Job Posting , 2015-2018
Assistant Director of the Center for Research on Transnational Law

Peking University School of Transnational Law
Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School,

University Town, Nanshan District, Shenzhen, China

I. Peking University School of Transnational Law

The Peking University School of Transnational Law (“STL”), founded in 2008, invites applications for Assistant Director of its Center for Research on Transnational Law. STL is the first law school in mainland China that offers both a J.D. in English and a Juris Master in Chinese. STL is a unique creation of China’s most prominent university. It reflects both the spirit of globalization and the spirit of an elite educational institution designed to cultivate cross-cultural legal talents in the 21st Century. The school’s first class, totaling 53 students, graduated from the four-year program in the summer of 2012. The succeeding classes numbered 60, 73, 79 and 90 students for each class. STL students are selected using the highest admissions criteria in mainland China, to ensure that the students are able to excel in the demanding bilingual and bicultural law curriculum and become exceptionally desirable candidates in the global legal market.

Since its founding, STL has been a special law school that has drawn world attention. The school aspires to develop a new model of legal education tailored to the special needs of the transnational legal profession in the future. Because of the student quality and the school’s unique ambition, the best professors from the U.S. and other countries have been attracted to teach at STL, either as permanent faculty or as affiliated transnational faculty. Everyone at the school senses the power of the community and shares the zeal for its future success.

II. The Center for Research on Transnational Law( “CTL” )

CTL, established in 2010, is the first research center in the Asia-Pacific Region dedicated to the study of transnational law. The Center isdirected by  Professor Francis Snyder. Its mission is to sponsor research on transnational policy, legal economic, and social issues, including international trade, food safety, anti-dumping, technical standards, foreign investment, immigration, international and regional economic and social regulation, and related dispute settlement processes, such as WTO and regional dispute settlement, international investor-state arbitration, transnational commercial arbitration, and alternative dispute resolution (ADR). The Center also focuses on Chinese foreign economic relations, the role of transnational law in regulating global commodity chains, and other issues specific to the greater Pearl River Delta Economic Zone (including Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Macao and other municipalities in southern China’s Guangdong Province).

III. Co-Directors of the CTL

Francis SNYDER is C.V. Starr Professor of Law at the Peking University School of Transnational Law, EU Jean Monnet Chair ad personam andDirector of the Center for Research on Transnational Law. Hestudied at Yale College and  Sciences Po Paris , and he holds a Juris Doctor degree from the Harvard Law School and a Ph.D. from the Université de Paris I (Pantheon-Sorbonne). Professor Snyder has served as the Dean of the Law Department of the European University Institute in Florence, Co-Director of the Academy of European Law, Jean Monnet Chair and University Professor at the Université Paul Cézanne Aix-Marseille III, and Professor of Law at the University of London. He has also visited at law schools in Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and the United States. He is a scholar of European Union law, international economic law and food safety law, the founder and editor-in-chief of The European Law Journal, and the author or editor of more than 40 books and 200 articles. His most recent books include The EU and China, 1949-2008: Basic Documents and Commentary (2009), translated into Chinesein Chinese as欧洲联盟与中国(1949-2008):基本文件与评注 [平装], 2 volumes (2013); The EU, the WTO and China: Legal Pluralism and International Trade Regulation (2010): and Food Safety Law in China: Making Transnational Law )2015) .

IV. Assistant Director for the CTL

STL and its CTL wish to recruit a new Assistant Director who will be under the supervision of the Director, to play both a managerial role and a research role for CTL in STL, Shenzhen.  The person to be recruited will replace the current Assistant Director, Ms Lu Yi, Lecturer in Law and Assistant Director of CTL, who is leaving to pursue further graduate studies at Yale Law School.

Candidates for this position should have:

(1) A J.D. or JSD degree from a leading American law school, or an American-style law school; or a PhD in a subject closely related to the research projects and plans of CTL.
(2) Native or near-native level in English and in Mandarin Chinese  ;
(3) Knowledge about China and Greater Asia;
(4) Relevant academic writing and research experience and work experience;
(5) An interest in academic administration and a passion for academic services in a law school environment;

(6) An interest in the research projects developed or to be developed in CTL

(7) The capacity for frequent travel within China or abroad in conjunction with research projects.
(8) A strong work ethic, capacity for independent work, enthusiasm, and a spirit of adventure.

In the next few years, it is envisaged that CTL research will focus on (a) food safety law in China, the United States, the European Union and in international trade law and (b) the legal profession in China. With regard to food safety law, specific projects are planned on the regulation of small workshops and on the making and implementation of food safety standards. They will be carried out in conjunction with the NationalFoodSafetyCenter, Northwest University of Agriculture and Forestry, Yangling, Shaanxi Province and with leading scholars in Europe and the United States. With regard to the legal profession, specific projects will be elaborated in conjunction with the University of California, Irvine, and other leading American universities. These projects are likely to require frequent travel.

The Assistant Director will be initially appointed on a probationary basis for a period of three months. Upon successful completion of the probationary period, the Assistant Director will be offered a contract for three years, with possibility for renewal. Salary can be negotiated based on qualifications and experience. Statutory benefits will be provided according to the prevailing labour laws applicable in the PRC.

The position offers substantial opportunities to the incumbent to work together with distinguished faculty members at STL, other Chinese universities and foreign universities. It also permits the incumbent to pursue and publish their own research, preferably related to CTL projects. Participation in specific research projects may offer the possibility of domestic and/or international travel and participation in domestic or international conferences. The position is ideally suited to a person who wishes eventually to pursue an academic career.

For more information about STL, please see our website:
stl.pku.edu.cn

Applications should be submitted by May 28 to Ms. Liu at hr@stl.pku.edu.cn. The application should include a detailed resume of undergraduate and graduate courses and grades, an indication of any substantial  writing experience, an indication of previous administrative experience and a letter of motivation explaining why you are interested in the position and why you are the best candidate. We will begin reviewing applications in May 2015 , with the goal of completing the selection process by early June 2015.