Benjamin L. Liebman

Chinese law; medical disputes in China; popular access to the courts in China; the evolving roles of legal institutions and lawyers; environmental law; Chinese tort law

Benjamin L. Liebman leads Columbia Law School’s Hong Yen Chang Center for Chinese Legal Studies, the first institution of its kind at a U.S. law school. Widely known as a preeminent scholar of contemporary Chinese law, Liebman studies Chinese court judgments, the roles of artificial intelligence and big data in the Chinese legal system, Chinese tort law, Chinese criminal procedure, and the evolution of China’s courts. His research has covered diverse topics in Chinese law over the years, ranging from leniency in criminal law to medical dispute resolution and securities markets. Professor Liebman also serves as the director of the Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law.

In 2015, Liebman published Regulating the Visible Hand: The Institutional Implications of Chinese State Capitalism (Oxford University Press, with Curtis J. Milhaupt), which explores how extensive state intervention and participation drives China’s evolving economy—a critical contribution to the discourse surrounding China’s recent economic transformations. Prior to joining the Law School’s faculty in 2002, Liebman was an associate in the London and Beijing offices of Sullivan & Cromwell. He also previously served as a law clerk to Justice David Souter and Judge Sandra Lynch of the 1st Circuit.

PUBLICATIONS

SELECTED BOOKS, ARTICLES AND CHAPTERS

Benjamin L. Liebman and Curtis J. Milhaupt, editors, Regulating the Visible Hand?: The Institutional Implications of Chinese State Capitalism (Oxford University Press, 2015).

Benjamin L. Liebman, “Legal Reform: China’s Law-Stability Paradox,” Daedalus (Spring 2014).

Benjamin L. Liebman, “A Return to Populist Legality? Historical Legacies and Legal Reform” in Sebastian Heilmann and Elizabeth J. Perry, editors, Mao’s Invisible Hand: The Political Foundations of Adaptive Governance in China (Harvard University Asia Center, 2001).

NEWS

WEAI professor Benjamin L. Liebman discusses China’s legal procedures with CNN. (April 6, 2015)

WEAI professor Benjamin L. Liebman featured in article on China’s medical lawsuits in The New Yorker. (August 25, 2014)