The College of Law is honored to announce that Yan Liu ’94 will deliver the convocation address to the Class of 2026. The College of Law Convocation Ceremony will take place Saturday, May 16, at 1:00 p.m. in the Great Hall of Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.
Liu is General Counsel and Director of the Legal Department of the International Monetary Fund. In her role, she serves as an advisor to the IMF’s Executive Board, management, staff, and country membership on all legal aspects of IMF operations and functions. Liu was promoted to General Counsel in October 2024, becoming only the second female to serve in that role in the 80-year history of IMF.
Since 1999 Liu has been with the IMF, in that time leading the Legal Department’s work on a range of issues, such as reforming IMF policies on lending; strengthening central banking and financial sector legal frameworks; leading work on corporate and household insolvency, and public debt management; and contributing to the development of international standards for financial regulation. She is an expert in sovereign debt, setting the Fund’s IMF policies in this field and supporting the Common Framework and the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable. Liu has published extensively in areas such as private debt, sovereign debt restructuring, and good governance.
Liu received her Juris Doctor from Illinois in 1994, and a master’s degree from the University of Chicago. Prior to joining the IMF, she practiced corporate and securities law in the United States.
For more information about the convocation ceremony, please visit our website.