RGC Awards $5 Million in Research Funding to HKU Law 2026/27

Congratulations to our eight colleagues who were successful in the 2026-2027 round of research grant funding by Hong Kong's Research Grants Council (RGC). Seven General Research Fund (GRF) projects were funded to evaluate the Infrastructure Consultation in the Asia Pacific; to explore Human-AI Interaction in Legal Processes; to regulate Donation-Based Crowdfunding Platforms in China; to assess how can AI help Debt Mediation; to analyse Damage in Hong Kong's Law of Negligence; to examine the role of corporate law in advancing ESG in China; to evaluate the structured issues of FILs and identifying ways to minimize FILs’ impact on citizens’ rights. One Early Career Scheme (ECS) project was funded to evaluate the Necessity and Feasibility of a Sentencing Council in Hong Kong. The details of the new funded projects are as follows:

GRF:
Professor Shahla Ali
Infrastructure Consultation in the Asia Pacific, HK$827,180

Professor Benjamin Chen
Artificially Enhanced Justice: An Exploration of Human-AI Interaction in Legal Processes, HK$777,600

Professor Hui Jing
Regulating Donation-Based Crowdfunding Platforms in China: Challenges and Future Directions, HK$633,900

Professor John Liu
Can Artificial Intelligence Help Debt Mediation? A Field Experiment, HK$650,000

Professor Craig Purshouse
Damage in Hong Kong's Law of Negligence, HK$147,500

Professor James Zeng
Corporate Law and ESG in China, HK$816,000

Dr. Han Zhu
Rule of Law or Rule of Values? A Critical Comparative Analysis of Foreign Influence Laws, HK$549,240

ECS:
Professor Florence Lee
Evaluating the Necessity and Feasibility of a Sentencing Council in Hong Kong: Lessons from Comparative Perspectives, HK$599,984

[Summer course] Law/Data: An Introduction to Computational Methods for Legal Research

This is a 5-Day Course Designed for PhD Students and Legal Academics.

Period: August 24 – 28, 2026 (Monday – Friday)

Venue: The University of Hong Kong

 

課程中文資料，請按此 (Click here for course information in Chinese)

 

Course Overview

This five-day intensive course introduces PhD students and early career researchers in law and law-related disciplines to computational methods for legal research. Designed specifically for participants with no prior experience in computer programming, the course provides a practical and conceptually grounded introduction to how computational techniques can be used in contemporary legal scholarship.

 

Computational methods—such as text analysis, data collection, and visualization—are increasingly used across legal studies, socio-legal research, and interdisciplinary work that engages with courts, legislation, policy, regulation, and legal institutions. Yet many legal researchers lack structured opportunities to acquire these skills in a supportive, methodologically oriented environment. This course addresses that gap.

 

Lecturers:

• Ryan Whalen (Associate Professor & Director of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Legal Studies, The University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law)

• John Zhuang Liu (Associate Professor, The University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law)

 

The course is hosted at The University of Hong Kong and sponsored by the HKU Centre for Interdisciplinary Legal Studies.  The course will be taught in English.

 

Aims and Learning Objectives:

 

By the end of the course, participants will:

 

• Understand how computational approaches can be integrated into doctrinal, empirical, and interdisciplinary legal research

• Gain hands-on experience with basic computational techniques commonly used in legal studies

• Develop foundational literacy in programming concepts relevant to research

• Learn to critically assess the strengths and limitations of computational methods in legal contexts

• Be equipped to begin using computational tools independently or in collaboration with other researchers

 

The emphasis throughout is on methodological understanding and research design, rather than technical mastery.

 

Course Structure and Content:

The course runs over five consecutive days and combines short lectures, guided hands-on exercises, and discussion sessions. Topics include:

 

• Introduction to computational legal research and research design

• Working with legal texts and documents

• Basic text analysis and legal corpus exploration

• Data collection, cleaning, and management for legal research

• Visualization and exploratory analysis for legal questions

• Reproducibility, transparency, and ethical issues in computational legal research

 

Practical sessions are carefully scaffolded and assume no prior coding experience. Examples and exercises are drawn from law and law-related research contexts.

 

Teaching Approach

The course adopts a beginner-friendly, research-led pedagogy. Technical concepts are introduced slowly and motivated by concrete legal research problems. Participants will work with real legal materials and research scenarios, allowing them to reflect on how computational methods intersect with doctrinal reasoning, qualitative interpretation, and normative analysis.

 

No prior programming experience is required, and no technical background is assumed.

