Login
HSF and UNSW join forces for Aus-China legal relations
A new partnership between Herbert Smith Freehills and the University of NSW will “strengthen research and partnerships in international business and economic law relevant to China in the 21st century.”
Grace Ormsby
The Herbert Smith Freehills China International Business and Economic Law (CIBEL) Centre will have a particular focus on the Australia-China trading corridor, and has been initiated as a five-year partnership.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
This partnership “will contribute to the continued growth of the Centre through strategic hires, research programmes, publications, and ongoing joint education initiatives in Australia and China,” a statement from the firm said.
First established in 2015, UNSW’s CIBEL Centre houses the world’s largest cohort of Chinese law scholars outside of China, with the initiative maintaining “a core group of five Chinese international economic law scholars in the areas of corporate and competition law, trade law, investment law, and financial law,” Herbert Smith Freehills stated.
The firm’s regional managing partner Andrew Pike said by throwing its support behind the partnership it shows its commitment “to bolstering its relationship with key Australian law schools as well as supporting greater legal collaboration across the Asia-Pacific region.”
“As Australian business and society forms even closer bonds with China, initiatives such as the CIBEL Centre – which is at the forefront of research in this field – will become increasingly important to sustaining long-term and economically beneficial relationships between our two countries,” Mr Pike acknowledged.
“We’re pleased,” he continued, “that our partnership will assist the Centre’s directors to realise its strategic direction over the next five years.”
Emphasising China as one of Australia’s most important trading partners, Mr Pike said the firm is ”committed to ensuring we are best placed to serve our clients’ interests in the corridor, whether they or their projects are based in Australia, China or elsewhere.”
“Investment in initiatives such as the CIBEL Centre significantly enhances our ability to do so.”
UNSW’s law dean, Professor George Williams AO said the school is “delighted to be entering into this partnership with one of the world’s leading law firms.”
“It positions CIBEL to lead the world on research into issues of vital importance to the economic prosperity of Australia and our region,” he continued.
The Centre’s directors Professor Deborah Healey and Associate Professor Heng Wang also said the partnership will cement UNSW’s position “as the world’s leading centre for CIBEL research and teaching outside China.”
Professor Healey said China’s rapidly growing services sector and remit for global partnerships and engagement “presents an untapped opportunity for CIBEL engagement across a broad range of industries in Australia and China.”
“Given current global trade dynamics, we expect our research to become ever more relevant to the business community in both countries,” she noted.
HSF said the CIBEL Centre has recorded high-quality research output, including three books, 24 book chapters and forty refereed journal articles.
It has also developed relationships with key research partners, including Tsinghua University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Peking University and Xi'an Jiaotong University.
