2. The crisis of law globally: change in the wind or geo storm?

With more than 100 jurisdictions worldwide, each of them facing a unique set of legal conditions and challenges, it is difficult to give a complete general account of the crisis in legal education around the world. However, in the wake of the establishment of the modern international legal system under the aegis of the United Nations, the trend over the past decades of economic globalization, the resurgence of the lex mercatoria (law merchant) as “law without a state” (Teubner, Reference Teubner2002, p. 200), and anxieties related to the fragmentation of international law (Koskenniemi and Leino, Reference Koskenniemi and Leino2002, p. 553) or future challenges of AI of international security (Singh Gill, Reference Singh Gill2019, p. 171) provide just a few examples of the numerous fundamental challenges that are relatively homogenous and equally experienced by most legal-education institutions around the world.

To put it simply, the principal reason for the universal nature of the contemporary challenges experienced by legal education lies in the universality of the gravest problems and risks. Moreover, all the major problems identified globally are mutually connected in the form of “strange loops” or “tangled hierarchies,” meaning that the achievement of one goal may neutralize the realization of other goals or even lead to the achievement of the opposite goal (Hofstadter, Reference Hofstadter1979, p. 10). At a higher level of abstraction, these problems culminate in one major challenge that has been aptly summarized by David Held as follows: “The paradox of our times can be stated simply: the collective issues we must grapple with are increasingly global and, yet, the means for addressing these are national and local, weak and incomplete” (Held, Reference Held2010, p. 143).

In this example, it is not only the dichotomy of global versus local that has dominated and continues to dominate the conception of international law. As the use of “paradox” to describe the deficiencies inherent in this dichotomy indicates, it is possible that dichotomies in general are at the heart of the present crisis of international law and legal education around the world.

As a matter of fact, at least since the Westphalian Treaty, the dominant conception of international, and very often also of domestic, law is based on dualism (Turley, Reference Turley1993, p. 185; Beaulac, Reference Beaulac, Eriksen and Emberland2010, p. 17). In law, many reputed commentators have emphasized the dual nature of law: Bentham reduced it to the dichotomy of pain and pleasure, and Robert M. Cover expressing it on the basis of the legal nomos (Bentham, Reference Bentham1789, p. 1; Cover, Reference Cover1984, p. 4). Most generally, Robert Alexy elevates the dual nature of law thesis to something that is capable of addressing “all fundamental questions of law” (Alexy, Reference Alexy2010, p. 167). The fact is that legal debates and methodologies around the world widely concur in the dominant use of dichotomies to conceive of law. Albeit rooted in different contexts or causes, the most common examples in law are the dichotomies of public and private (international) law (Neuwirth, Reference Neuwirth2000, p. 393; Yu, Reference Yu2014, p. 51), national (municipal) and international law (Björgvinsson, Reference Björgvinsson2015, p. 1; Owada, Reference Owada2015, p. 254), hard and soft law (Crawford Lichtenstein, Reference Crawford Lichtenstein2001, p. 1433), substantive and procedural law (Main, Reference Main2010, p. 801), law and fact (Isaacs, Reference Isaacs1922, p. 1), consent and coercion (Hunt, Reference Hunt1981, p. 47), treaty and customary law (Scott and Carr, Reference Scott and Carr1981, p. 347), positivism and naturalism (Priel, Reference Priel2023–2024, p. 31), legal theory and legal practice (as also paraphrased by the distinction between law in books and law in action) (Husa, Reference Husa and Peterson2011, p. 105; Edwards, Reference Edwards1992, p. 34; Pound, Reference Pound1910, p. 12), and the law as it is (de lege lata) and the law as it should be (de lege ferenda) (Virally, Reference Virally and Reuter1981, p. 519), to mention but a few. There are many more related dichotomies, such as those of politics and economics (Ripsman, Reference Ripsman2006, p. 1), the state and the market (Bruff, Reference Bruff, Shields, Bruff and Macartney2011, p. 80), or left and right (de Benoist, Reference de Benoist1995, p. 73). Even different legal traditions, such as those of civil and common law, are presented as dichotomies (Strong, Reference Strong2015, p. 1). Law is then subdivided and each specialized legal field features further dichotomies, such as the idea/expression dichotomy in copyright law (Samuels, Reference Samuels1989, p. 321). Finally, there are also many false, obsolete, ill-fated, offensive, and even discriminatory dichotomies of little practical use that continue to linger although they should have been abandoned a long time ago, such as those of civilized and non-civilized nations (Article 38 (1) lit. c) Statute of the International Court of Justice (ICJ)), modernity and tradition (Germond-Duret, Reference Germond-Duret2016, p. 1537), the First World and the Third World (Gainer, Reference Gainer1983, p. 1547), and developing and developed countries (Neuwirth, Reference Neuwirth2016, p. 911). Two other principal but overly simplistic, false, or occasionally hegemonic dichotomies are those of East versus West and North versus South (Hendry and Wong, Reference Hendry and Wong2007, p. 1; Arrighi, Silver and Brewer, Reference Arrighi, Silver and Brewer2003, p. 3; Jordan, Reference Jordan1996, p. 216).

