Professor Wenhua Shan

Professor Wenhua Shan graduated with two PhDs from Trinity College, University of Cambridge and Xiamen University, PR China (PRC), respectively. He is currently State Distinguished Expert and Yangtze River Chair Professor of International Economic Law (by the PRC Ministry of Education), Assistant President Xi'an Jiaotong University and the founding Dean of its School of Law. Previously he served as Senior Fellow of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law of the University of Cambridge, UK, Professor of International Law at the University of New South Wales in Australia and Oxford Brookes University in the UK, and Vice President of the Judicial Case Academy of the PRC Supreme People's Court.

In addition to the Membership of the American Law Institute, Professor Shan is a Titular Member of the International Academy of Comparative Law (IACL, The Hague); Vice President of the Chinese Society of International Economic Law (CSIEL), a Member of the Executive Council of the Chinese Society of International Law, and had been a Member of the Executive Council of the Asian Society of International Law. He is the Honorary Editor-in-Chief of The Chinese Journal of Comparative Law (OUP); Editor-in-General of the "China and International Economic Law Series" (Hart/Bloomsbury) and "Silk Road Studies in International Economic Law" (Martinus Nijhoff/BRILL); and a Member of the Advisory Editorial Board of the ICSID Review: Foreign Investment Law Journal (OUP). He also served as an International Advisor for the Fourth Restatement of the U.S. Foreign Relations Law, an Expert Member of the WEF/ICTSD E15 Task Force on Investment Policy, and a Core Adviser for the IBA Subcommittee on Investment Treaty Arbitration.

Professor Shan’s research area is international and comparative law, particularly investment, trade and public international laws. He has published over a dozen books by English, Chinese and Russian publishers including Oxford University Press (OUP) and Cambridge University Press (CUP) and numerous articles in journals such as the European Journal of International Law and American Journal of Comparative Law.

As a Member of the International Commercial Experts Committee of the PRC Supreme People’s Court, a Conciliator of the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), an Arbitrator of China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), Hong Kong Arbitration Centre (HKIAC), International Commercial Arbitration Court (Russia) among other arbitration institutions, and a licensed PRC Attorney-at-Law, Professor Shan has practiced international and Chinese laws since 1992. He has led a team to provide comprehensive support for the Chinese government on certain key investment treaty negotiations, and for the CIETAC in the drafting of the CIETAC International Investment Arbitration Rules. He also advised foreign governments, international organizations, and transnational corporations on aspects of international investment, trade and public international law matters.

Professor Shan is a frequent speaker and has talked/taught at European Parliament (Testimony on EU-China investment treaty), International Congress of Comparative Law (General Report on the Protection of Foreign Investment), International Congress of Commercial Arbitration (Substantive aspects of international investment law), Energy Charter Ministerial Conference (ISDS Reform), UNCTAD/APEC Regional IIA Training Course, American Society of International Law (ASIL) Annual Conference and the Society of International Economic Law (SIEL) Biennial Conference, among others.