(UIBE Law School News, Photographer/Li Jiyang, Editor/Chen Wenxiu Song Yitong) On the evening of March 29, 2019, sponsored by UIBE Law School, the lecture “Training Chinese Lawyers as International Talents” was held in Room 729, Ningyuan Building. This lecture was honored to invite Judge Liu Daqun as the keynote speaker, and Mr. Bi Jiawei, from the Chinese Initiative on International Law (CIIL), as a guest. UIBE Law School Professor Chen Weidong, Assistant Professor Ji Ying and Li Fenghua were also present. In light of the current international situation, Mr. Liu Daqun expounded to the faculty and students what qualities a world-oriented legal person should possess from the perspective of internationalization and how to cultivate such important characters. Judge Liu also shared his personal experience in international organizations, and showed how he promoted the development of international criminal law and international humanitarian law in international law practices, especially during his tenure as a judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Judge Liu Daqun was nominated by the Secretary General of the United Nations as a judge of the ICTY in 2000. He began to serve as a judge of the Court of Appeal of the ICTY and the ICTR in 2005 and was elected Associate Chief Judge of the ICTY in 2015. Currently, he serves as a judge of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (MICT). As an expert in the field of international law, especially international criminal law, Judge Liu enjoys great reputation both at home and abroad. His speech received admiration and respect from the teachers and students present at the lecture which benefited them a lot.

This lecture was hosted by Ms. Ji Ying. At the beginning of the lecture, Mr. Liu Daqun expressed his appreciation and encouragement to the achievements of UIBE Law School. He believes that the cultivation of legal talents in UIBE Law School had achieved good results in recent years. He also believes that the current situation requires legal talents with international vision and knowledge of international rules to work in various international organizations, which particularly requires the follow-up of the education goals and methods in domestic legal education. Later, when discussing how to improve the depth of legal thinking, Mr. Liu Daqun emphasized the importance of cultivating legal awareness and metacognition, and called on students to strengthen their study on legal theory and legal reasoning. In addition, Judge Liu raised the issue of cognitive fallacy, reminding everyone to avoid the misunderstanding of empty slogans, general uniformity and anchored thinking. He stressed the value of diverse thinking skills, reading and research skills and writing skills, and believed that schools should further improve teaching methods and advance the training of learning skills so as to support the all-round development of the students. During the speech, Judge Liu used his extensive knowledge of international law and unique working experiences in the ICTY as simple but profound examples to illustrate the significance of legal education, winning a round of applause from the audience.

After the lecture, Mr. Bi Jiawei gave a detailed explanation on working in international organizations that students were concerned about. He eagerly encouraged UIBE students to take a chance at international organizations to make “one more choice” for their lives. Professor Chen Weidong expressed his views on current situation of international public law teaching, as well as the selection and training mechanism of outstanding students in UIBE Law School. Finally, the students raised questions on how to popularize ability-based law education, how to improve their expression ability, and consulted about working experiences in embassies abroad. Judge Liu Daqun carefully answered them all and gave his advice.

This lecture enabled the participants to have a more intuitive understanding of relevant trial procedures and cases in international criminal judicial organs. From the words and deeds of Judge Liu Daqun, the students thoroughly realized the high quality that a foreign-related lawyer should possess, which is of great significance to the training of talents in UIBE Law School.

Youth League Sub-Committee of UIBE Law School

29 March 2019