All these examples appear to testify to the finding that dualism universally constitutes a dominant mode of thinking (Webb, Reference Webb and Leeming2020, p. 702). To be precise, there is nothing wrong with dichotomous or dualistic thinking per se, as it is neither good nor bad. It only becomes a problem when it means the end of a continuous process of reasoning, because its underlying bivalence “trades accuracy for simplicity” (Kosko, Reference Kosko1993, p. 21). This was also exemplified, for the public/private (international) law dichotomy, in the argument that “the separation of public and private international law is historically contingent and has impoverished the practice and theory of international law” (Paul, Reference Paul1988, p. 177; Paul, Reference Paul2001, p. 290). Moreover, contemporary developments in capitalist production and finance have been listed among the reasons for the empirical decline of the public/private distinction, which is further aggravated by the “paradoxical exercise of public authority by private actors” (Cutler, Reference Cutler1997, p. 261).

Generally, dichotomies or dichotomous thinking are considered to raise the possibility of the erroneous presumption that there are only two possibilities, in a false dichotomy in which “we forget the middle and think in extremes, missing important alternatives in the process” (Govier, Reference Govier2003, p. 31). One of these alternatives that is missed in the process is the failure to connect the contradictory with the complementary nature of opposites, which really highlights the origin of “false dichotomies.” This can be exemplified by the way in which perceived differences between legal systems nurture the dichotomies established between different legal traditions, such as civil law and common law, better known as the diversity of legal traditions, which is often, but falsely, presented as an obstacle on the path towards global law.

Not only has it been shown that “the transplanting of individual rules or of a large part of a legal system is extremely common” (Watson, Reference Watson1974, pp. 21, 95), but it has also been found that diversity in law is “compatible with all major legal traditions” (Glenn, Reference Glenn2007, p. 359). Thus, the shortcomings in a purely dualistic mode of reasoning lie in the resulting gaps it leaves, which are to a large extent causal of the current deficiencies in the present international legal system, such as the fragmentation of law (Koskenniemi, Reference Koskenniemi2006, p. 10), the lack of policy coherence and legal consistency highlighted by conflicts between norms or treaties (Jenks, Reference Jenks1953, p. 401; Jeutner, Reference Jeutner2017, p. 3), and many more problems that are manifest in “limping legal acts” (acts considered lawful and valid in one system but not in another) (Verhellen, Reference Verhellen2017, p. 433). These problems have been addressed by defragmentation techniques, the global constitutionalism debate, and many more arguments and proposed solutions (Neuwirth, Reference Neuwirth2024, p. 12; Dunoff and Trachtman, Reference Dunoff and Trachtman2009, p. 5; Schwöbel, Reference Schwöbel2010, p. 612).

