On December 19, 2023, Professor Susan Finder was the invited speaker at thefourth session of the "Legal Empirical Research Workshop"of the Chinese Academy of Law and Social Studies at Shanghai Jiaotong University. Professors Lin Xifen and Hu Jiaxiang hosted her. Professor Finder spoke in Chinese, setting out the highlights of her forthcoming article to be published in China Law and Society Review on How the Supreme People’s Court Supports the Development of Foreign-Related Rule of Law. The article draws, in part on her experience on the expert committee of the China International Commercial Court, as well as her ongoing research on the Supreme People’s Court.
She summarized the development trajectory of China's foreign-related rule of law policies since the 18th National Congress, the more active participation of political and legal organs inforeign-related matters, and the strengthening of the Party's leadershipof political-legal institutions before focusing on the principal part, on four functions of the Supreme People’s Court that support the national strategy of creating a body of foreign-related law and making appropriate adjustments to domestic law. Two STL graduates attended the lecture, Zhang Xuan and Yuan Yue. Yuan Ye, who has written two short articles on the use of prior cases by Chinese courts, joined Professor Finder in responding to a question from one of the commentators about the use by Chinese court of prior cases in decision-making. Professor Finder concluded her talk by suggesting that for a deeper understanding of the Chinese courts, students could intern in a court and faculty could spend time at a court on secondment.
