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Jiajun LUO
Luo Jiajun, having recently completed his PhD in Law from the University of Hong Kong (awaiting degree award letter), now serves as a Research Scholar within the Equality Rights Program at the HKU Faculty of Law. His thesis, “Chinese Courts: Unequal Justice,” earned him a Dissertation Year Fellowship and nominations for the Li Ka Shing Prizes and the HKU Foundation Award for Outstanding Research Postgraduate Students.
From 2021 to 2023, Luo served as a China Law Fellow at Georgetown University. He also shared his expertise as a Chinese Law Course Consultant at the University of Virginia School of Law and taught as a Tutor at HKU. Additionally, he was a visiting scholar at Cornell Law School. Luo holds an LLM from the University of British Columbia (fully funded) and graduated summa cum laude with an LLB from Shenzhen University in China.
Luo’s current research covers several primary areas: (1) the laws and legal institutions of the People’s Republic of China, concentrating on Chinese courts, dispute resolution, and legal reform; (2) Comparative Study of constitutional systems; and (3) China and international legal order. His interdisciplinary research employs a diverse approaches and sources, including legal analysis, social science insights, field interviews and other qualitative methods.
Luo is interested in teaching constitutional law, criminal law, administrative law, family law, contract law, legal theories, comparative law, among other subjects.
Publications:
“Authoritarian Legal (Ir)rationality: The Saga of ‘Picking Quarrels’ in China” (Asian-Pacific Law & Policy Journal, vol 25:3, Spring 2024)
“Can Agency Review Replace Judicial Review? The Rise of Administrative Reconsideration in Xi’s China” (with Hualing Fu) (Forthcoming, Hague Journal on the Rule of Law, Spring 2025)
“China’s Challenge to Constitutional Democracies: A More Nuanced Approach” (with Shuyu Chu) in Edward Elgar Research Handbook on Law and Democracy, Glenn Patmore ed. (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2024)
“One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: Reforming Judicial Accountability in China” (Under Review by Modern China)
Public-Facing Publications
“Authoritarian Legal (Ir)rationality: The Saga of ‘Picking Quarrels’ in China” (European Chinese Law Research Hub, Mar.11, 2024)
“Picking Quarrels: The One Essential Charge in China” (U.S.-Asia Law Institute Perspectives, Volume 4: No. 4, 2023)
“The CMP Dictionary: Picking Quarrels and Provoking Trouble” (China Media Project, Nov.9, 2023)
“Verdicts from China’s Courts Used to Be Accessible Online. Now They’re Disappearing” (China File, 2022)
Awards
Nomination for the Li Ka Shing Prizes and the HKU Foundation Award for Outstanding Research Postgraduate Students, 2024
HKU Dissertation Year Fellowship (Award for Outstanding PhD Dissertation (top 10%)), 2023-2024