Hence, to fully unfold the useful effect of dichotomies, dualistic thinking must be complemented by paradoxical reasoning, also captured by the term dialetheism, which starts from the premise that there can be contradictions that are true, while there may be others that are false (Priest, Reference Priest1990, p. 388). Overall, paradoxes remind us of these limitations in our understanding and motivate us to continue the quest for a broader, or more holistic, understanding of the phenomena around us (Reference Kapur, Pascual-Leone, Manly, Cole and KapurKapur, Pascual-Leone, Manly and Cole, 2011, p. 1). This marks the principal lesson to be learned from the recent rise in oxymora and paradoxes that repeatedly produce the labels used about the present era such as the “Age of Paradox” (Handy, Reference Handy1995, p. x) with “perplexing tensions and profound paradoxes” (Rosenau, Reference Rosenau1995, p. 13), a “Time of Oxymora” (Neuwirth, Reference Neuwirth2018, p. 3), or the “Age of Unreality” in which everything is said to be an oxymoron (Bennis, Reference Bennis2009, p. 403). These titles and characterizations constitute some of the principal problems and challenges that confront legal education in the present era.

3. Crisis of law or crisis of legal education?

The major problems and deficiencies in law today, many of which manifest themselves in the form of the numerous dichotomies prevalent in law, have not gone unnoticed by legal educators and law schools around the world. Legal-education crises occur frequently and likely have accompanied the history and evolution of law. Scholarly work suggests that every jurisdiction, from the US and the EU to Russia and China, is currently facing a crisis in legal education (Minzner, Reference Minzner2012–2013, p. 334; Maleshin, Reference Maleshin2017, p. 289; Moran, Reference Moran2019, p. 453; Schwartze, Reference Schwartze and Germelmann2021, p. 67). Thinking along the idea that the theory of today is the practice of tomorrow, and vice versa, it can be argued that most of the problems encountered in law outlined above have their origin in legal education in the past. This provides one more good reason to better connect legal theory to legal practice and to frame their dichotomous relationship as one of complementarity rather than contradiction. Such a different perspective has been put in practice by way of the complementation of legal knowledge with various lawyering skills, also discussed under the title of “clinical legal education,” which has been defined as “a legal teaching method based on experiential learning, which fosters the growth of knowledge, personal skills and values as well as promoting social justice at the same time” (Madhloom and McFaul, Reference Madhloom, McFaul, Madhloom and McFaul2022, p. 1).

In addressing the static and widely obsolete distinction between the different legal traditions, some law schools have embraced bijuralism and adopted bi- or trans-systemic teaching. Notable among these are McGill Law School in Canada, since 1999, and the Louisiana State University Law Center in the US, since 2002, both of which are aided by their location in a “bijural jurisdiction,” Louisiana or Quebec (Costonis, Reference Costonis2002, p. 1). This teaching approach means the “simultaneous teaching of the common law and civil law in a particular subject area” (Bedard, Reference Bedard2001, p. 237). In addressing the national-versus-international law divide, this approach has also been accompanied by a trend to “de-nationalize” and “transnationalize” legal education (Jukier, Reference Jukier2006, p. 775), or to transcend national boundaries in general, as a way “to alert students to the complexities of life that await them as jurists and lawyers in the future” (Dedek and de Mestral, Reference Dedek and de Mestral2010, p. 910). Later, in trying to break free from the territorial limits of the nation-state, numerous law schools, such as the Jindal Global Law School in India, established themselves as “Global Law Schools” (Badrinarayana, Reference Badrinarayana2014, p. 521). Many more offered “global law programmes” at either undergraduate (e.g. Tilburg University or Bocconi University) ^{Footnote 1} or postgraduate levels (e.g. the Hauser Global Law School Program at New York University Law School). ^{Footnote 2} Put briefly, the internationalization of law curricula is both a growing trend and an urgent need (A-Khavari, Reference A-Khavari2006, p. 75).

