Commercial and Maritime Law in China and Europe

Dr Shengnan Jia was awarded the degree of PhD in Commercial Maritime Law by City, University of London and obtained her first LL.M in China and second LL.M in Sweden. She is Partner, Tahota Law Firm, China; Professional Mentor, the School of Juris Master, China University of Political Science of Law.

In her practical career, Shengnan mainly disposes of litigation and arbitration disputes over international trade, commercial, financial and maritime domains involving banking, finance, shipping, logistic and energy industries. During her practice, she has been involved in some important and complex cases (inter alia, disputes over Bank's Acceptance Bill; Guarantee Agreements; Loan Contract; Asset Transfer and Equity Interests Management Contract; a Contract on Assignment of Claims/Factoring) in the Supreme Court of P.R. of China and different high courts around China. She has been appointed as arbitrator in a range of international commercial disputes, such as Hainan International Association Court, Zhuhai Court of International Arbitration, China; LMAA, UK; an Arbitrator of Caspian Arbitration Society, Geneva and Energy Disputes Arbitration Centre, Ankara. As an expert witness, she has been invited by international law firms to submit the expert witness opinion on Chinese commercial maritime law in the London Court of International Arbitration. In addition, she has been appointed to an Expert of Advisory Panel for China Council for Promotion of International Trade as UNCITRAL Observer on Judicial Sale of Ships since 2021.

Beyond her practical career, Shengnan is co-Founding Director, China-Europe Commercial Collaboration Association (CECCA) (London) and Chair of the Board, Stichting CECCA (Netherlands). She is the author of Interim Remedies under English Law and Chinese Law (publisher: Routledge) and has contributed chapters to many legal profession books, such as Maritime Law in Motion (Springer), New Trends in Maritime Law: Maritime Liens, Arrest of Ships, Mortgages and Forced Sale (Thomson Reuters). She has also organized a few international commercial law and maritime law conferences in London and online seminars. She has founded two journals: Journal of Transnational and Chinese Maritime Law (ISSN 2634-4777) and Journal of Transnational and Chinese Commercial Law (ISSN 2634-8209).

Dr Lijun (Liz) Zhao is Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor equivalent) in law and Director of Academic Visitor Programme, at City, University of London. Her expertise lies in commercial and corporate law, maritime law, international trade, and policy. Lijun has published extensively on these areas in international peer-reviewed journals. Also, she has attended and presented her research at several high-profile international conferences, including the WTO Ministerial Conference M11 Academic Forum, and Harvard Global Law and Policy conferences. Besides this, Lijun has been awarded Senior Fellowship by the UK Higher Education Academy.

Beyond academia, Lijun is co-Founding Director of the China-Europe Commercial Collaboration Association (CECCA), London, Member of Advisory Board of Stichting CECCA, Netherlands, and a member of several professional bodies, such as the London Maritime Arbitrators Association (LMAA) and the China Bar Council. Since September 2018, Lijun has joined a Working Group at the International Maritime Committee (CMI) as a Member and Law Expert, and currently is working on the Restatement of General Maritime Law (Lex Maritima).