Katniss Li

Katniss Xuejiao Li is an SJD student at Harvard Law School, with research interests in economic sanctions, international law, and US-China relations. She holds both the PRC bar (inactive) and the New York State bar and practiced as a lawyer in the government enforcement practice at Fangda Partners for two years, focusing on economic sanctions, export control, and corporate criminal investigations. Her paper, “Performative Economic Sanctions: How Sanctions Work Without Economic Harm,” won the Harvard Law School Yong K. Kim ’95 Memorial Prize and was published in the Harvard National Security Journal. In 2024, she worked as a visiting researcher at UNCTAD in Geneva, where she helped draft a policy report as one of three substantive contributors, “Leaving the shore: Marine-based substitutes and alternatives to plastics” (UNCTAD/TCS/DITC/INF/2025/4), to assist in the negotiations of the Plastic Treaty. She obtained her LL.M. in international law from Renmin University, where she won the national championship, the Alona E. Evans Best Memo award, and the best oralist award at the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition.

Her research employs empirical methods, drawing on both qualitative and quantitative training acquired through coursework at Harvard and MIT. With this fellowship, she aims to study the international legal profession in China while also learning from other fellows to strengthen her empirical research skills.