Day 4
Authors: Nicole, Eilis, and Tyson
The view on the way to our lecture
Our day began with a lecture presented by Professor Liyang Hou on Chinese competition law. Unlike most of the law lectures we have been given back in Adelaide (where the main focus is predominantly on the law, principles, and case law itself) today’s lecture had a strong theoretical and analytical focus on economics.
During our Chinese competition law lecture
Within the three-hours, Professor Hou gave us a crash-course on various economic terms. These economic terms were definitely a challenge to wrap our heads around, compared to the other confusing words we’ve been faced with throughout our law degree (like bona fide or ratio decidendi, and countless more). But, we were all very grateful for the colours, graphs and the other types of visual guides used by Professor Hou, which made it much easier for us to understand phrases like “vertical transactions”. Given none of us have studied competition law, we felt very privileged to have had the opportunity to learn it for the first time in Shanghai.
After lunch we attended a Law Workshop where the Chinese legal market and career paths were discussed. We were fortunate to be joined by guest speakers Mr John Fowler (Consul at the Australian Consulate General in Shanghai), Dr Vincent Mu (Partner at Llinks), Mr Anton Ware (Partner at Arnold and Porter) and Dr Ling Yang (Deputy Secretary General of Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre) and Professor Liyang Hou (KoGuan Law School).
Corbin, Georgia and Bridget at the Law Workshop
To begin, we gained some insight into the role of Consul and what it entails to foster and encourage a relationship between the two countries. Specific emphasis was given to the relationship between Australia and Shanghai, where it became very clear that a positive relationship with Shanghai really does hold the key to strong China-Australia relations. Following this, we gained an insight into dispute resolution through arbitration (a continuing theme throughout the workshop) with particular reference to the evolution of arbitration in China.
A short tea break allowed us to make use of our networking skills and, if we were lucky, score some cheeky business cards off the guest speakers. Discussion was then straight back into arbitration with particular reference to commercial and investment treaty arbitration proceedings, followed by a discussion into the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre. To wrap up the event, Professor Hou shared an insight into the study opportunities available to us at KoGuan Law School including exchange opportunities and post-graduate study.
Overall, the workshop was a worthwhile and informative experience. It is clear China will continue to play a large role in the world and legal market and therefore, a potential career involving China should definitely be on our radar!
At night, we ventured to Bar Rouge (a rooftop bar along the Bund). It was nice to experience such an amazing view with most of the group. Overall, it was an eventful, and unforgettable day.
View of the Bund from Bar Rouge
View of the Bund from Bar Rouge