To deal with the deficiencies inherent in many more legal dichotomies, alternative methods have also been pondered and implemented, such as “problem-based learning” in law (Kurtz, Wylie and Gold, Reference Kurtz, Wylie and Gold1990, p. 797). Such problem-based learning is said to “start with problems rather than the exposition of disciplinary knowledge,” which overall promises several advantages (Sylvester, Hall and Hall, Reference Sylvester, Hall and Hall2004, p. 44). Combined with clinical legal education, this approach certainly also has advantages in dealing with the growing complexity and parallel blurring-of-lines of the distinction between different legal fields as well as between law and other sciences. These different approaches are nowadays accompanied by various innovative teaching methods and the use of technology in legal education, such as “blended learning” and “flipped classrooms,” the latter being understood as consisting of “pre-recorded lectures (video or audio) followed by in-class activities” (Wolff and Chan, Reference Wolff and Chan2016, p. 9). Most recently, and largely due to the 2020 global pandemic, another new topic of global relevance is, more broadly, distance learning through “online legal education,” which also transcends the dichotomy of the physical and virtual world (Nottage and Ibusuki, Reference Nottage and Ibusuki2023, p. 1; Neuwirth, Ramaswamy and Svetlicinii, Reference Neuwirth, Ramaswamy, Svetlicinii, Nottage and Ibusuki2023, p. 159).

These are but a few of the principal cornerstones in legal-education reform efforts in Asia and beyond. There are many more, as legal education has to respond to many different pressures, some of which were outlined in a symposium held in 2016. For China, for instance, two types of pressure have been identified: pressure from international competition and pressure resulting from the low employment rate of law graduates (Ji, Reference Ji2016, p. 237). For Taiwan, the pressure results from the need to solve transnational legal disputes and tackle legal issues regarding developments in technology and changes in society (Lin, Chin and Liu, Reference Lin, Chin and Liu2016, p. 247). In South Korea, the emphasis of reform efforts was on practical training as a way to “effectively prepare students for practice in the real world” (Oh, Reference Oh2016, p. 227). In Japan, the efforts were pursuing three major objectives, namely to offer continuous legal-education programmes for practitioners, to enhance community service and supporting career development of graduates, and to internationalize the curricula (Sato, Reference Sato2016, p. 213). These efforts, and especially those related to the globalization of legal education in Asia, are also conducive to fostering co-operation between law faculties around the globe (Miyazawa, Reference Miyazawa2016, p. 209).

Over the past decades, the rich debate in legal education has shown that the following are the key components that legal education must have and the related skills that legal education must provide to its graduates.

First, legal education must be “glocal.” In other words, it must teach both local and global awareness, as well as have the ability to transcend territorial and jurisdictional boundaries to reflect the current reality in which most jurisdictions operate. To give but one example, this has been confirmed for the jurisdictions of all 164 World Trade Organization (WTO) members, as WTO law has been found to have—in spite of its basis in international treaty law—“assumed features of a transnational legal system, resisting the dichotomy of international and municipal law” (Tuori, Reference Tuori2016, p. 301).

Second, the glocal aspect of education entails a sound knowledge of comparative law, or, better, of the comparative method. The comparative aspect of law is undisputed, but it has constantly evolved in the past. While it was, in a way, born from the domestic versus foreign law dichotomy, the different taxonomies have also changed and will have many different functions to play in the future, especially in legal education (Neuwirth, Reference Neuwirth, Singh and Kumar2019, p. 45). Essentially, comparative law has been called the “science of tomorrow” (Örücü, Reference Örücü2004, p. 205) and there may be many new tasks for comparative law in the future, such as assisting in the pursuit of greater regulatory harmony through greater transdisciplinarity (Neuwirth, Reference Neuwirth2020, p. 1).

Third, legal education must successfully bridge the gaps left by the dichotomy of legal theory and legal practice. It must combine basic legal knowledge with the necessary practical skills by incorporating clinical legal education and problem-based learning. This also matches the general shift from a knowledge-based to a skill-based economy, which requires that students be equipped with different skill sets, such as academic, professional, and technical skills (Klein and Green, Reference Klein, Green, Barabasch and Rauner2011, p. 123). In the field of law, this can be realized by learning through doing so-called “experiential learning,” such as through mooting or field trips, which also add to problem-based skills (Lynch, Reference Lynch1996, p. 78; Higgins, Dewhurst and Watkins, Reference Higgins, Dewhurst and Watkins2012, p. 165). This fourth skill set also becomes more important in light of disruptive technologies, such as blockchain or AI, as lawyers need to be equipped with the necessary skills “to operate effectively in the new world of disruptive innovation in law” (Fenwick, Kaal and Vermeulen, Reference Fenwick, Kaal and Vermeulen2017, p. 351). Particularly, the recent introduction of LLMs has intensified the debate about their impact on legal education in China and elsewhere (Yu, Reference Yu2023, p. 220; Ajevski, Reference Ajevski2023, p. 352).