 

Who Should Attend?

This course is designed for PhD students in law and law-related disciplines, early career researchers conducting legal, socio-legal, or interdisciplinary research, and researchers interested in incorporating computational methods into their work. Participants from all legal traditions and research areas are welcome.

 

Fees (in Hong Kong dollars):

• HKU students and staff: $ 2,500

• Students (non-HKU): $ 4,000

• Public: $ 6,000

• $500 discount for early-bird payment by June 15, 2026, Hong Kong Time

 

Certificate of attendance will be given out to course participants. Register for the course: https://hkuems1.hku.hk/hkuems/ec_hdetail.aspx?guest=Y&ueid=104795.  A payment link will be sent to registrants later.

 

For inquiries, contact Ms. Grace Chan at mcgrace@hku.hk / 39174727.

Yuxia Zhang and John Liu on The Rise of the Chinese Judiciary and Its Limits: Administrative Litigation in the Reform Period (The China Quarterly)

"The Rise of the Chinese Judiciary and Its Limits: Administrative Litigation in the Reform Period"

Yuxia Zhang (PhD Candidate) and John Liu
The China Quarterly
Published Online: May 2025

Abstract: This article analyses the performance of the Chinese judiciary in administrative ligation during the recent period of reform using a dataset of over 1.6 million judicial documents. Contrary to conventional wisdom, we find compelling evidence that the judiciary has become increasingly significant in checking the power of the government. Courts accepted 79 per cent more cases from 2014 to 2020, and plaintiffs’ win rate against the government rose from 33.2 per cent to 42.2 per cent. This increase is even more pronounced in cases with a strong impact on local government, such as those reviewing land expropriations and police penalties. Judicial authority has improved, with chief government officials attending more than 50 per cent of trials as defendants. Our findings illustrate a judiciary that is on the rise, but there are fundamental limits to its ascent. Courts remain silent on citizens’ political rights. Judges are reluctant to conduct substantive reviews of government actions beyond procedural matters. These findings support a tripartite theory for understanding the rule of law in China, where the law and the judiciary are instrumental in routine and even hard cases, but their power rapidly wanes in the face of politics.

John Liu et al on The Psychological Case for Retaining Counsel: The Tipping Point Effect (MPI Collective Goods Discussion Paper)

"The Psychological Case for Retaining Counsel: The Tipping Point Effect"
John Zhuang Liu, Christoph Engel, Yun-chien Chang
MPI Collective Goods Discussion Paper, No. 2025/1
Available on SSRN: January 2025 (revised in June 2025)

Abstract: Although retaining legal representation generally increases a plaintiff’s chances of success, our analysis of over 9 million civil lawsuits from the United States, mainland China, Taiwan, and Japan reveals that a substantial portion of plaintiffs proceed pro se—even in high-stakes cases. We examine both rational-choice and psychological explanations for this phenomenon. One underexplored motive emerges from survey data: a sizeable fraction of represented plaintiffs report hiring a lawyer primarily to preserve their “peace of mind.” We hypothesize that this motive is influenced by plaintiffs’ subjective assessment of their likelihood of winning. When a case appears one-sided rather than a close call, the role of anticipated regret diminishes, and the incentive to seek legal counsel weakens. We term this the "tipping point effect" and validate it through experimental evidence.

Please click here to view the full text on SSRN.

Xiaoping Wu and John Liu on Constraints in the Economic Analysis of Law in China (AJLE)

"Constraints in the Economic Analysis of Law in China"
Xiaoping Wu (SJD candidate) and John Liu
Asian Journal of Law and Economics
Published online: May 2025

Abstract: Since its introduction to China in the 1980s, the field of law and economics has undergone significant development, with a growing emphasis on empirical research. However, the integration of economic analysis into the current legal study framework has been constrained by insufficient supply and limited demand for this knowledge. This study provides a detailed analysis of the challenges hindering the advancement of law and economics in China. It categorizes research in this field into three main areas: case analysis of legal issues, quantitative analysis of the law, and empirical studies on the economic impact of law and regulations. The study examines the progress made in each category of research and identifies the key obstacles that need to be addressed.

