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Professor Lei Chen

Chair in International Arbitration and Chinese Law


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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 for 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.

Beyond his role at Durham, Professor Chen is an Adjunct Professor at the City University of Hong Kong, where he teaches EMBA and MPA courses in partnership with Tsinghua University’s School of Public Policy and Management. He is also an Honorary Professor at the University of Galway, Ireland, and a visiting professor at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law and Shandong University. 

Professor Chen was appointed to the International Commercial Expert Committee of the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China. He also serves as a member of the Social and Behavioural Sciences sub-panel for the University Grants Committee (UGC) in Hong Kong, where he assesses research proposals and selects external peer reviewers. 

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.

 As a panel arbitrator and mediator with leading institutions such as HKIAC, SCIA, KCAB, CIETAC, BAC, SHIAC, AIAC, CAA, and THAC, Professor Chen is also a Fellow of the Hong Kong Institute of Arbitrators. Active in international academic networks, he advises global organizations and governments and 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
  1. Addressing Impediments or Hardship to Contract Performance: A Comparative Study of the Common Law in Hong Kong and Chinese Law, General Research Fund (GRF), Research Grant Committee (RGC), Hong Kong Government, Amount: HKD $512,904, July 2021, Lei CHEN (Co-I), Qiao Liu (PI), Ewan Mckendrick (Co-I)
  2. The Availability of Specific Performance in Chinese Courts: An Empirical Assessment, General Research Fund (GRF), Research Grant Committee (RGC), Hong Kong Government, Estimated Amount: HKD $460,000, Jan 2016 - Jul 2018, Lei CHEN (PI).
  3. Understanding Property Transitions: The Emergence of Rural Land Markets in China, General Research Fund (GRF), Research Grant Committee (RGC), Hong Kong Government, Amount: HKD $510,000, Jan 2015 - Jun 2017, Lei CHEN (PI) .
  4. Assessing Property Relations and Formalizing Condominium Ownership in China, General Research Fund (GRF), Research Grant Committee (RGC), Hong Kong Government, Amount: HKD $499,000, Nov 2012 - Nov 2015, Lei CHEN (PI) .
  5. Contract Law in China and Europe: A Comparative Approach, EU-China Research Grant, 2011 - 2014, Co-I Jan Smits (PI).
  6. Comprehensive Analysis of Diversity of Legal Systems in Asia-Pacific Region and Convergence towards Establishment of Rule of Law, Private University Research Branding Project, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science & Tech日本文部科學省, Amount: JPY $3,500,000, 2017 - 2018, Co-PI (Lei CHEN); Prof. Nobuyuki Sato (PI) .
  7. Cross-border Data Transfer among Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, Research Project commissioned by Microsoft Int. Policy Research Grant, Amount: HKD $360,000, 2018 - 2019, Lei CHEN (PI).

Research interests

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

Esteem Indicators

Publications

Authored book

Chapter in book

Edited book

Journal Article

Monograph

Supervision students