Fourth, and more generally, there are additional skills required, which can be summarized in the notion of transdisciplinarity, understood as a methodology for creating knowledge by striving toward a greater unity between different disciplines (Augsburg, Reference Augsburg2014, p. 234). In law, these skills can equally be framed by the many “law and …” issues, including all kinds of pairs such as the well-known “law and literature,” “law and technology,” and “law and economics,” but also more exotic and no less important ones, such as “law and love” or “law and magic” (Neuwirth, Reference Neuwirth2015, p. 139). As a result of the creeping expansion of law, many new connections between law and other fields, such as that between law and neuroscience known as “neurolaw,” have emerged and continue to emerge (Petoft and Abbasi, Reference Petoft and Abbasi2019, p. 15). This means that the need for lawyers to find a common language in order to communicate with stakeholders in different fields or areas has increased. In this regard, the semiotics of law as the study of signs, and other approaches, are also called to play an important role in legal education (Broekman and Mootz III, Reference Broekman and Mootz2011, p. viii).

Fifth, when combining the glocal and comparative aspects of legal education, there are additional skills required, including foreign language skills, which are closely related to cultural skills. This is reflected in the “ability to work in a multicultural setting,” which is often required in job advertisements and is particularly important when working in foreign jurisdictions (Faulconbridge and Muzio, Reference Faulconbridge and Muzio2009, p. 1343). Another related set of skills involves ethics, emotional intelligence, and creativity, to mention but a few (Silver, Reference Silver1999, p. 1198). Overall, lawyers should at all times keep an open mind with regard to future problems and the creative ways in which they can be solved (Weinstein and Morton, Reference Weinstein and Morton2003, p. 873). It could even be said that predicting the future, as much as creating the future by regulating it, is a lawyer’s task (Neuwirth, Reference Neuwirth2022, p. 5).

These are but a few of the basic qualities that future lawyers will need if they are to be able to respond to the deficiencies inherent in the existing dichotomies that characterize law today. As in psychology’s understanding of the Gestalt, so, in legal education too, the whole appears to be greater than the sum of its parts, and ideally lawyers will avail themselves of all of these qualities and also be able to combine them creatively depending on the context. The multidimensional challenge for lawyering skills has, for instance, been exemplified by the skills related to time management (Bartholomew, Reference Bartholomew2013, p. 917). In this sense, and against a backdrop of major changes in the architecture of the global legal arena, the current and recurrent crisis in legal education resembles a geo storm more than a mere change in the direction of the wind.

4. A new paradigm of legal education, or polyjuralism meets polylingualism

Louisiana and Quebec—as examples of so-called “bicameral” mixed or hybrid jurisdictions—were the ideal cases for introducing bijuralism with regard to the common law/civil law divide. The diversity of legal traditions, having shaped the Macao legal system, also provide serious challenges that can be metaphorically described as a “geo storm.” These challenges, however, can also bring an important component to the future of legal education and practice in Macao, if it manages to extract the greatest of its many unique characteristics, which can be best described as polyjuralism and polylingualism. This also requires the ability to adopt a new form of legal thinking—one that questions its premises and possibly also infiltrates a more flexible logic—which is arguably necessary to be able to transcend the many artificial boundaries inherent in the dichotomies mentioned above (Fletcher, Reference Fletcher1985, p. 1292; Dewey, Reference Dewey1924, p. 26).

