China

Missouri’s COVID Suit Against China Revived

The Eighth Circuit has breathed life back into Missouri’s attempts to hold the People’s Republic of China (PRC) responsible in U.S. court for the COVID-19 pandemic. Missouri filed this claim in April 2020 and, as Chimène Keitner outlined at the time, the case is rife with Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) issues. This latest decision…

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China’s New Foreign State Immunity Law: Some Foreign Relations Aspects

On September 1, 2023, the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC Standing Committee) passed the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Foreign State Immunity (FSIL) (English translation here). The FSIL will enter into force on January 1, 2024. This law heralds a fundamental shift of China’s attitude towards foreign state immunity,…

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How to Criticize U.S. Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (Part I)

[This post is based on a lecture delivered at Wuhan University School of Law on October 15, 2023] China has been critical of U.S. extraterritorial jurisdiction. In February, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a report entitled “The U.S. Willful Practice of Long-arm Jurisdiction and its Perils.” In the report, the Ministry complained about U.S….

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Optionality in Choice of Law

Choice-of-law clauses are sometimes described as tools for reducing legal uncertainty. This characterization, while correct, is incomplete. In cases where the suit is brought in a jurisdiction other than the one named in the choice-of-law clause, it is sometimes more accurate to think of the clause as an option. Either litigant may, if it so…

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China Adopts Restrictive Theory of Foreign State Immunity

On September 1, 2023, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress promulgated the Foreign State Immunity Law of the People’s Republic of China (FSIL) (English translation here). When the law enters into force on January 1, 2024, China will join those countries—a clear majority—that have adopted the restrictive theory of foreign state immunity. For…

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Jia on the U.S.- China Rivalry

Mark Jia has posted an interesting new article on SSRN, American Law in the New Global Conflict.  It considers how China has shaped U.S. law historically and how the current rivalry between the U.S. and China will play out for domestic law.  The history is fascinating. It discusses not only the racist and xenophobic Chinese…

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Ninth Circuit Applies New Supreme Court Interpretation of RICO’s Geographic Scope

On August 11, 2023, the Ninth Circuit became the first lower court to apply the new test for “domestic injury” under RICO that the Supreme Court announced in Yegiazaryan v. Smagin (2023). In Global Master International Group, Inc. v. Esmond Natural, Inc., the Ninth Circuit held that a Chinese company stated a valid civil RICO…

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Enforcing U.S. Securities Judgments Against Chinese Companies

Robin Hui Huang and Weixia Gu have an interesting paper up on SSRN about enforcing foreign securities judgments in China. In China’s Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Securities Judgments Against Overseas-Listed Chinese Companies, they note that private securities litigation against Chinese companies in U.S. courts is increasing. But most Chinese companies listed in the United…

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The Homeward Trend in Chinese Choice-of-Law Cases

One of the characteristics of transnational litigation is that there is generally more than one forum in which the suit may be brought. Although TLB focuses primarily on transnational litigation in U.S. courts, it can sometimes be useful to look at what is going on in other systems where litigation might instead be filed. A…

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Ingrid (Wuerth) Brunk

Vanderbilt Law School
ingrid.wuerth@vanderbilt.eduEmail

William Dodge

George Washington University Law School
william.dodge@law.gwu.eduEmail

Maggie Gardner

Cornell Law School
mgardner@cornell.eduEmail

John F. Coyle

University of North Carolina School of Law
jfcoyle@email.unc.eduEmail

Zachary D. Clopton

Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
zclopton@law.northwestern.eduEmail

Fikri Soral

Galatasaray University
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Gregg Cashmark

Vanderbilt Law School
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Hannah Buxbaum

Indiana University Maurer School of Law
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Symeon Symeonides

Willamette University College of Law
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Aaron D. Simowitz

Willamette University College of Law
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John B. Bellinger

Arnold & Porter LLP
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R. Reeves Anderson

Arnold & Porter LLP
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Volodymyr Ponomarov

Arnold & Porter LLP
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Robin Effron

Brooklyn Law School
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Scott Dodson

UC Law – San Francisco
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