Dean’s Welcome

It is my pleasure to welcome you to the City University of Hong Kong School of Law website.

Established in 1987, CityU School of Law offers a high-quality education that fosters global knowledge, transferable skills and interdisciplinary perspectives. Our stellar international faculty comprises thought leaders whose research is cited frequently by courts and academics around the world. With their multicultural profile, they bring a diversity of expertise and strengths in a wide range of fields including arbitration and dispute resolution, Chinese law, commercial law, comparative law, corporate law and finance, criminal law and criminology, environmental law, international economic law, public law and human rights, private law, and technology law and policy. CityU School of Law is deeply committed to research that is beneficial to society and that enhances the rule of law.

Legal education is incredibly complex because law is not simply a set of rules but a reflection of the norms and values of a society. A deep understanding of the law is therefore only possible if we understand its role as a social institution that is shaped by other societal drivers. These drivers include a society’s history, culture and political economy. Today, a very important driver is technological change to which the law must adapt. The disruptive effect of information technology and artificial intelligence will in time lead also to profound changes in the legal profession and the practice of law. At CityU School of Law, we provide our students with a broad and liberal education through law that will develop them into a thoughtful person who is able to understand how the law operates in the context of other fields of knowledge. At the same time, we intend the legal education we offer to nurture versatile legal professionals who have a good understanding of the practice of law and are able to navigate the uncertainties that exist in this era of disruption. We continue, therefore, to integrate interdisciplinary perspectives within our curriculum and strengthen the link between academia and practice to ensure that students receive a cutting-edge legal education that cannot easily be found elsewhere.

Having a global mindset is also important because, despite the present trend of nations drawing inwards, our intuition is that the world will continue to be increasingly interconnected. The Law School has already developed close links with many counterparts on the Mainland, in Europe, North America and across the Asia-Pacific region. As such, students have many opportunities to gain a global perspective in the study of law not only through the curriculum but also through various activities organised by the Law School such as the Global Legal Education and Awareness Project (G-LEAP), legal placement, student exchanges and mooting competitions. In addition, CityU School of Law is a founding member of the Center for Transnational Legal Studies, as well as a member of the THEMIS network, both of which provide numerous study abroad opportunities. These global opportunities will continue to be expanded to include more dual degree programmes with leading overseas law schools.

I am incredibly proud that despite being relatively young, CityU School of Law is widely regarded as a leading law school globally. I hope you will be part of our journey and I look forward to welcoming you to our CityU Law family.

Professor TAN Cheng-Han, SC
Dean and Chair Professor of Commercial Law