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Dr Mimi Zou

Mimi Zou
Associate Professor in Law

Background

Mimi's main areas of expertise are in law and technology, dispute resolution, employment, commercial & contract law, with over 60 publications in these fields. Prior to her role at Reading, she held the first post in Chinese law at the University of Oxford as Fangda CDF in Chinese Commercial Law, St Hugh's College. She also co-founded the Deep Tech Dispute Resolution Lab at Oxford.

Mimi is an expert advisor to a number of UK-based and international organizations, including the UK Government’s Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation, World Economic Forum (in the areas of China, Justice, and blockchain), World Bank's Access to Justice and Technology Taskforce, and the UNIDROIT Working Group on Digital Assets and Private Law. Her research has won international awards and been covered by international media outlets. 

She is a qualified lawyer in Australia and England and Wales, with over 17 years of experience working for and advising international organizations, government departments, and firms in tech and professional services sectors in China, Europe, USA, and Australasia. Mimi completed her DPhil in Law and Bachelor of Civil Law (Distinction) degrees from the University of Oxford, as well as first-class honours degrees in Law, Economic and Social Science from the University of Sydney.

Selected publications

Books

  1. M Ebers, C Poncibò & M Zou (eds.) Contracting and Contract Law in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (Hart, 2021)
  2. M Zou, Chinese Contract Law and the 2020 Civil Code (LexisNexis, 2020)
  3. M Zou, An Introduction to Chinese Contract Law (LexisNexis 2018)

“The contribution provides a significant starting point for those interested in the study of Chinese contract law… [The author] has also thoroughly examined the legal instruments to provide a precise and comprehensive account… [T]he book demonstrates an acute awareness of the significance of the legislative history and legal culture in shaping the legal ideology behind contemporary Chinese contract law.” - C Wang, ‘Book Review: An Introduction to Chinese Contract Law, by Mimi Zou’ (2019) 27 European Review of Private Law 1411.

Peer-reviewed journal articles

  1.  Y Wang, M Zou & Z Wu, ‘Force majeure and Covid-19: A Critical Assessment of Key Issues under the Chinese Civil Code’ (2021) 3 Journal of Contract Law - forthcoming
  2. M Zou, ‘Code and Other Laws of Blockchain’ (2020) 40 Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 645
  3. M Zou, ‘An Empirical Study of Reforming Commercial Arbitration in China’ (2020) 3 Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal 281
  4. S Bogojevic & M Zou, ‘Making Infrastructure Visible in Environmental Law: The Belt and Road Initiative and Climate Change Friction’ (2020) 10 Transnational Environmental Law 1
  5. M Zou, ‘Transnational Labour Law on the Belt and Road: Chinese Multinationals and Corporate Social Responsibility’ (2019) American Journal of Comparative Law Unbound 418
    • Selected for the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) and Henry Luce Foundation Conference Grant 
    • An earlier draft was presented in McGill Law School’s Transnational Futures of International Labour Law program, which convened 30 internationally leading experts to offer critical reflections, lead high-level discussions and formulate recommendations on the role of transnational labour law
  6. M Zou, ‘Economic Development and the “Social Rights Hypothesis”: Regulating Labour Standards in China’ (2019) 5 Asian Journal of Law and Society 315
    • Received the AAS-Luce Foundation Law, Society, and Justice Emerging Fields Workshop Award
  7. M Zou & K Leung, ‘Regulating Working Hours in Hong Kong: Towards Temporal Autonomy’ (2019) 49 Hong Kong Law Journal 1

Publications

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