The School of Law of Hainan University originated from the Law Department of Hainan University, which was established in 1983. It has been formally established since 1988. At present, the School of Law of Hainan University has the right to confer bachelor's degree in law, master's degree in the first discipline of law, and doctoral degree in the first discipline of law, as well as postdoctoral programme; the undergraduate program of law has been identified by the Ministry of Education as the third batch of higher education characteristics of the construction of specialties, and the construction of undergraduate specialties of the country's first-class disciplines; the discipline of law has been approved as the provincial key disciplines of Hainan Province, and the characteristics of the superiority of the discipline of Hainan Province. It has been awarded the B level and ranked 29th in the fourth round of the disciplinary assessment of the Ministry of Education. In 2020, the discipline of law at Hainan University ranked 18th in China's "soft science" rankings, and entered the top 10% of the national ranking of the discipline of law, which is the only discipline in Hainan Province that shortlisted the top 10% of the national ranking of the discipline.
The school has an excellent faculty and an advantageous research platform. There are 100 faculty members and 80 full-time teachers, including 33 professors, 22 associate professors, 25 lecturers, and 62 teachers with doctoral degrees. There are 9 research and innovation teams, including the Free Trade Port Legal Innovation Team, the South China Sea History and Jurisprudence Research Team, the Dispute Resolution and Social Governance Research Team, the Foreign-Related (International) Rule of Law Research Team, the Rule of Law Government Research Team, the South China Sea Policy and Law Research Team, the Rule of Law Civilization Research Team, the Future Rule of Law Research Team, and the Crime Prevention, Control, and Social Governance Research Team; as well as 2 cultivation and innovation teams, namely, the Intellectual Property Rights Protection Research Team and the Rule of Law on the Marine Ecological Environment Research Team. At the same time, the school has a number of scientific research platforms, such as "Hainan South China Sea Policy and Law Research Center", "Hainan University Path Changing Book Research Center", "National and Regional Research Base of the Ministry of Education, South China Sea Regional Research Center of Hainan University," "Civil and Administrative Public Interest Litigation Prosecution Research Base of Hainan Free Trade Port," and "Chinese Characteristic Free Trade Port Research Institute.
