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Overview

Professor Lei Chen

Chair in International Arbitration and Chinese Law

Affiliations
AffiliationTelephone
Chair in International Arbitration and Chinese Law in the Durham Law School
Chair in International Arbitration and Chinese Law in the Durham Law School

Biography

Professor Lei Chen (PhD) is the Chair of International Arbitration and Chinese Law and the Deputy Dean (Strategic Development and Internationalisation) at Durham Law School, Durham University. He is a titular member of the International Academy of Comparative Law and an ordinary member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. Prof Chen has also been a Fellow of the European Law Institute. In 2022, he founded the Durham International Dispute Resolution Institute (DIDRI), where he currently serves as Director.

He is an Honorary Professor at the University of Galway, Ireland, and a visiting professor at Shandong University and Shanghai Jiaotong University and adjunct professor at City University of Hong Kong. He serves as a member of the Social and Behavioural Sciences sub-panel for the University Grants Committee (UGC) in Hong Kong. 

Professor Chen’s research focuses on comparative private law and international arbitration. He has published extensively in these areas in legal journals, edited volumes of multidisciplinary scholarship, interdisciplinary journals and monographs. He has secured multiple research grants, including four General Research Funds from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council. He has served as an external reviewer for grant bodies in the USA, Hong Kong, the UK, Israel, Poland, and Australia, and as an institutional reviewer for the 2020 Hong Kong Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). Currently, he leads a multi-volume project on article-by-article English commentary of the Chinese Civil Code.

Professor Chen was appointed as a member of the International Commericial Expert Committee of the Supreme People's Court of PRC in 2024. He is a member of Newmans Row, a hub of leading arbitrators in London. As a panel arbitrator and mediator with leading institutions such as HKIAC, SIAC, LCIA, LMAA, DIAC, ADGM, SCIA, KCAB, CIETAC, BAC, SHIAC, AIAC, CAA. Professor Chen is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb) and Hong Kong Institute of Arbitrators (FHKIArb). He is a specialist mediator of Singapore International Mediation Centre and Shanghai Oriental International Commercial Mediation Cnetre. He was called to the Bar (Inner Temple). Professor Chen has been a scholar-in-residence of Wilmer Culter Pickering Hale and Dorr in 2025. He frequently provides expert opinions across arbitration institutions and courts, including Hong Kong, the PCA in The Hague, Washington D.C., Geneva, Singapore, and England.

Selected Grants

Research interests

  • Comparative contract law
  • Condominium Law
  • Corporate and commercial law
  • International arbitration
  • Property law

