U.S.-China “Dialogues” on Guiding Cases; China Cases Insights and Writing Contest; Collaboration with Ravel

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U.S.-China “Dialogues” on Guiding Cases

U.S.-China “Dialogues” on Guiding Cases; China Cases Insights and Writing Contest; Collaboration with Ravel
Some of our past distinguished speakers: (from left to right) Judge John Walker, Jr., Judge SHI Lei, Judge LI Bing, Judge GUO Feng, Dr. Mei Gechlik, and Judge Sidney Stein.

In 2013, approximately three years after the establishment of China’s Guiding Cases System (“GCS”), Judge John Walker, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Judge Sidney Stein of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge LI Bing of the Supreme People’s Court (“SPC”) (who, together with Judges GUO Feng and SHI Lei, oversees the GCS), and Dr. Mei Gechlik, Founder and Director of the China Guiding Cases Project (“CGCP”) of Stanford Law School (“SLS”), were brought together by a U.S.-China Rule of Law Dialogue to share their thoughts about the GCS.  They left the meeting not expecting that the dialogue would continue to progress and produce impressive results.

In November 2015, Judge Walker as well as judges from Japan and Kenya spoke at the World Bank’s Law, Justice and Development Week, in a panel moderated by Dr. Gechlik, to discuss the successes and challenges of using “precedents”.

In November 2016, Dr. Gechlik reconnected with Judge LI Bing during the CGCP’s formal visit to the SPC.  Judge Li later joined the CGCP’s first Guiding Cases SeminarTM in China marking the sixth anniversary of the establishment of the GCS, during which Judge GUO Feng delivered a keynote speech titled The Compilation and Application of China’s Guiding Cases.

In February 2017, in response to Judge Guo’s speech, Judge Stein delivered the keynote speech at the Guiding Cases SeminarTM organized in Washington D.C.  Judge Stein’s remarks are now published as a commentary titled The Growing Significance of Cases in China: The Guiding Cases System.

During the 2013 dialogue, Judge Walker expressed keen interest in seeing more Guiding Cases (“GCs”).  Now, there are 87 GCs in total, with GC No. 78 providing significant guidance on China’s Antimonopoly Law.  Judge Walker writes in the first China Cases InsightTM, titled In Qihu v. Tencent, the Chinese Supreme People’s Court Offers Antitrust Insight for the Digital Age:

“The decision illuminates the SPC’s carefully considered approach to questions of market definition and market dominance in the technology field.  Jurists inside and outside China will find this approach useful.”

China Cases Insight™ and Writing Contest

The CGCP is pleased to announce a brand new product, China Cases InsightsTM, which aims to provide legal and business professionals with concise and practical analyses of cases in or related to China. We thank Judge Walker for letting us publish his timely analysis of GC No. 78 as the first issue of this publication.

U.S.-China “Dialogues” on Guiding Cases; China Cases Insights and Writing Contest; Collaboration with Ravel 1

To mark the significance of China Cases InsightsTM, we are also launching an international Writing Contest for:

  • students and professionals, including judges, lawyers, academics, and other experts, inside China; and
  • students and recent graduates (i.e., those who graduated from their programs less than two years prior to September 30, 2017) outside China.

Authors of top submissions will receive travel awards to participate in a large-scale conference that we are organizing to take place in Beijing in March 2018.  For details about the contest, please visit this webpage.  You’re also welcome to attend an Info Session at SLS on May 11, 2017 from 12:45-1:45 pm.  Click here to RSVP.

Collaboration with Ravel

As cases become increasingly important in China, the value of comparing these cases with those in the United States and other jurisdictions is tremendous.  To connect the CGCP audience to relevant U.S. case law, the CGCP is collaborating with Ravel, an analytical research company founded by two SLS graduates!  Ravel is a legal research and analytics platform that uses big data technology and artificial intelligence to mine legal documents for insights.  They also provide search to over 200 years of comprehensive U.S. case law.  Starting with the first China Cases InsightsTM, U.S. cases cited in CGCP products will be linked to Ravel webpages providing the full-texts of the judgments.  We are excited to connect our global audience to this new resource, as we are confident that Ravel’s products will further illuminate the complex issues discussed in our own.

The CGCP thanks our sponsors, including Alston & Bird LLP, Broad & Bright, the Center for East Asian Studies of Stanford University, China Fund of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies of Stanford University, and the Fu Tak Iam Foundation Limited, for their kind and generous support.  The CGCP strives to continue bringing you more insights about China’s Guiding Cases.  Please help us achieve this goal by making a gift to us today and become part of our historic mission to help China develop its case law system.  Thank you for your support!