On November 25th, 2025, Liang Yali, senior partner of Beijing King&Capital Law Firm and director of Kyoto Criminal Defense Research Center, was invited by Peking University Law School to participate in the teaching of the course “Criminal Prosecution, Defense and Trial Practice”, and was once again hired as an external lecturer.

Criminal Prosecution, Defense and Trial Practice" is a core course of Peking University Law School, which is of great practical significance, aiming to help students understand the logic of professional thinking of the prosecution, defense and trial, and to improve their practical operation ability, so as to build a system of internal identity and mutual respect of the legal community. The course adopts the case teaching mode of Peking University founded by Prof. Che Hao, focusing on real and difficult cases to carry out in-depth discussions, and this time, the case of “a mining company executives suspected of the crime of major liability accidents” is chosen as the teaching blueprint, so that students can improve their professionalism in simulated combat.

The co-teachers of this course, in order of lecturing, are: Ms. Liang Yali, Mr. Zhang Yu, member of the party group and deputy prosecutor general of Guizhou Provincial People's Procuratorate, and national expert of procuratorial business; Mr. Xu Jin, president of the Criminal Trial Division of the Beijing Municipal Haidian District People's Court; and Prof. Che Hao, vice dean of the School of Law of Peking University. The course adopted the Peking University case teaching mode created by Prof. Che Hao, and centered on the case of “a mining company's executives suspected of the crime of major liability accidents” to start the study and discussion.

Ms. Liang Ya-Li lectured in the course

In the teaching session, Liang Yali lawyer to “case analysis + practice refining” way, combined with their own personal case experience, from the focus of the prosecution and defense disputes, the scope of the main body, the responsibility of the boundary and the four major dimensions of the application of the law, for the students to systematically dismantle the defense of the crime of major accidents, layer by layer to analyze the core of the case difficult points:

1. Directly hit the main body of the controversy:

Clarify the legal boundary of “actual controller”.

In response to the indictment will be recognized as the actual controller of company X, Liang Yali lawyer clearly pointed out that the determination of the lack of factual and legal basis. She combined with the company law on the definition of the actual controller and the criminal law article 134, emphasized that the controlling shareholders or their management personnel to bear criminal liability, must be “directly responsible for organizing, directing, managing the production operations” as a prerequisite, and this case does not exist in this kind of fact. y company as an independent legal person, personnel, financial, Company Y as an independent legal person, personnel, financial, business, property management have not reached the degree of personality mixing, the parent company's normal supervision can not be equated with the criminal law meaning of “actual control”.

2. Define the judgment of negligence:

Stick to the principle of “due diligence”.

Ms. Liang emphasized that China's judicial practice has established the principle of foreseeability and the principle of reasonable reliance, which is used to define the scope of responsibility for supervisory negligence. She pointed out that Company X had established a comprehensive safety management system in accordance with the law, set up a safety committee, clarified job duties and carried out regular inspections, and fully fulfilled its legal duty of care. The direct cause of the accident is the improper operation of the outsourcing unit, X company managers have no direct supervisory responsibilities, but also could not foresee the negligent behavior, should be applied to the “due diligence exemption”, and can not be simple to the results of the supervision of negligence in reverse.

3. Abide by the bottom line of the hierarchy of recourse:

Practicing the principle of modesty of criminal law

Combined with the relevant normative documents of the state council, Liang Yali lawyer further clarified that the object of major accidents is limited to the main person in charge of the accident enterprise, only special major accidents can be extended to pursue the responsibility of the higher level of enterprise management. This case belongs to the major accidents, does not have the legal conditions to extend the pursuit of responsibility; at the same time, the administrative accountability and civil compensation has been fully covered by the relevant responsibility, the criminal law should maintain the modesty, should not break through the legal boundaries to pursue the criminal responsibility of the superior controlling enterprise personnel.

Lawyer Ms. Alice Liang commenting

After the students of Peking University School of Law participated in the course and started the arguments, debates and summary statements of both sides of the prosecution and defense around the case, Ms. Liang Yali commented on the performance of all of them accurately. She affirmed the students' accurate grasp of the case and clear logic of the argument, especially recognized the “intervention factors cut off the defendant's negligent behavior and the result of the causal relationship” point of view has practical reference value. At the same time, she combined with their own experience to remind students: “for criminal cases must always be evidence-centered, pay attention to the objective evidence and the chain of responsibility of the strict review, which is to ensure the quality of the case of the core of the bottom line.”

Subsequently, Ms. Liang Yali patiently answered the students' questions and conducted in-depth interactions on the details of the case and the difficulties in the application of the law, which helped to open up the barriers between theory and practice.

Prof. Che Hao (first from the left) presents a letter of appointment to Ms. Liang Yali (first from the right).

At the end of the course, Prof. Che Hao awarded the appointment letters of the external lecturers of the Criminal Prosecution and Defense Practice course of Peking University Law School in the fall semester of 2025 to three lecturers, including Ms. Liang Yali, and took a group photo together, which was a successful conclusion for this practical teaching activity.

Debate students with Professor Che Hao (front row, third from left), Deputy Prosecutor General Zhang Yu (front row, fourth from left), President Xu Jin (front row, second from left), Lawyer Liang Yali (front row, third from right), and Lawyer Tang Wanzhuo (first from left).

King&Capital Law Firm Mr. Tang Wanzhuo assisted in the selection of cases, preparation of materials and communication with students.

The invitation to teach at Peking University not only demonstrated the professional authority and profound accumulation of Liang Yali in the field of criminal defense, but also reflected her responsibility to actively promote the integration of legal education and judicial practice. As an important member of the legal professional community, Liang Yali has always been committed to the front-line practice experience to feed the legal education, in order to cultivate high-quality legal talent, and promote the rule of law continued to contribute. In the future, King&Capital Law Firm Criminal Defense Research Center will continue to build a bridge between practice and academia in a diversified form, so that more young lawyers in the professional growth of the road less detour, rapid growth.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)