To begin with the glocal aspect of legal education, Macao’s current legal status qualifies it as a “glocal”—that is, both a local and a global—actor (Neuwirth, Reference Neuwirth2011, p. 108). The reason is that, since the return of Macao in 1999 to the PRC after centuries of Portuguese administration, Macao has been established as a SAR of the PRC, governed by the Macao Basic Law (MBL) as its principal constitutional text. According to the MBL and in line with the PRC’s Constitution and the principle of “One Country, Two Systems,” the Macao SAR is “an inalienable part of the PRC.” ^{Footnote 3} This means that it enjoys a high degree of autonomy in most policy areas, except foreign and defence matters (Article 2 MBL). Thus, the Macao SAR is equally entitled to adopt its own laws, enjoying wide independent legislative and judicial power, and there are only a few national laws of the PRC in force in its jurisdiction (Liu, Reference Liu and Trigo2014, p. 25). However, this applies not only to domestic, but also to international affairs, where it is authorized to “maintain and develop relations and conclude and implement agreements with foreign states and regions and relevant international organizations in the appropriate fields” (Article 136 MBL). As a concrete example, Macao is a member of the WTO, along with the PRC and the neighbouring Hong Kong SAR.

In relation to comparative law, the Macao legal system offers a rich variety and has aptly been described as a “mixed” or “hybrid” legal system (Castellucci, Reference Castellucci2012, p. 665). The fact is that, over the course of history, it has had many influences, as is well exemplified by its Commercial Code, which was inspired by numerous legal systems, including but not limited to the Portuguese, French, and German ones, as well as important features of European Union law and the common-law system (Teixeira Garcia, Reference Teixeira Garcia2018, p. 314). Evidently, there are also influences of Chinese law. As a result of history and geography, there are also traces of common law, which are explained by the ties with and proximity to the Hong Kong SAR, as well as the importance of the gaming industry and the number of US operators that are active in Macao (Rose, Reference Rose2013, p. 393). Overall, Macao’s unique features can also be explained by the “unique geographical position and strong cultural and economic ties that Macao has with the mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and beyond, in Southeast Asia” (Tu, Reference Tu2010, p. 90). In sum, it has rightly been stated that Macao’s legal tradition has—for centuries—been shaped by “the socio-economic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds, in a context of globalization and regional integration” and therefore has the potential “to become a laboratory of research on comparative law and international law” (Wei, Reference Wei2014, p. 249). These diverse ties and the various laws and practices that have been adopted also testify to a long-standing tradition of not considering theory as being separate from practice, but instead using legal theory and comparative study for the purpose of putting it into practice by seeking to adopt the optimal legislative solution.

In this regard, Macao’s polycultural (Bernardo, Reference Bernardo2019), multi-ethnic (Clayton, Reference Clayton2019, p. 145), and polylingual (Young, Reference Young2009, p. 412) characteristics are also of assistance, particularly in communicating with the Lusophone world and the rest of the global arena. As for the last, Article 9 of the MBL stipulates that “in addition to the Chinese language, Portuguese may also be used as an official language by the executive authorities, legislature and judiciary of the Macao Special Administrative Region.” However, the term “Chinese language” includes spoken Cantonese and Mandarin-based Standard Written Chinese. Macao Creole Portuguese (called “Patuá” in Portuguese or “Macanese” in English) adds to the already rich linguistic diversity of Macao (Li and Tong, 2021, pp. 142, 144). Last but not least, as Macao is a glocal metropolis, the English language too plays an important role in daily life and the work of public authorities, with the government offering many services in the English language as well. The use of English has increased even farther because of “Macau’s modernization, through education, the casino world, and the media” (Botha and Moody, Reference Botha, Moody, Bolton, Botha and Kirkpatrick2020, pp. 531–2; Meierkord, Reference Meierkord, Klöter and Söderblom Saarela2021, p. 80). Equally, English is the working language of the University of Macau and, most of all, it has a growing role in legal education as well, in which English now complements the traditional bilingualism of the legal system and legal education, and is increasingly a medium for communicating with the rest of the world (Cheng, Reference Cheng2020, p. 196).

