Suing China for Covid 19 Pandemic?

29 Apr 2020

This past month has seen several lawsuits filed against the Chinese government for damages associated with its handling of the Covid 19 pandemic. Unlike other countries, US law allows lawsuits against foreign governments in certain circumstances. In this interview recorded in Honolulu yesterday I discuss the lawsuits' chances of success.

Hong Kong Conversations

22 Nov 2019
I want to share with you my impressions following a week of conversations in Hong Kong with students, barristers, solicitors, expat lawyers, journalists, entrepreneurs and others. I am cognizant of my status as a non-Hong Kong resident, yet I feel a deep connection to the city. I first came to Hong Kong in 1976 and felt an immediate affinity with this amazing, dynamic place. I offer these observations with modesty and a recognition that they may not be accurate. 
 

Did China Scholars Willfully Ignore Muslim Crackdown?

24 May 2019
Public Interest Law

An article by Josh Chin in the Wall Street Journal this week casts an unflattering light on the Chinese studies community in the West. "The German Data Diver Who Exposed China’s Muslim Crackdown" tells the story of an obscure academic who almost single-handedly discovered a massive human rights violation in China's Xinjiang province. The obvious question is how and why others did not catch the crackdown?

Lawyers who inspire: Justice Labs Mentor Margaret Stock

09 Jan 2019
People

Justice Labs Mentor Margaret Stock is profiled this month in the American Bar Association Journal article "When things go wrong, immigrants serving in the military look to Margaret Stock" by Lorelei Laird 

American Universities' China Problem

09 Jan 2019
Public Interest Law

My article about a big conflict of interest, republished from Quillete. 

The trial of Patrick Ho (and Belt and Road)

26 Nov 2018

Patrick Ho's bribery trial, now underway in New York, will also be a trial of China's Belt and Road Initiative as explained in this Wall Street Journal article by James T. Areddy and with my two cents: 

Imprisoned defenders and Richard Rorty

12 Jul 2018

There was a moving event at Fordham Law School on July 8, 2018 marking the third anniversary of China’s crackdown on human rights lawyers. Several lawyers remain secretly detained by the authorities and their health is uncertain. During the ceremony, two lawyers were presented awards for their work in absentia. The awards were accepted by the wives of the imprisoned lawyers, one in New York and the other in Beijing. 

A tale of two asylum seekers

30 Apr 2018

A gay man from Nigeria and a billionaire from China. 

Hong Kong Team Wins at the Global Legal Hackathon in New York

26 Apr 2018

From the ABA Journal: 

On April 21, the Global Legal Hackathon announced its winners in New York City

Patrick Ho case update: the prisoner and the oil baron

09 Mar 2018

Former Hong Kong Home Secretary Patrick Ho Chi-ping has been jailed in Manhattan since November 2017 and repeatedly denied bail as he awaits trial on charges that he made millions of dollars in bribes to African officials to obtain lucrative oil rights for Chinese conglomerate CEFC. It’s my hypothesis that that the Trump administration is using the case to put a spotlight on Chinese corruption in Africa -- something many academics, politicians and business people have long suspected but found difficult to prove.

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