Yuejiao Zhang of China is the current Chairperson of the Appellate Body of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) located in Geneva, Switzerland.  The Appellate Body is a seven member panel that hears appeals from the DSB on trade disputes brought by WTO Members.  The Appellate Body members are appointed by the DSB and serve four year terms, with the possibility of one renewed four year term. Ms. Zhang was first appointed to the Appellate Body in 2008 and is serving her second term, which expires in 2016. 

Among her many other professional accomplishments and activities, she serves as the Executive Director of the China Law Society, Vice President of China's International Economic Law Society, and an arbitrator in China's International Trade and Economic Arbitration Commission.  Ms. Zhang is a distinguished academic; she is a Professor of Law at Shantou University and an Adjunct Professor of Tsinghua University.  Over the years, she has also taught at the People’s University, the China Foreign Trade University Law School, Beijing University, Columbia University, and Hong Kong University.  She also continues to practice law as a private attorney.

Prior to her appointment to the Appellate Body of the WTO DSB, Ms. Zhang had a long and respected career working with regional development banks.   In 2005, Ms. Zhang was appointed as a director of the West African Development Bank following her tenure from 1998 to 2004 at the Asian Development Bank.  Among her senior positions at the Asian Development Bank, Ms. Zhang served as the Chairperson of the Appeals Committee and Chief of its European Bureau.   While at the Asian Development Bank, Ms. Zhang was actively involved in the bank’s law and policy reform programs, the facilitation of loans to developing member states, and promoted international and regional economic cooperation in matters relating to trade and development.   Earlier in her career, between 1982 and 1985, Ms. Zhang also worked as legal counsel at the World Bank.

Ms. Zhang’s service at the Asian Development Bank followed many years as a member of UNIDROIT.  Between 1987 and 1999, Ms. Zhang held a number of senior positions, including serving as Governor of UNIDROIT and a Director of the International Development Law Institute.  In those capacities, she actively participated in the preparation of UNIDROIT conventions relating to international trade and financial leasing.

At the domestic level in China, Ms. Zhang served as the Director-General of Law and Treaties at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation from 1984 to 1997.  In that capacity, she was instrumental in drafting Chinese trade laws.   These accomplishments built upon Ms. Zhang’s earlier work at the China State Import and Export Commission and State Foreign Investment Commission.

Ms. Zhang holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from both China High Education College and from Rennes University in France.  She also holds an LL.M. from Georgetown University Law Center and a J.S.D. from Columbia Law School.