Staff profile

Dr Jieying Liang joined Durham Law School in September 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 was 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.

Jieying published an article in the Journal of Private International Law in 2012, 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 Professor Alex Mills in his book Party Autonomy in Private International Law.

Jieying obtained her PhD in law at the University of Hong Kong. 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. 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 private international law rules. Although her thesis was primarily about Chinese private international law, it adopted a comparative analysis 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 2018.

Jieying’s current research focuses on three areas: (1) the role and function of the party autonomy principle in transnational litigation and the extent to which a forum’s approach to determining the effects of parties’ jurisdiction agreement affects its status in the landscape of cross-border commercial litigation; (2) the jurisdiction of national courts to grant interim and protective remedies in the context of parallel proceedings; and (3) the resolution of cross-border commercial disputes in Chinese courts and its impact on China’s role in the international legal order.

At Durham Law School, Jieying has designed and led four new modules: Introduction to Private International Law (LAW3457), Private International Law (LAW3491), Private International Law and China (LAW45115) and Cross-border Commercial Litigation (LAW46430).

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

Authored book

• Liang, J. (2018). Party Autonomy in Contractual Choice of Law in China. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316718377

Journal Article

• Liang, J. (2012). Statutory Restrictions on Party Autonomy in China's Private International Law of Contract: How Far does the 2010 Codification Go?. Journal of Private International Law, 8(1), 77-112. https://doi.org/10.5235/174410412800251488