Dear Alumni,
As many of you may know, I have taken up the CUHK LAW Deanship as of October this year. This is a great honor for me and I am looking forward to working with all of you in the years to come.
Despite the fact that many of you know me because you are my former students, please allow me to briefly introduce myself:
I grew up in the beautiful German countryside, was a very passionate basketball player as a youngster and a dedicated short story writer when I got a bit older. I studied law in Germany at Passau University where it was also possible to join special language programmes. One of my father’s friends suggested that I should study Chinese which – as he put it – would “open any door in the future”. This was in 1981 and he was quite right, although he may not have thought about the door to the CUHK LAW Dean’s office.
After the second year of my law studies I went to study in Shanghai at Fudan University for one year. Two years after my return to Germany I graduated followed by further study, work and research stays in Taiwan, New York and Beijing. During this time I finished my first PhD on the Chinese labor contract system of 1986.
After the Second Legal State Examination I started to work as a lawyer before I went back to my alma mater to get my second PhD (Dr. iur. habil.) which you need in Germany in order to teach law. After I had finished this major piece I was recruited to join international law firms again first in Frankfurt and then in Hong Kong. In 2004 I got admitted to the roll of solicitors (England & Wales). I became one of the founding members of CUHK LAW (then: the CUHK School of Law) in 2005.
The past 14 years at CUHK have been just great. I have worked with wonderful students, done pioneering research and I have been given the chance to make major contributions to the University administration as the Dean of the CUHK Graduate School from 2014 to 2019.
Since its establishment in 2005 CUHK LAW has moved from strength to strength. We are successful last but not least because we have great students and graduates who support us. Thanks to Richard Morris, our Associate Dean (Alumni and Professional Affairs), and his team the Faculty’s alumni work is now getting the attention it deserves. In the years to come we hope to expand our alumni activities. As reported in this newsletter, in October 2019 we held the first ever CUHK LAW alumni event outside Hong Kong in Beijing. We had a wonderful evening. It was very touching to see so many of our old students again and to hear how they have been and what they are doing now. The event also showed how important it is to stay connected, to support each other and to have fun together.
Hong Kong is currently going through a very challenging period. But, we are CUHK LAW! And I trust that this is a perfect basis for moving forward together even in difficult times.
Enjoy the newsletter and please stay in touch.
LUTZ-CHRISTIAN WOLFF
Dean of the Faculty of Law & Wei Lun Professor of Law