Legal Frontiers from PKU STL

In this episode, STL Associate Professor Dr Fernando Dias Simões discusses the long-running series of investment disputes related to renewable energy in Spain and other countries, highlighting issues including different treatment of international and domestic investors, the role of ‘vulture funds’ and the ‘modernisation' of the Energy Charter Treaty.

This episode features a guest lecture by Alastair Marke, Director-General of the Blockchain & Climate Institute, on transnational AI regulation, comparing UK, EU, and Chinese frameworks. It discusses international standards, including through the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), as soft law bridging regulatory disparities and aligning with models for AI ethics, and examines case studies focusing on the ramifications of AI regulatory models on climate change AI applications, such as those related to weather prediction and management of smart grids.

Multilateral development banks provide tens of billions of dollars in financing every year. To ensure that this money gets to its intended beneficiaries, MDBs have developed their own systems of investigation and sanctions for fraud, corruption and other misconduct. In this episode, Liu Chang, Counsel at the World Bank’s Office of Suspension and Debarment, discusses the World Bank’s sanctions system from its legal underpinnings to adjudication to compliance, as well as integrity cooperation among MDBs and current challenges in the field.

DeepSeek has upended the global AI debate. In this episode, STL Associate Professor Gilad Abiri speaks with Stephen Minas to unpack what the release of the Chinese company’s R1 artificial intelligence model means for the future development of AI, the regulatory issues of open-source AI and tech competition between major economies.

This episode features a guest lecture delivered at STL Sustainability Innovation & Law Circle by Dr Gonzalo Larrea, Assistant Professor at Utrecht University School of Law. The COP29 outcomes target an expanded role for climate funds in delivering climate finance for developing countries. In his lecture, Dr Larrea provides a comparative analysis of climate funds such as the Global Environment Facility, Green Climate Fund & Adaptation Fund, focusing on their safeguards against negative environmental and social impacts on local communities and proposing reforms to strengthen these safeguards.

This episode begins our “Welcome to STL” series, where we speak with new members of the STL faculty about their work & background. Assistant Professor Kevin Gray, who recently joined STL, is a transnational & constitutional law scholar with a background in philosophy. Here, he discusses his research agenda, including corruption in international arbitration, & upcoming courses at STL.

In this episode, Dr Luo Kaitian and Professor Stephen Minas discuss the practice of labor law in China and its transnational elements, including foreign ESG requirements and the negotiation of labor provisions in international economic agreements. Dr Luo, Founding Partner at Puran Law Firm, also reflects on how to promote workplace diversity and inclusion and offers some advice for students interested in labor law.

In part 2 of our interview, Peking University Law School Associate Professor Dai Xin discusses how to make use of data to improve market efficiency and government performance, digital platform regulation and the need to weigh transparency and privacy imperatives. The conversation also addresses the growing use of artificial intelligence in legal services, the impact of chatbots on access to justice and how AI-generated content will change legal scholarship and education.

This episode features the 1st part of a 2-part interview with Associate Professor Dai Xin from Peking University Law School. In this episode, Prof. Dai discusses his experience of graduating from law school into a financial crisis, offers advice for law students on resilience in challenging times and reflects on his journey into academia, models of legal academia and legal education in a context of rapid technological change.

Professor Ronán Long discusses the significance of the new international agreement under UNCLOS on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, including its potential to contribute to ocean governance and ecosystem restoration. Professor Long is Director of the WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute at the World Maritime University.