The School of Law (SLW) at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) was one of 15 law schools from around the globe that have been invited by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to join in the G-15 of Law Schools.

The launching of the G-15 of Law Schools was held at the International Investment Agreements Conference 2010 in Xiamen on 8 September.

UNCTAD identified 15 law schools for the G-15 pilot programme. The aim was to facilitate broad regional and demographic diversity. The invited law schools have a dedicated interest in the growth and evolution of the international investment system.

Dr Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary General of UNCTAD, said at the launching event that “through the establishment of a network on international investment law, UNCTAD and the ‘G15 of Law Schools’ aim to foster collaboration among academics and other international investment law experts. The network will help build institutional and analytical capacity to better respond to the complex issues in international investment law and policy, and enhance the teaching and networking opportunities among academia.”

Professor David Caron of Berkeley Law, University of California, said on behalf of the member schools that the schools were “privileged to be part of the UNCTAD pilot project. It is the commitment of the G15 Law Schools to provide for better research. The programme aims to provide a bridge for governance and bring collective excellence to deal with pressing issues of the day.”

Member schools of G-15 cover six continents. They are University of the Witwatersrand of Africa; Xiamen University Law School, National University of Singapore, Seoul National University and City University of Hong Kong of Asia; University of Sydney of Australia; School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Universit?t zu K?ln, Rechtswissenschaftliche Fakult?t, International Investment Law Centre, Université de Paris 1, Panthéon Sorbonne, and Universit?t Wien of Europe; University of Carlifornia-Berkeley, Washington & Lee University and Ottawa University of North America; Universidad de Chile, Facultad de Derecho and Universidad de Buenos Aires, and Facultad de Derecho of South America.

SLW has made continuous effort to broaden its global front, making best use of technology to further legal education. Professor Michael Reisman of Yale Law School and Professor Adrian Zuckerman of University of Oxford teach our students through video-link. As the first of its kind in Hong Kong, the video-link enables law students to learn from and interact with leading legal minds in other countries. Professor Wang Guiguo, Dean of SLW, Professor Romesh Weeramantry, Associate Professor of SLW, and Professor Reisman, who is also Honorary Professor of SLW, have been co-teaching a popular course on “Selected Problems in International Investment Law” for three consecutive years for our law students.

The School is committed to research on investment law and arbitration with a worldwide perspective. We encourage students to broaden their view and sharpen their legal skills by participating in international mooting competitions. In the Frankfurt Investment Arbitration Moot 2009 in Germany, our team was runner-up. The team also won the Oxford University Press Award for the Best Team from a Non-OECD Country in the same competition. Similarly, our moot teams in the Foreign Direct Investment International Moot Competition have consistently achieved good rankings.

Media enquiries:

Sally Ling, Communications and Public Relations Office, CityU (Tel: 3442 6819 / 6209 4466)