Event Details:
The Stanford GSB Chapter of Hong Kong and the Stanford Club of Hong Kong jointly invite you to hear Dr. Gechlik of Stanford Law School discuss promoting corporate governance and rule of law in China, one of the most challenging yet commercially most important and vital jurisdictions in the world today.

GGI provides innovative information technology solutions for governments to promote rule of law, citizen participation, government transparency, and other core principles of good governance. The CGCP is a groundbreaking initiative that aims to advance knowledge and understanding of Chinese law and enable judges and legal experts to contribute to the evolution of Chinese case law through ongoing dialogue on “guiding cases” released by China’s Supreme People’s Court. Achievements made by the CGCP and GGI were featured at the U.S.-China Dialogue on the Rule of Law and Human Rights in September 2013.

Two pieces of reading may be of interest to participants: (1) First Reading Piece: China's Open Government Information System (2) 2nd Reading Piece: China eGovernment Development Report 2013


Speaker Bio:
Dr. Mei Gechlik is Founder and Director of Stanford Law School’s China Guiding Cases Project (“CGCP”) as well as Founder and President of Good Governance International (“GGI”).  Dr. Gechlik teaches “China Law and Business” course and has spoken at various institutions, including Harvard University, Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania, New York University, and Georgetown University. At Stanford Law School, Dr. Gechlik has initiated and/or organized several projects, including a study program in China for Stanford students and two international conferences on Internet law and public policy sponsored by Tencent and Microsoft.  Approximately four years ago, Dr. Gechlik founded the CGCP and GGI.  Achievements made by the CGCP and GGI were featured at the U.S.-China Dialogue on the Rule of Law and Human Rights in September 2013.

The CGCP is a groundbreaking initiative that aims to advance knowledge and understanding of Chinese law and enable judges and legal experts to contribute to the evolution of Chinese case law through ongoing dialogue on “guiding cases” released by China’s Supreme People’s Court.  With support from approximately 40 advisers and 100 volunteers, the CGCP has disseminated more than 30 guiding cases and expert commentaries in English and Chinese.  The CGCP’s advisers comprise leading Chinese law experts as well as justices from the U.S. Supreme Court and China’s Supreme People’s Court.  The volunteers are students and young attorneys from different parts of the world.  The CGCP’s products have kept legal practitioners and laypeople updated on the developments in Chinese law and their legal rights.  The widespread dissemination of this knowledge has encouraged consistency in the application of laws in practice and supported increased judicial competency and openness in China.  The CGCP has received the Supreme People’s Court’s approval to organize a judges’ training program on guiding cases in China.

GGI, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, provides innovative information technology solutions for governments to promote rule of law, citizen participation, government transparency, and other core principles of good governance.  GGI has assembled a team of world-renowned experts on law, good governance, and IT with experience working on the toughest e-government issues for such prominent institutions as the United Nations, the European Commission, and the World Bank.  GGI’s team has developed an e-government assessment methodology for use in its China eGovernment Development Index, a project to create tools for assessing e-government development in Chinese localities.  The project made a big splash in China and was extensively covered by Chinese media, including China’s official newspaper, the People’s Daily.  GGI’s report on CEDI will be used as training material in Zhejiang.

Prior to teaching and researching at Stanford Law School, Dr. Gechlik worked as an associate of the China Program of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington-based think tank.  She testified before the U.S. Congress on various topics about China and advised the United Nations and the Chinese government on implementing rule of law programs.  She also initiated meetings, including the “Legal Reform in China” Conference, featuring such distinguished speakers as the Hon. Sandra Day O’Connor, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and the Hon. Zhou Wenzhong, Ambassador of China to the United States.

Dr. Gechlik is admitted as a barrister in England, Wales, and Hong Kong and is a member of the Bar in New York and the District of Columbia.  She has been a visiting faculty member at the Peking University in China and the University of Vienna in Austria.  Dr. Gechlik was a tenured assistant professor of law at the City University of Hong Kong and was also a legal associate for Asia at the International Human Rights Law Group.

Dr. Gechlik received her J.S.D. and JSM from Stanford Law School and her M.B.A. in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.  She also holds an LLM from American University and an LLB from the University of Hong Kong.  Her articles have been published in such publications as the American Journal of Comparative Law, Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, Columbia Journal of Asian Law, Foreign Policy, China Law & Practice, China Business Review, and the Financial Times.