The University of Sydney Law School

Centre for Asian and Pacific Law

A leading centre for teaching and research in Asia and the Pacific

Explore our legal expertise in a wide variety of Asian jurisdictions, including China, Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Upcoming events

Asia Pacific Law events

About us

The Centre for Asian and Pacific Law is located within Sydney Law School. The centre's members have legal expertise in a wide variety of Asian jurisdictions, including China, Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia. The centre offers courses covering a wide variety of legal issues in these countries, including commercial law, investment, constitutional law, human rights, land law, tax, environmental law, labour law, customary law, Islamic law, law enforcement institutions, and dispute resolution. The centre holds numerous seminars, workshops and conferences, and hosts visiting scholars from all over Asia.

Chinese law is taught intensively both in Sydney (in alternate years and to undergraduate and Juris Doctor students only) and in China at the Shanghai Winter School. Japanese law is taught intensively in Japan at the Kyoto and Tokyo Seminars, and Indonesian and Malaysian law is taught offshore at the Southeast Asia Field School.

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Our People

  • Paul Davis represents Japanese utility, trading and mining companies in their investments overseas and has a broad range of dispute resolution experience in the mining and energy sectors.
  • Judge Judith Gibson, District Court of New South Wales
  • Dr Brett G Williams is the principal in the law firm Williams Trade Law. He is a specialist in International Regulation of Trade, especially the law of the World Trade Organization and bilateral and regional trade agreements. He has extensive experience as a teacher, researcher and technical assistance consultant in international trade law and policy. He has taught World Trade Organization law at the University of Sydney Law School since 2001 and at the Australian National University (2013-15), Chinese University of Hong Kong (2010-12), University of North Carolina (2004-06), William and Mary College (1996-98) and the University of Adelaide (1996). He has experience publishing, researching or working on the relationship between international trade law and the law of several Asia Pacific countries, including Australia, China, Malaysia, Samoa and Timor-Leste.
  • Dr Nobumichi Teramura is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Asian Studies in the Universiti Brunei Darussalam, specialising in international arbitration (PhD, UNSW), private international law and contract law. He co-edited New Frontiers in Asia-Pacific International Arbitration and Dispute Resolution (Wolters Kluwer, 2021).

  • Associate Professor Meng Jin, East China University of Political Science and Law
  • Judge Saori Miyazaki
  • Associate Professor Shohei Eto, Faculty of Law, Hitotsubashi University
  • Professor Guo Li, Beijing University
  • Shinichi Nemoto, Meiji University School of Law
  • Professor Yuhong Zhao, Chinese University of Hong Kong
  • Dr Fifi Jaunita, Airlangga University, Indonesia 
  • Associate Professor Dan He, Beijing Normal University, Law School
  • Dr Heecheol Kim, Wonkwang University School of Law, Republic of Korea
  • Judge Yoshitaka Uno, Tokyo District Court, Japan
  • Judge Taku Okada, Osaka District and Family Courts, Japan
  • Judge Shota Watanuki, Saga District Court, Japan
  • Judge Kaoru Ueno, Saga District Court, Japan
  • Associate Professor Jiang Fen, Zhejiang University, China
  • Professor Shitao Wang, Dalian Maritime University (2019)
  • Judge Yuriko Yamamoto, (June 2018 - June 2019) is a judge of Maebashi District Court in Japan hearing criminal cases. She will be visiting the University of Sydney Law School to research criminal justice system and its implications on the community as well as rehabilitation programs for known offenders.

CAPLUS internships are advertised on an annual basis via the Law Student Portal in Canvas and the SULS jobs board. These roles are paid positions. Interns must be currently enrolled at Sydney Law School, have a strong overall academic record, and a demonstrated interest Asian and Pacific Law.

2024 interns

  • Shimeng (Corinna) Chen
  • Keona Febrian

2023 interns

  • Flora Lee
  • Thi My Kim Nguyen
  • Yixue Mei
  • Christina Shin

Featured News

CAPLUS members contributed to the Academic perspectives on corruption and foreign direct investment in the Asia-Pacific region symposium hosted by Universiti Brunei Darussalam on 29 May 2023.

The symposium's invited speakers discussed the mechanism of FDI-related corruption from legal and economic perspectives, using case studies from countries in the Asia Pacific.

Professor Luke Nottage delivered the keynote lecture, moderated a discussion on the legal issues related to corruption and ISDS in Asia, and co-presented a country report on Japan and Thailand.

Country reports were also presented by Professor Vivienne Bath and Ms Tianqi Gu (China and Hong Kong) and Professor Simon Butt (Indonesia).

CAPLUS affiliate Dr Nobumichi Teramura delivered the symposium’s opening remarks, co-presented a country report on Japan, and moderated a discussion on South and Southeast Asia.

The Institute of Asian Studies at the Universiti Brunei Darussalam is funding a conference volume project on corruption and illegality in Asian investment arbitration.

The Principal Investigator is CAPLUS affiliate Dr Nobumichi Teramura, and contributors include University of Sydney CAPLUS members Professor Luke Nottage, Professor Simon Butt and Professor Vivienne Bath.

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