MESSAGE FROM THE FACULTY DIRECTOR
Our third official year as the Center for East Asian Legal Studies brought momentous changes to U.S. relations with East Asia and new opportunities to expand the scope of our programs. During the 24-25 academic year, CEALS hosted six public events involving senior scholars and practitioners with expertise across the Pacific Rim More than 150 participants benefitted from expert insights on a range of topics, including the regulation of emerging AI technology, China’s social credit system, U.S. regulatory responses to China’s technological rise, and compulsory patent licensing in Japan We collaborated with the Center for Racial and Economic Justice to host a lecture by Professor Hiroshi Fukurai on Japan’s 1919 racial equity proposal to the League of Nations, and we welcomed Carrie Shang as a new Affiliated Scholar with deep expertise in business law and arbitration in Greater China. Twelve students produced scholarly papers in our China and the International Legal Order seminar, and CEALS faculty and affiliates presented their research at conferences in the United States, Japan, Korea, and Spain.
I extend my heartfelt thanks to our administrators, faculty, affiliated scholars, speakers, financial sponsors, alumni, and support staff for their invaluable contributions to the life and success of CEALS over the past year. As we look toward the 25-26 academic year, we are excited to launch new initiatives to better engage our expansive network of alumni practitioners around the Pacific Rim with improved communications, more practice-focused events, and new opportunities to guide the Center’s work
We hope you enjoy learning more about the Center’s contributions in this 24-25 Annual Report, and we thank you for your continued support! You can always find Center news, updates, and scheduled events, as well as a link to support our work, on the CEALS Webpage.
ABOUT THE CENTER
In 2015, Professors Setsuo Miyazawa and Keith Hand founded the East Asian Legal Studies Program at UC Law SF. In 2022, law school administrators granted the program new status as the Center for East Asian Legal Studies. The Center’s mission incorporates three closely related elements:
Building the law school into a leading Pacific Rim hub for interdisciplinary research and exchange on East Asian legal systems;
Advancing our understanding of the historic legal changes taking place across East Asia through in-depth faculty and student research, collaborations with leading scholarly and professional institutions, and a robust program of expert lectures and conferences for legal professionals in the Bay Area; and
Providing the next generation of law students with the training to understand East Asian legal systems and legal cultures; work effectively with clients and counterparts in the region; and take advantage of the growing opportunities for legal profe ice with an East Asia focus
Setsuo Miyazawa Emeritus Senior Director Senior Professor
UC Law SF
Keith Hand Director Professor of Law
UC Law SF
Hiroshi Fukurai Affiliated Scholar Professor
UC Santa Cruz
Sally A. Harpole Affiliated Scholar International Arbitrator
David Makman Affiliated Scholar Adjunct Professor Attorney
Bianca Villao Student Fellow
Carrie (Shu) Shang Affiliated Scholar Professor Cal Poly Pomona
24-25 PUBLIC EVENTS AND EXCHANGES
International symposium on Learning Across the U.S.-Japan Border: IP Trends, Challenges, and Insights. The symposium attracted scholars and practitioners to discuss a range of emerging legal problems related to artificial intelligence Speakers included David Albagli, Partner, White & Case Tokyo; Hillary Bunsow, Senior Associate, Bunsow & DeMory; Daniel Rosen, Professor, Chulalongkorn University; and Jeffrey Lefstin, Professor, UC Law SF (September 2024).
Compliance and Corporate Counsel in the Age of China’s Corporate Social Credit System
Carrie (Shu) Shang, Assistant Professor of Finance, Real Estate, and Law, Cal Poly Pomona (October 2024)
Compulsory Licensing in Japan
David A Makman, CEALS Affiliated Scholar and Founder, Law Offices of David A. Makman (March 2025).
America’s Legal Gambit to Curb China’s Technological Rise
Angela Huyue Zhang, Professor of Law, USC Gould School of Law (March 2025).
U.S.-Japan Cooperation in Trade, Energy, and Environmental Protection and the U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy
Paolo Davide Farah, Professor of Public Administration and Public Policy and Director of the Energy and Just Transition Lab, West Virginia University (March 2025)
Japan’s 1919 Racial Equality Proposal for the League of Nations Covenant
Hiroshi Fukurai, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Santa Cruz, and CEALS Affiliated Scholar Co-sponsored by the Center for Racial and Economic Justice (April 2025).
CENTER NEWS
CEALS Emeritus Senior Director Setsuo Miyazawa and Director Keith Hand joined the Asian Law and Society Association Annual Meeting in Seoul, Korea in December 2024 Professor Miyazawa discussed the reform of Japanese law schools, while Professor Hand presented research on China’s application of new domestic laws to pressure foreign adversaries on trade and sovereignty issues.
The American Association of Law Schools Section on East Asian Law & Society elected Keith Hand as Secretary of its Executive Committee Professor Hand was also invited to join the Advisory Council of the Fudan University-UC Center on Contemporary China.
CEALS was honored to welcome Professor Carrie Shang as a new Affiliated Scholar Professor Shang teaches business law at Cal Poly Pomona and brings deep expertise as a practitioner and former Chief Representative of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre PRC Office. In April 2025, she was named a Fellow with the Penn Project for the Future of U.S.-China Relations
Affiliated Scholar Sally Harpole spoke on arbitration issues at conferences organized by the Japan Commercial Arbitration Association and the InterPacific Bar Association in Tokyo in November 2024 In Spring 2025, she presented at an ADR conference organized by the Asian Development Bank and spoke on arbitration issues at the California InternationalArbitration Week.
Affiliated Scholar and Adjunct Professor David Makman prevailed in a trademark infringement case decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The case involved a Japanese company He will teach a survey course on the Japanese Legal System in Fall 2025
Director Keith Hand’s chapter on Constitutional Supervision in China under Xi Jinping was slated for publication in a forthcoming volume titled The Cambridge Handbook of Constitutional Law in China
25-26 PREVIEW
In the 25-26 academic year, CEALS faculty will offer a rich course curriculum, including Chinese Law and Legal Institutions in the Global Business Context, a survey course on the PRC legal system that focuses on business and investment issues; Japanese Law, a survey course on the Japanese legal system with a research component; and International Business Transactions, an introduction to six cross-border transaction forms with substantial content on East Asia.
Emeritus Senior Director Setsuo Miyazawa will return to San Francisco to lead the twelfth installment of the CEALS Symposium on Japanese Law in September 2025. This year ’ s symposium will focus on the issue of reparations to the Ainu people, an indigenous population in Japan.
CEALS will launch a new Advisory Board composed of alumni practitioners and friends of the law school to guide the Center’s work and better serve the community of practitioners with work and interests in East Asia.
Affiliated Scholars Sally Harpole and Carrie Shang David Albagli, Setsuo Miyazawa, and Dan Rosen
Very Special Thanks To:
Chancellor and Dean David Faigman
Provost and Academic Dean Morris Ratner
LPL Financial
Sally A. Harpole
Graduating Center Fellow Bianca Villao
Faculty Assistant Kaytlyn Fleming
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