The international China-EU School of Law (CESL), is the only Chinese-foreign law school in China. It was founded in 2008. Li Keqiang, the then Vice Premier of China and current Premier of China, and José Manuel Barroso, the then President of the European Commission, inaugurated the school to engage in a Chinese-European legal dialogue and to support the Chinese government in its effort to develop a society based on the rule of law. The China-EU School of Law is a cooperation project made up of 13 European and three Chinese universities and educational institutions. The Consortium Office is located at the University of Hamburg. The 16 partners provide professors and lecturers for the academic programmes as well as access to research networks and financial support.

Students of CESL have the opportunity to spend six weeks in Europe as part of their curriculum. In Hamburg they take part in courses of the Master Programme in European and European Legal Studies.