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Resident Faculty

Susan Finder

Distinguished Scholar in Residence

Email: susan.finder@outlook.com

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COURSES TAUGHT

  • Chinese Judicial Reform from a Comparative Perspective

  • China Law and Business

  • Practical and Academic Writing on Chinese Law in English


EDUCATION

  • LL.M., Columbia Law School

  • J.D., Harvard Law School

  • B.A., Yale College


BIO

Susan Finder is a scholar of China’s judicial system (in comparative perspective). Her current research concentrates on Supreme People’s Court and Chinese judicial reforms, much of which is published on her blog, the Supreme People’s Court Monitor (最高人民法院观察). The blog is widely cited in books, academic journals, PhD theses, and government reports. This is Susan’s second career in academia, and she comes to STL after twenty years in China-related practice at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (and other firms), in legal publishing, and (briefly) as a securities regulator.

In her first academic career (at what is now the City University of Hong Kong) she published the first comprehensive study of the operations of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC). Professor Finder received her undergraduate degree from Yale College, her Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School, and a Master of Laws degree from Columbia Law School. She was a visiting scholar at Peking University Law School as well. Professor Finder regularly is invited to make presentations and publish in mainland China and abroad. She has spoken at conferences sponsored by the SPC, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Chinese University of Political Science and Law, among other institutions. She has spoken at some of the leading American law schools (including Columbia Law School, New York University, and the University of Pennsylvania), in all three Hong Kong law schools, as well as elsewhere in the world.


Publications

BLOGGING

  • Spring, 2013-present, the Supreme People’s Court Monitor (https://www.supremepeoplescourtmonitor.com), focusing on developments relating to China’s highest court, cited by the New York Times,Wall Street Journal,South China Morning Post,Financial Times,The Economist, and The Guardian. Articlesfrom the blog have also been reprinting in leading Wechat public accounts. Well known law school and political science professors have included blogposts and it has been cited in government and think tank reports. It has been described by the Harvard Law School library as one of the top China law blogs.

  • Contributor, Global Military Justice Reform (http://globalmjreform.blogspot), edited by Eugene Fidell, Yale Law School, leading scholar and practitioner of military law. Among the many posts include:What does Chinese civil-military integration mean for the courts? http://globalmjreform.blogspot.hk/2017/04/what-does-chinese-civil-military.html (21 April 2017)

ARTICLES (since 2010)

PEER REVIEW

  • Journal of Law & Society;Law & Social Inquiry; Asia Pacific Law Review; Hong Kong Law Journal; Journal of Contemporary China.

  • Occasional Informal adviser to students researching the Chinese courts from: University of California, Berkeley; School of International Affairs, Johns Hopkins University; University of California, Irvine; University of Oslo; Max Planck Institute, Luxemburg, Harvard Law School; University of Tuebingen.

  • Commentator on draft academic articles on articles relating to the Chinese courts written by law professors from various parts of the world.


Presentations

  • China in the Year of the Rooster (legal aspects), Young China Watchers Hong Kong, 22 February 2017http://www.youngchinawatchers.com/hong-kong-china-in-the-year-of-the-rooster-with-seen-meng-chew-susan-finder-hak-yin-li-seen-meng-chew-susan-finder-and-hak-yin-li/.

  • The Evolving Relationship Between the National People’s Congress and the Supreme People’s Court, The Fourth Academic Conference on Law, Courts and Judges in Comparative Perspective, University of Hong Kong, July 3, 2024

  • How the Supreme People's Court Supports China's Foreign-Related Rule of Law (in Chinese), June 21, 2024, Qingdao University School of Law

  • Opening-up of financial institutions and the rule of law, International Seminar on the Financial Rule of Law of the 2024 Lujiazui Forum, June 20, 2024

  • The Dynamic Evolution of Case Law with Chinese Characteristics, Presentation (online) to class of Professor Enrico Toti, University Roma Tre,May 30, 2024.

  • The Contribution of the PRC Supreme Court to the Foreign Rule of Law Under the Belt & Road Initiative (in Chinese), Fudan Institute of Belt & Road  and Global Governance May 14, 2024 

  • How the Supreme People's Court Supports China's Foreign-Related Rule of Law (in Chinese), Fudan University School of Law, May 13, 2024 

  • How the Supreme People's Court Supports China's Foreign-Related Rule of Law (in Chinese), Nanjing University School of Law, May 9, 2024, 

  • How the Supreme People's Court Supports China's Foreign-Related Rule of Law (in English), The Johns Hopkins University-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies, May 8, 2024.

  • The Dynamic Evolution of Case Law with Chinese Characteristics, European Union Chamber of Commerce Legal and Competition Working Group, Beijing, April 26, 2024.

  •  How (and Why) the Supreme People’s Court Supports the Development of Foreign-Related Rule of Law, Cornell Law School, Berger International Speaker Series, February 29, 2024 

  • How the Supreme People’s Court Supports the Development of Foreign-Related Rule of Law, Fourth session of the "Legal Empirical Research Workshop"of the Chinese Academy of Law and Social Studies Shanghai Jiaotong University, December 19, 2023.

  • How the Supreme People’s Court Supports Foreign-Related Rule of Law, International Research Webinar, University of Sydney China Studies Centre, December 1, 2023.

  •  Using Judicial Cooperation & Multiple Functions to Improve Environmental Protection, Shanghai Judicial Forum on Frontier Issues, September 22, 2023, the 7th Chongming World-Class Ecological Island Judicial Symposium

  • Closing Remarks (in Chinese), Fourth Annual Conference of China Forum of Financial & Investment Disputes, September 7, 2023, Beijing

  • Modernization of Chinese Mediation Law, 2023 China Arbitration Summit Forum and the 3rd “Belt.  and Road” High-End Forum of Arbitration Institutions, September 6, 2023

  • Becoming a Legal Professional of the World, Capital University of Economics and Business, September 5, 2023

  • Advanced Lecture Hall丨Professor Susan Finder talks about the policy functions of the Supreme Court from a comparative perspective, May 29, 2023, Tongji University School of Law, Shanghai

  • Impact of China’s evolving data protection law on international arbitration & litigation in foreign courts, Digital Trade, Data Flow, and Dispute Resolution in the Digital Economy, Wuhan, May 12, 2023.

  • “Impact of China’s evolving data protection law on international arbitration & litigation in foreign courts (in program as Improving China’s Foreign-Related Legal System),”  International Symposium on Accelerating Changes Unseen in a Century and the Development of International Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, November 25-26, 2022 (delivered online), also given at the Rule of Law in Global Digital Trade Summit Forum, Hangzhou, China (delivered online), December 13, 2022, also given at Wuhan University School of Law, May 12, 2023.

  • The Functions of the Supreme People’s Court and Their Implications, Presentation (online) to class of Professor Enrico Toti, University Roma Tre, November 15, 2022, also April 12, 2021 and November 15, 2021

  • “Why the Supreme People’s Court Provides Services and Safeguards for the Greater Bay Area Strategy, One Country, Two Systems and Cross-Border Legal Harmonization,”  November 5, 2022, University of Hong Kong Law Faculty,  reported at: https://www.ccl.law.hku.hk/copy-of-event-20220422


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