Experts' report on Chinese interference a cop-out

06 Dec 2018

Last week a group of distinguished China experts released a report warning of  China’s interference in various sectors of American government and society. Among its findings, Beijing is undermining academic freedom on US college campuses. The regime uses vague threats to induce US professors and students to self-censor what they say and to discourage research on topics that might embarrass the Communist Party.

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.

What does it mean to do justice?

26 Feb 2018

 

 

Is the Patrick Ho bribery trial politically motivated?

07 Feb 2018

Former Hong Kong senior official Patrick Ho, jailed in New York on bribery charges, was denied bail for a second time yesterday after  judge Katherine Forrest ruled that he presented a flight risk. In denying bail, the judge questioned the argument of Ho’s defense lawyer -- Edward Kim -- that Ho would not flee because doing so would ruin his reputation, which he prizes.

Changing the way we think about law

01 Feb 2018

The health of our societies is directly connected to the way law works in them. 

Video: Precht on Patrick Ho's Corruption Trial

29 Jan 2018

My talk at the Foreign Correspodents' Club of Hong Kong about the U.S. bribery prosecution against former Hong Kong official Patrick Ho and its far-reaching implications. 

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