party autonomy, and more recently by Dr Alex Mills in his book Party Autonomy in Private International Law.

Jieying obtained her PhD in law at the University of Hong Kong in 2015. Her doctoral thesis focused on party autonomy in international commercial contracts. In contrast to earlier research, her thesis looked at the application of the party autonomy principle in China from a practical perspective, including analysis of the enforceability of choice of law clauses. Through the application of doctrinal methodology and case analysis, the thesis also touched upon some important issues that more generally relate either to China’s legal system, or to the wider international discussion concerning the formulation of appropriate rules. Although her thesis was primarily about Chinese private international law, it adopted a comparative analysis on the resolution of practical difficulties by contrasting the Chinese approach with common law principles and those prevailing in the European Union. It is the first comprehensive study in English of the party autonomy principle in Chinese law. It was further revised into a book entitled Party Autonomy in Contractual Choice of Law in China, and was published by Cambridge University Press in March 2018.

Based on her previous research experience and findings on private international law and Chinese legal system, Jieying’s future research agenda involves further consideration of the theoretical underpinnings of private international law and comprehensive assessment of the existing conflicts rules in China and their applicability to commercial and social realities. Particularly, she purposes to critically examine the resolution of cross-border commercial disputes in Chinese courts and its impact on China’s role in the international legal order.

Research interests

• Private International Law (Conflict of Laws)
• Cross-border Securities Transactions and Insolvency
• Cross-border Commercial Litigation
• Chinese Civil and Commercial Law
• Judicial Reform in China
• Comparative Law