Esteem Indicators

Publications

Authored book

Chapter in book

  • The Security Interests in Chinese Law: Some Nuances
    Chen, L. (2023). The Security Interests in Chinese Law: Some Nuances. In H. Jiang & P. Sirena (Eds.), The Making of the Chinese Civil Code: Promises and Persistent Problems (pp. 131-152). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009336611.007
  • investor-state Arbitration in China: A Comparative Perspective
    Leon, T., Qiao, L., & Chen, L. (2020). investor-state Arbitration in China: A Comparative Perspective. In L. Chen & A. Janssen (Eds.), Dispute Resolution in China, Europe and World (pp. 231-261). Springer Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42974-4_11
  • Judicial Control over Arbitral Awards in Mainland China.
    Chen, L., & Wang, H. (2020). Judicial Control over Arbitral Awards in Mainland China. In L. DiMatteo, M. Infantino, & N. Potin (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Judicial Control of Arbitral Awards. (pp. 208-223). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316998250.018
  • Regulating Smart Contracts and Digital Platforms: A Chinese Perspective.
    Wang, J., & Chen, L. (2019). Regulating Smart Contracts and Digital Platforms: A Chinese Perspective. In L. DiMatteo, M. Cannarsa, & C. Poncibò (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Smart Contracts, Blockchain Technology and Digital Platforms (pp. 183-210). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108592239.010
  • The Norm of Property's Social Function: A Chinese Perspective.
    Chen, L., Michalek, A., & Wang, J. (2019). The Norm of Property’s Social Function: A Chinese Perspective. In P. Babie & J. Viven-Wilksch (Eds.), Léon Duguit and the Social Obligation Norm of Property (pp. 331-354). Springer Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7189-9_14
  • Consumer Sales Law in Hong Kong
    Lei, C., & Howells, G. (2018). Consumer Sales Law in Hong Kong. In G. Howells, C. Twigg-Flesner, H. Micklitz, & C. Lei (Eds.), Comparative Consumer Sales Law. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315573052-5
  • Codifying Personality Rights in China: Legislative Innovation or Scaremongering?
    Chen, L. (2018). Codifying Personality Rights in China: Legislative Innovation or Scaremongering? In K. Oliphant, P. Zhang, & L. Chen (Eds.), The Legal Protection of Personality Rights in China and Europe. Brill Academic Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004351714_007
  • Relaxations of Contractual Privity and the Need for Third Party Rights in Chinese Contract Law
    Chen, L. (2018). Relaxations of Contractual Privity and the Need for Third Party Rights in Chinese Contract Law. In M. Chen-Wishart, A. Loke, & S. Vogenauer (Eds.), Formation and Third Party Beneficiaries (pp. 45-63). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198808114.003.0003
  • The Evolution of the Property System in China: Between the Socialist Heritage and Liberal Market
    Chen, L. (2018). The Evolution of the Property System in China: Between the Socialist Heritage and Liberal Market. In H. Fu, J. Gillespie, P. Nicholson, & W. Partlett (Eds.), Socialist Law in Socialist East Asia (pp. 385-405). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108347822.014
  • Damages and Specific Performance in Chinese Contract Law.
    Chen, L. (2017). Damages and Specific Performance in Chinese Contract Law. In L. Chen & L. Dimatteo (Eds.), Chinese Contract Law: Civil law and Common Law Perspectives (pp. 377-403). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316816912.016
  • History of Chinese contract law
    Chen, L., & Dimatteo, L. (2017). History of Chinese contract law. In L. Chen & L. Dimatteo (Eds.), Chinese Contract Law: Civil law and Common Law Perspectives. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316816912.002
  • Availability of Specific Remedies in Chinese Contract Law
    Chen, L. (2016). Availability of Specific Remedies in Chinese Contract Law. In M. Chen-Wishart, A. Loke, & O. Burton (Eds.), Remedies for Breach of Contract (pp. 21-42). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof%3Aoso/9780198757221.003.0002
  • The Changing Landscape of Condominium Laws and Urban Governance in China
    Chen, L. (2016). The Changing Landscape of Condominium Laws and Urban Governance in China. In A. Lehavi (Ed.), Private Communities and Urban Governance: Theoretical and Comparative Perspectives (pp. 1-26). Springer Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33210-9_1
  • The Legal and Institutional Analysis of Land Expropriation in China
    Chen, L. (2014). The Legal and Institutional Analysis of Land Expropriation in China. In F. Hualing & G. John (Eds.), Resolving Land Disputes in East Asia: Exploring the Limits of Law (pp. 59-85). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9781107589193.006
  • China: Hong Kong. Selective Adoption of the English Woolf Reforms
    Chan, P., Chan, D., & Chen, L. (2014). China: Hong Kong. Selective Adoption of the English Woolf Reforms. In C. van Rhee & F. Yulin (Eds.), Civil Litigation in China and Europe: Essays on the Role of Judges and Parties. Springer Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7666-1_5
  • 100 Years of the Chinese Property Law: Looking Back and Thinking Forward
    Chen, L. (2012). 100 Years of the Chinese Property Law: Looking Back and Thinking Forward. In L. Chen & C. van Rhee (Eds.), Towards A Chinese Civil Code, Historical and Comparative Perspectives. BRILL. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004204881_006
  • Contextualizing Legal Transplant: China and Hong Kong
    Chen, L. (2012). Contextualizing Legal Transplant: China and Hong Kong. In P. Monateri (Ed.), Methods of Comparative Law. Elgar Edward. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781781005118.00017

Edited book

Journal Article

Supervision students

Jiantong Zhao

Lexie Gao

Yusuf Ozturk