RGC Awards $3.5 Million in Research Funding to HKU Law 2025/26

Congratulations to our five colleagues who were successful in the 2025-2026 round of research grant funding by Hong Kong's Research Grants Council (RGC). The three General Research Fund (GRF) projects that were funded cover a range of topics, from examining the impact of “revolving-door” judges in the Chinese judicial system to investigating China’s efforts to reshape public interest lawyering to exploring the relationship between China’s legal system, financial markets, and economic development. Two Early Career Scheme (ECS) project were funded to study the Integration of China's Patent System and Social Credit System, and introduction of statutory recognition of same-sex couples in Hong Kong. The details of the new funded projects are as follows:

GRF:
Professor John Liu
The Revolving Door in the Chinese Judiciary and Its Economic Consequences: A Quantitative Study, HK$1,064,000

Professor Ying Xia
Nationalizing Legal Mobilization: The Transformation of Public Interest Lawyering under Xi Jinping, HK$679,000

Professor James Zeng
China's Path of Law and Finance, HK$746,000

ECS:
Professor Taorui Guan
Big Data-Driven Governance: A Study on the Integration of China's Patent System and Social Credit System, HK$630,925

Professor Stefano Osella
Recognising Same-sex Partnerships in Hong Kong: Constitutional and Human Rights Perspectives, HK$406,816

Technology in the Courtroom (John Liu Profiled in HKU Bulletin)

"Technology in the Courtroom"
John Liu
HKU Bulletin
Published in May 2025

How do live broadcasts affect behaviour in the courtroom? What happens when judges use AI? And what can data analytics tell us about the factors that favour litigants in court? Professor John Liu has been investigating.

Live broadcasts of court proceedings have become more common around the world, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. In China, they are also part of an effort to encourage judicial transparency.

But sentiment about such broadcasts is divided. Some fear that judges and lawyers play to the cameras and that decisions will be badly affected. Others fear that all parties involved will be very nervous with livestreaming. In the US, David Souter, former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, once famously said “the day you see a camera come into our courtroom, it’s going to roll over my dead body.”

Professor John Liu in the Faculty of Law, however, has been sceptical about such risks, which he calls ‘folklore’. Recently, he decided to test the matter in a randomised control trial involving 85 cases in China, including civil, criminal and administrative (suing the government) cases. Some cases were assigned to be broadcast live and all participants in the trials were told of this; the others were not broadcast. The language and behaviours of everyone involved were analysed using a combination of AI audio recognition tools and manual review.

“What we found out is that some of the folklore is just not true. Judges and lawyers do not play to the cameras or change their behaviour. These repeat players are not influenced or affected in a bad way by live streaming,” he said.

“On the other hand, the parties – the litigants – are somewhat influenced. They appear to be nervous, and they speak at a slow speed and convey less information in trials that are broadcast live.”

Detecting trends

While this may affect litigants’ perceptions of the judicial process – a matter that still needs to be studied more closely – Professor Liu said it demonstrates that judges may be too conservative about the risks of a tool that enhances transparency in the courtroom......

Click here to read the full text.

HKU Awards for Research Excellence 2023-24

Congratulations to all Faculty of Law colleagues who were recognised in HKU Awards for Research Excellence 2023-24:

Outstanding Researcher Award 2023-24
Thomas Cheng

Outstanding Young Researcher Award 2023-24
Zhuang Liu

University’s Research Output Prize 2023-24 (Faculty of Law)
'The Governance of Chinese Charitable Trusts'

By Hui Jing, published by Cambridge University Press in September 2023

More details of the HKU Awards for Research Excellence can be found here. 

RGC Awards $4.6 Million in Research Funding to HKU Law 2024/25

Congratulations to our seven colleagues who were successful in the 2024-2025 round of research grant funding by Hong Kong's Research Grants Council (RGC). The seven General Research Fund (GRF) projects that were funded cover a wide range of topics, from China’s plea leniency system to the work conditions of early-career lawyers in China to the problem of animal rescue hoarding in Hong Kong. The details of the new funded projects are as follows:

GRF:

Professor Cora Chan

Liberal Regions in Illiberal States, HK$527,490

Professor Xin He

Appeals and Inequalities in China’s Plea Leniency System, HK$1,040,000

Professor Sida Liu

The Work Conditions of Early-Career Lawyers in China, HK$840,000

Professor John Zhuang Liu

The Rise and Limits of the Chinese Judiciary: Administrative Litigation in China during the Reform Period, HK$716,000

Professor Ryan Whalen

Artificial Intelligence in the Administration of the Patent System, HK$366,626

Professor Michael Ng

Judicial Independence on Trial: Archival study of political interference with the colonial Hong Kong courts (1842-1997), HK$742,000

Professor Amanda Whitfort

Responding to Animal Rescue Hoarding in Hong Kong: A Comparative and Empirical Review, HK$407,644