As far as transdisciplinary and other skills are concerned, Macao also provides fertile soil for various other policy challenges, such as the regulation of the creative or experience economy (Mok, Reference Mok, Kong and O’Connor2009, p. 135), AI (Migliorini and Neuwirth, 2023, p. 138), traditional and conventional medicines, and tourism. Most importantly for policy coherence, and possibly one of the strongest qualities of Macao, is its diversity, which has also earned it the name of “cultural Janus” (Cheng, Reference Cheng1999, p. 4) and a place where “East meets West” (Zhang, Yankholmes and Morgan, Reference Zhang, Yankholmes and Morgan2022, p. 1). The East/West dichotomy has not only been seen as the result of the difference between the concept of rights in a natural law tradition and the concept of duties in Confucian culture (Tang and Wen, Reference Tang and Wen2020, p. 32), which results in descriptions of Western people thinking in terms of the rights of the individual or personal liberties whereas their eastern counterparts think more in terms of duties or obligations, order, and harmony (Dionisio, Reference Dionisio2014, p. 62), but also been noted at the level of cognition and logic (Nisbett, Reference Nisbett2003, p. 8). In this regard, it is helpful to remember the limitations inherent in dichotomous thinking. For Macao, this also is a constant reminder to build on its traditional quality as a place where apparent opposites not only meet, but are also transcended and “get reconciled” (Videira Pires, Reference Videira Pires1988, pp. 213–5).

In sum, the many unique and defining aspects of Macao can help it in its daily policy decisions, but also regionally, in order to play a wider role in its relationships with the PRC and Hong Kong, for instance through the “Closer Economic Partnership Arrangements” ^{Footnote 4} and notably in the context of the Guangdong/Hong Kong/Macao Greater Bay Area, abbreviated as “Greater Bay Area” (GBA). The GBA covers the three different jurisdictions of the PRC, namely those of the SARs of Hong Kong and Macao and the province of Guangdong, all of which are located in the Pearl River Delta Metropolitan Region facing the South China Sea. The project of the GBA was officially launched with the signing of the GBA Framework Agreement (GBAFA) on 1 July 2017, which aims to fully implement the principle of “one country, two systems” as a way to improve and innovate the co-operation between the GBA members in order to develop the GBA into a more dynamic economic region. ^{Footnote 5}

The diverse aspects of the legal system are equally useful for Macao’s relationships with the rest of the world, as cities will perform a greater role in the emerging global legal order (Blank, Reference Blank2006, p. 875). Based on its Portuguese language being also an official language, Macao has an important supportive role to play in the PRC’s relationship with the Lusophone countries. To this end, it has established the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries to promote the commercial relations between the PRC and Lusophone world (Dos Santos, Reference Dos Santos, Duarte, Albuquerque and Lopes Tavares2024, p. 535). As a concrete example from the education sector for its role in the relationship between China and Lusophone countries, Macao has entered two alliances focusing on Portuguese- and Chinese-language teaching and learning resources in 2021 (Pun, Reference Pun2022, p. 4).

The same also applies to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) announced in September 2013, which builds on the ancient Silk Road networks with “the aim of strengthening the cooperation between China and other countries along the old Silk Road on a wide range of issues, in particular the fields of trade and investment” (Zhao, Reference Zhao and Zhao2018, p. 1). In this context, the unique role of Macao was also noted given that more universities have been reported to have started to open Portuguese-language majors in order to respond to China’s playing an increasingly proactive role on the international stage (Cai and Xue, Reference Cai and Xue2022, p. 5). The changing role of China was described as shifting from selective adaptation to selective reshaping with its influencing factors of perception and conception, complementarity, and legitimacy (Wang, Reference Wang2020, p. 583). If Macao were to play an active role in this changing global environment, then it must maintain its status as a free port and generally remain open to receiving inspiration from abroad in order to build bridges over the gaps left by existing or future false dichotomies. To fulfil these expectations, legal education in Macao, by embracing its polyjural and polylingual qualities, is called to play an important role.

