On December 10, 2021, a seminar on building foreign-related legal talents (lawyers) was successfully held in the 120 lecture hall, which was hosted by Wuhan University Law School. The conference is available both online and offline. Leaders and experts from Department of Justice of Hubei Province, Hubei Higher People's Court, Justice Bureau of Wuhan, Wuhan Arbitration Commission, Wuhan Lawyers Association, Wuhan University and the joint training units attended the meeting and discussed a series of topics on the training of foreign-related legal talents (lawyers).

The opening ceremony and signing ceremony was hosted by Sun Deyuan, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Law School. Xu Yeqin, Vice President of Wuhan University, Zhou Yong, Deputy Director of Department of Justice of Hubei Province, Li Qunxing, Vice President of Hubei Higher People's Court, and Feng Guo, Dean of Wuhan University Law School, delivered speeches respectively.

Vice President Xu Yeqin firstly expressed his thanks and warm welcome to all the guests. He pointed out that the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the unprecedented changes in the world are the most significant features of our era. In order to implement the important instruction of General Secretary Xi Jinping, Wuhan University and 14 other institutions have jointly undertaken the legal talent training program. He pointed out that foreign-related legal talents can promote the change of global governance, so universities must pay attention to the cultivation of foreign-related legal talents.

Zhou Yong, deputy director of Department of Justice of Hubei Province, pointed out that "coordinating the development of domestic rule of law and foreign-related rule of law" is an important element of Xi Jinping's Thought on Rule of Law. He pointed out that we need to train, introduce and use foreign-related lawyers well, and expect to attract more foreign-related lawyers to join Hubei Province.

Vice President Li Qunxing of the Hubei Higher People's Court affirmed Wuhan University Law School's ability to cultivate legal talents. He elaborated on the relationship between China and the world today and suggested that it is necessary to use both domestic and international rules and to participate in international affairs in a more active manner.

Feng Guo, Dean of the School of Law, pointed out that Wuhan University Law School actively responds to the call of the Party and the State. Our school is committed to cultivating a group of foreign-related legal talents. To this end, Wuhan University Law School will improve its political standing and provide talent support for foreign-related rule of law work through innovating teaching models and building an international faculty team.

After the speech, Wuhan University and Wuhan Arbitration Commission signed an agreement on joint training of foreign-related legal talents and established a special scholarship for foreign-related legal talents in cooperation with Guangdong Fang&Fang Law Firm. After that, the appointment ceremony of the external part-time mentors of this program was launched, and experts with experience in foreign-related legal practice officially joined the training program.

The exchange period was moderated by Vice Dean He Ronggong of Wuhan University School of Law.

Nie Dezong, deputy director of Justice Bureau of Wuhan, made a speech on the situation of the legal business market in Wuhan, pointing out that Wuhan should give full play to the advantages of universities and improve the synergy mechanism of "college + lawyers association + law firm".

Peng Guoyuan, Executive Deputy Director of Wuhan Arbitration Commission, focused on the importance of cultivating talents for foreign-related arbitration by analyzing the relationship between the supply and demand of foreign-related arbitration talents.

Hu Jagang, deputy director of the training department of Graduate School of Wuhan University, made suggestions on the cultivation of foreign-related legal talents from three links of the talent training system, pointing out that it is necessary to broaden the talent selection channels, use different teaching methods for different students and provide international exchange study opportunities.

Li Xiaoshu, Director of the Office of International Affairs of Wuhan University, introduced a series of achievements of Wuhan University in student international exchange and pointed out that the Office of International Affairs will further serve the cultivation of foreign-related legal talents in our university and build an international faculty.

Fang Yun, director of Guangdong Fang&Fang Law Firm, introduced the basic situation of the firm's foreign-related business, pointed out the prospect and problems, highly praised the foresight of Wuhan University in launching the training program for foreign-related lawyers.

Zhang Xiaodong, partner of BN Credit Limited, as an off-campus part-time mentor, expressed his views on the qualities that foreign-related legal talents should possess. He believes that in addition to the most basic political awareness and professionalism, foreign-related legal talents should also be cultivated with judgment, communication, coordination and cross-cultural thinking skills.

Ge Yin, senior partner of Han Kun Law Offices, combined with his experience in foreign-related legal practice, pointed out that with the development of China, now is the best time to engage in foreign-related legal career.

Yang Ling, Deputy Secretary General of HKIAC, pointed out that international arbitration is the most effective way to apply domestic law extraterritorially, and HKIAC is very willing to cooperate with Wuhan University to help establish a curriculum for the training of foreign-related legal talents and to offer public courses on international arbitration at Wuhan University.

Zou Mingchun, director of Beijing Zhong Lun (Wuhan) Law Firm, introduced the achievements of the firm in foreign-related business and proposed to make full use of the firm's resources to rationalize the work in the next joint training.

Zhu Meng, senior partner of Beijing De Heng (Wuhan) Law Offices, said that the firm has been actively serving the national policy and has made a series of achievements in the field of foreign affairs. The firm has the confidence and ability to contribute to the cultivation of foreign lawyers in Wuhan University Law School.

Rao Guorong, senior partner of Beijing JINGSH (Wuhan) Law Firm, made a keynote speech on "cooperation and joint training", pointing out that strengthening the construction of foreign-related rule of law is not only a national strategy, but also an obligation for legal practitioners.

As a local law firm in Hubei Province, Hubei S&H Law Firm will actively cooperate with Wuhan University in the training program for foreign-related legal talents and explore the formation of a training mechanism.

Gu Xiaoming, a lawyer from Hubei Wisdom Law Firm, introduced the achievements and characteristics of the firm in the field of intellectual property, indicating that the firm will fully support the joint training of foreign-related legal talents as Wuhan is gradually becoming an international city.

Prof. Cui Xiaojing, Deputy Director of Wuhan University Institute of International Law, introduced the basic situation of Wuhan University undergraduate international law pilot class and LL.M foreign-related lawyers class. She proposed that the training of foreign-related legal talents should create a teaching community, focus on the introduction of foreign law knowledge, and promote the connection between students' interest and the advantageous business of each law firm.

Professor Xiao Yongping, Director of Wuhan University Institute of International Law and Dean of Wuhan University Academy of International Law and Global Governance, elaborated on the importance of cultivating foreign-related legal talents and pointed out that all parties should collaborative cultivation of foreign-related legal talents.

At the end of the conference, Professor Feng Guo, Dean of Wuhan University School of Law, summarized the conference with the key words of "information", "path" and "consensus".

Under the guidance of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech on strengthening the cultivation of foreign-related legal talents, this seminar discussed the major issues of why and how to cultivate foreign-related legal talents in the new era. This seminar further clarified the direction of cultivating foreign-related legal talents in Wuhan University.

Edited by Wang Yuting & Wu Liuqing