Beijing Jiaotong University is a national key institution directly under the administration of the Ministry of Education, jointly established by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Transport, the Beijing Municipal People's Government, and China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. It has been selected as a participating institution in both the “211 Project” and the “985 Innovation Platform for Advantageous Disciplines.”

The legal discipline at Beijing Jiaotong University is underpinned by a profound historical legacy. Since 1925, the University has engaged distinguished scholars to deliver courses including Constitutional Law and Public International Law. Xiang Zhejun, who later served as a prosecutor representing China at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in the prosecution of Japanese war criminals, was among the faculty teaching international law at that time. After a century of evolution and in an era of legal prosperity, the discipline progressed through several developmental stages: the establishment of the Department of Law in 1995, the commencement of postgraduate law program enrollment in 2004, the acquisition of the authority to confer Juris Master (JM) degrees in 2009, and the granting of the right to confer master's degrees in Law as a first-level discipline in 2010. This ladder-like development culminated in the formal establishment of the School of Law of Beijing Jiaotong University in 2012.

The School of Law currently comprises 42 full-time faculty members, including 10 professors, 16 associate professors, 14 lecturers, and 2 postdoctoral faculty members, with doctoral degree holders accounting for 87.8% of the full-time faculty. The School is further supported by 14 administrative and instructional support staff. Academically, the School maintains three departments: the Department of Public Law, the Department of International Law, and the Department of Civil, Commercial, and Economic Law. It also hosts several provincial- and ministerial-level research platforms, including the Beijing Jiaotong University Institute of Beijing Social Construction and the Beijing Jiaotong University China Railway Law Research Center. Additionally, the School serves as the institutional base for the presidency of the Beijing Transport Law Research Association.

The School of Law enrolls both undergraduate and postgraduate students from across the nation. The undergraduate law program has been designated as a National First-Class Undergraduate Major Construction Site, while the School also holds accreditation to confer both academic master's degrees in Law as a first-tier discipline and professional Juris Master (JM) degrees. The first-tier Law discipline currently comprises five secondary disciplinary directions: Constitutional and Administrative Law, Criminal Law, Civil and Commercial Law, Economic Law, and International Law. The School admits students to its Juris Master program through both full-time and part-time modalities. In the 2021 Soft Science Ranking of Chinese University Majors, the Law program of Beijing Jiaotong University achieved a comprehensive A-grade rating (top 2%-10%), ranking 59th nationally among all law programs. Building upon a solid foundation, broad scope, and comprehensive legal theoretical training, the School demonstrates its distinctive characteristics through three foundational pillars: relying on the university’s world-class transportation discipline to strengthen the training of students with the characteristics of "law + transportation logistics"; relying on the university’s domestic first-class economic management discipline to strengthen the training of students with the characteristics of "law + economic management"; relying on the university’s engineering background and the establishment of the National School of Secrets to strengthen the training of students with the characteristics of "law + information security". Closely following the “Belt and Road” and “High-speed Railway Going Global” initiatives, the School of Law cultivates outstanding foreign-related legal talents with professional characteristics. The graduates are equipped with a solid theoretical foundation and outstanding practical ability, and have always been well received by employers. Some alumni have grown into pillars of the socialist legal construction with Chinese characteristics.

The School of Law attaches high priority to international cooperation and exchange, actively expanding the scope, elevating the level of global engagement, and diversifying international collaborative initiatives. These efforts have significantly enhanced its academic influence and internationalization in legal education and research. The School has signed student exchange and training agreements with Soochow University and Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in China's Taiwan region. Furthermore, it has established productive partnerships with internationally recognized institutions including The Ohio State University, William & Mary, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the United States, along with Lancaster University in the United Kingdom. These collaborations encompass various activities such as LL.M. programs, faculty exchanges, joint research projects, and summer programs.

The School of Law actively leverages its disciplinary strengths to serve society. It contributes to building China into a transportation powerhouse through systematic research on the transportation legal framework, and advances the development of the national legal system for secrecy by actively participating in the drafting and revising of confidentiality legislation. Serving as a think tank, it provides constructive solutions for international dialogues and domestic governance challenges. The School also organizes high-level legal training programs and has long provided specialized legal training for railway transportation enterprises.

Guided by its mission to “cultivate outstanding legal talent, pioneer first-class legal scholarship, and advance the national strategy of law-based governance,” and upholding the values of “Pursuing Legal Excellence and Moral Integrity, Demonstrating Tenacity and Social Commitment,” the School of Law is striding confidently toward its vision of becoming a first-class law school with distinctive characteristics.