5. Polyjuralism plus polylingualism: past experiences and future strategies

An important role in the current domestic, regional, and global context is reserved for education in general, and legal education in particular. The unique legal tradition and strategic position of Macao determine that the legal education in Macao should be given a special mission. On the one hand, it should fulfil the two functions of being a professional education and an academic education, which any law school will normally do. At the same time, it should create a platform for legal cultural exchange by taking full advantage of Macao’s unique legal culture in order to respond to its mission in the development of the rule of law in China. In this regard, the Faculty of Law of the University of Macau has adopted a set of strategies on the basis of its past experience. These include in particular the launch of a new undergraduate programme in the English language entitled “Chinese Law and Global Legal Studies.” The aim of the new programme is not only to enrich the provision of Macao’s legal education, but also to respond to the context of China’s growing economic power and steady rise in an increasingly multi-polar world, and the ensuing geopolitical implications (Shenkar, Reference Shenkar2006, p. 313; Tunsjø, Reference Tunsjø2018, p. 1), in parallel with the growing importance of the role of contemporary Chinese law (Kwan, Reference Kwan2021, p. 51).

As a result of the developments in Chinese law, many renowned universities have inaugurated courses or established research centres for Chinese law or China studies; these include the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies of Harvard University, ^{Footnote 6} the Centre for Chinese Law and Policy at Durham University, ^{Footnote 7} and the University of Oxford China Center. ^{Footnote 8} The growing attention paid to Chinese law around the world can be explained as a consequence of two important trends: first of all, the increase in the volume of China’s global economic and trade activities led to an increase in the application of Chinese law to international commercial contracts and disputes; second, China’s role in the practice of international law and participation in global governance too has been growing in importance. In addition to its participation in various multilateral fora, such as the WTO since 2001, the PRC has negotiated a number of bilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and has entered numerous regional partnerships, such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RECP) and the China-ASEAN FTA. ^{Footnote 9} Moreover, broader co-operation projects, such as China’s BRI or the co-operation between the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), have also contributed to the export of China’s legal regime (Neuwirth, Svetlicinii and De Castro Halis, Reference Neuwirth, Svetlicinii and De Castro Halis2017, p. 1; Zhao, Reference Zhao and Zhao2018, p. 1). The growing influence of China in global governance is also reflected in the establishment of international or regional institutions such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank or the New Development (or BRICS) Bank. ^{Footnote 10}

The growing global influence of Chinese law in the world has also increased the need for legal professionals who are proficient in both Chinese law and international law. In this regard, President Xi Jinping warned in spring 2021 that “China is facing a crisis of legal talents for protecting its growing interests,” which is why the cultivation of foreign-related professionals is one of the important national strategies. ^{Footnote 11} In response to this crisis, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Education of the PRC jointly issued a notice regarding the training of lawyers with knowledge of foreign law, to enhance the study of international law in English at the postgraduate level. ^{Footnote 12} Even before the government’s initiative, several postgraduate programmes focusing on Chinese law were being offered by some of the most highly reputed law schools of China, including the law schools of Tsinghua University and Peking University. At the undergraduate level, a few Chinese universities offered double-degree programmes in law as a way to study both Chinese law and the law of a foreign jurisdiction. ^{Footnote 13} There are also several co-operation programmes offering platforms for the study of both Chinese law and international law. ^{Footnote 14}

From the perspective of Macao, these programmes have some limitations, which are found in the general restrictions imposed by Chinese higher-education laws, the fact that the teaching language for Chinese law is mostly Chinese, and the fact that the study period is usually less than four years. This reduced study period is not deemed to be long enough to acquire a comprehensive and systematic understanding of the Chinese legal system and its application in China. Such an understanding is necessary for those who aim to pass the Chinese bar exam or the “national judicial examination,” which “is the qualifying exam for the legal profession organized by the state to select from the most qualified to be candidates for junior judges, prosecutors, and lawyers” and has therefore been termed “the only route to a legal career” (Ren and Lu, Reference Ren and Lu2020, p. 231).

In this regard, Macao’s own particular legal status as a SAR of the PRC offers additional space for practising novel approaches to legal education. Moreover, with the “One Country, Two Systems” policy, the operation of educational programmes in Macao does not need to comply with the relevant laws and policies of China. The higher-education law of Macao grants its higher-education institutions more academic freedom and broader administrative and financial autonomy. ^{Footnote 15}