Summaries of Seminars; Belt & Road and Arbitration; Case Studies and Donations

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Success in 2016

The year 2016 saw tremendous progress made by the China Guiding Cases Project (“CGCP”):

•      Our free, online knowledge-base has accumulated nearly 50,000 unique users since the upgraded version was launched a year ago.

•      CGCP Founder and Director Dr. Mei Gechlik’s LinkedIn posts about the CGCP have attracted almost 11,500 followers.

•      With kind support from our distinguished speakers, including the Honorable Judge GUO Feng, Deputy Director General, Research Office of the Supreme People’s Court (“SPC”) of the People’s Republic of China, and his colleagues, Judge SHI Lei and Judge LI Bing, our seminars held in November in Beijing and Hong Kong were attended by approximately 200 legal practitioners, officials, academics, and students.  To find out how the three judges explained, among other issues, the consideration of factors including “social effects” in the selection of Guiding Cases, and to learn what other speakers discussed, please download the English and Chinese event summaries here.

Summaries of Seminars; Belt & Road and Arbitration; Case Studies and Donations
Speakers of the Guiding Cases SeminarTM titled “China’s Guiding Cases System Turns Six: Retrospect and Prospect” that was held at the Stanford Center at Peking University in Beijing on November 22, 2016, including (from left to right) China Guiding Cases Project (“CGCP”) Founder & Director Dr. Mei Gechlik, the Honorable Judge GUO Feng (Deputy Director General, Research Office of the Supreme People’s Court of China), Dr. YU Jianlong (Secretary General, China Chamber of International Commerce; Vice Chairman, China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission), Mr. WANG Ziqiang (Director General, Department of Policy and Regulation of the National Copyright Administration of China), Dr. Changchun Yuan (Founding Partner, Broad & Bright), Ms. Jordan Corrente Beck (Co-Managing Editor, CGCP; Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, New York) and Mr. James Yuan (Associate Managing Editor, CGCP; Covington & Burling LLP, Shanghai).

•      The CGCP launched the Belt & Road Series last month to draw our global audience’s attention to the connection between the Guiding Cases System and China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

In his speech titled “‘One Belt One Road’: Opportunities and Challenges for Chinese Businesses” delivered at the Beijing seminar, Dr. Yu Jianlong, Secretary General of the China Chamber of International Commerce (CCOIC) & Vice Chairman of the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), identified legal risks as big hurdles facing Chinese businesses exploring investment opportunities in “Belt and Road” countries.  Dr. Yu recommended the Guiding Cases System, along with the exchange of trial experience and training programs, as remedial measures and emphasized the enhancement of arbitration resources, for instance with the publication of arbitration cases to serve as guidance.

A good arbitration case serving as guidance is B&R Typical Case 6 (Zhe Jiang Yisheng Petrochemical Co., Ltd. v. INVISTA Technologies S.à.r.l., Luxembourg, A Case of an Application to Affirm the Invalidity of an Arbitration Clause (2014)). This case shows how the Chinese judiciary recognized, for the first time, the validity of a clause in which contractual parties agreed to have a permanent arbitration institution in China manage an arbitration process in accordance with the Arbitration Rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law.  In addition, with respect to the contractual terms in dispute, the court adopted the teleological method of interpretation which helped realize the parties’ desire to arbitrate.  This case was selected as a typical case in this area because of its “significance in [serving as] a typical model for promoting the construction of diverse dispute settlement mechanisms, supporting the internationalization of arbitration, and enhancing the credibility of arbitration.”  For more information about this and other B&R Typical Cases, please read B&R CasesTM.

•      Every month, we feature a select number of countries covered by the Belt & Road Series.  We also release new B&R TextsTM, a compilation of primary sources forming the legal framework of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, including legal cooperation agreements between China and countries along the “Belt and Road” routes.  This month, we are pleased to highlight B&R TextsTM from the following countries from Western Europe, Oceania and Northern Europe:  Australia, Austria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Netherlands.  Don’t miss the investment agreements between China and these countries now available on our website.  In case you missed our November announcement, Germany and Luxembourg have also been posted.  For the full list of “Belt and Road” countries, please visit here.

Call for Case Studies and Donations

Have your clients ever asked you questions about Guiding Cases and their applicability to their pending litigation, arbitration, or mediation cases?  Do our high-quality translations of Guiding Cases and B&R Typical Cases as well as related analyses help your practice?  Do you have any other interesting experiences related to the use of Guiding Cases or B&R Typical Cases?  If yes, please share your stories with us by contacting Dr. Mei Gechlik at mgechlik@law.stanford.edu.  We would like to compile case studies in this area and, wherever appropriate, offer publication or speaking opportunities. 

We achieved a lot in 2016, but we hope to achieve even more in 2017 to benefit you and others.  Please consider making a gift to us today and become part of our historic mission to help China develop its case law system.  Thank you!