The School of Law of Yantai University was originally established in 1984 by the name of the Department of Law of the University with the direct aid of the Faculty of Law, Peking University. Criminal Law Professor Yang Dian-sheng was the first dean, Civil Law Professor Guo Ming-rui was the second, and Criminal Procedure Law Professor Wang Jian-cheng the third. In 1999, the Department was renamed as the School, with Civil Law Professor Fang Shao-kun as the first Dean, and Professor of Jurisprudence Tang Wei as the second, and Economic Law Professor Jin Fu-ha as the third. and Civil Law Professor Zhang Ping-hua as the fourth.

In addition to its full-time teaching staff, the School has also hired a number of renowned scholars and experts worldwide as its guest professors and part-time professors. This high level part-time staff team is lucky to have Professor Homulet Koziol(Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Austria, founding director of European Tort Law Institute), Professor Ken Oliphant (Law School of Bristol University, Britain), Professor Dunken French (Dean of Law School of Lincoln University), Professor Li Guoli (McGill University, Canada), Professor Pan Weida (President of SooChow University, Taiwan), and a number of legal scholars and judges with rich practical experience and great academic achievements from Beijing University, Renmin University of China, China University of Political Science and law and other famous universities and judicial departments.