Professor Li Lin was the eighth director of CASS Law Institute during the period between 2005 and 2017. In 2011, he was elected a member of the Academic Committee of CASS. In 2017, Professor Li voluntarily resigned from the post of the director of CASS Law Institute, so as to “make way for the development and promotion of young and middle-aged scholars.”

In retrospect, Professor Li summarizes his own career into four decades: the first decade (1970-1980) was the decade of work, in which he had worked in factories, the armed forces, and government organs; the second decade (1980-1990) was the decade of study, in which he study law and obtained the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in law; the third decade (1990-2000) was the decade of research, in which he had engaged in the research on issues of constitutional law, legislation, human rights, democracy and the rule of law; and the fourth decade (2005-2017, actually 12 years) was the decade of being the director of CASS Law Institute. Looking forward to fifth decade of career, Professor Li pointed out that, under the new situation of ruling the country by law in an all-round way, China has entered into an “age of the rule of law”, in which legal scholars can accomplish much. He hopes that he will carry out some more in-depth thinking and research, give full play to his own professional expertise, and continue to make his humble contribution to the development of the rule of law in China.