Following last year’s inaugural research forum held in Singapore, the SMU-Queen Mary University of London (SMU-QM) joint research forum was hosted by the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London (CCLS) on 24 and 25 June 2015 in London. This event was co-organised by CCLS and SMU’s Centre for Cross-Border Commercial Law in Asia, and School of Law (SOL).

Both universities were represented by their law faculty members. Led by Dean Professor Yeo Tiong Min S.C., and Deputy Dean Professor David Llewelyn, SOL’s delegation comprised 12 faculty members and three post-doctoral research fellows.

The Forum began on 24 June with a research workshop whereby Professor Morag Shiach, Vice-Principal and Executive Dean from Queen Mary University, gave the welcome speech, and Professor Yeo Tiong Min S.C. delivered the opening remarks. The research forum saw six speakers from two universities presenting their research papers. Each of these papers was commented by the chair commentators:

1. Dr Wang Jia and Ms Li Yangbing (SMU) co-presented a paper entitled “The Best of IP Law and the Worst of IP Law in Asia,” which was commented by Professor Lord Hoffmann (CCLS).

2. Dr Gaetano Dimita (CCLS) presented a paper entitled “End-User Licence Agreements,” which was commented by Professor Michael Furmston (SMU).

3. Dr Saskia Hufnagel (CCLS) presented a paper entitled “Transnational Legal Regulation: A Comparison of Policing Borders in Asia and Europe,” followed by the comments made by Associate Professor Kelvin Low (SMU).

4. Associate Professor Eugene Tan (SMU) presented a paper entitled “CSR as Soft Law,” which was followed by the comments made by Professor Janet Dine (CCLS).

5. Ms Norah Gallagher (CCLS) presented a paper entitled “China and Energy Charter Treaty” followed by the comments made by Associate Professor Wan Wai Yee (SMU).

The closing remarks were made by Professor Spyros Maniatis (CCLS) and Professor David Llewelyn (SMU). Both of them highlighted the significance of this joint workshop in enhancing Asian and European commercial law research by both universities.

The second day of the forum on 25 June 2015 consisted of public lectures. The first session was a lunchtime lecture, in which Professor Tang Hang Wu (SMU) delivered the lecture entitled “The Rise of Singapore as a Major Trust Jurisdiction,” which was commented by Professor Kelvin Low (SMU). The evening session comprised the following presentations, which were chaired by Professor Sir Bernard Rix (CCLS):

· Assistant Professor Yip Man (SMU) presented a paper entitled “Singapore International Commercial Court”.

· Assistant Professor Pasha Hsieh (SMU) presented a paper entitled “The Legal Services Markets in Singapore and ASEAN”.

· Associate Professor Goh Yihan (SMU) presented a paper entitled “Issues of Singapore Contract Law”.

· Dr Zhang Zinian (SMU) presented a paper entitled “Insolvency Law and Practice in China”.

Associate Professor Loo Wee Ling (SMU) drew the closing remarks for the evening lectures. The 2015 SMU-QM Joint Research Forum marked a significant step in the cooperation of commercial law research between these two universities and future research collaborations are being planned.

Back to Research@SMU Issue 28