Giuliano Castellano on Don’t Call It a Failure: Systemic Risk Governance for Complex Financial Systems (LSI)

"Don’t Call It a Failure: Systemic Risk Governance for Complex Financial Systems"
Giuliano Castellano
Law & Social Inquiry (First View, pp. 1-42)
Published online: March 2024

Abstract: The probability that an event will avalanche into an impairment of essential services constitutes a “systemic risk.” Owing to the inherent complexities of modern societies, the outbreak of a novel disease or the failure of a financial institution can rapidly escalate into an impact significantly larger than the initial event. Through the lens of complex system theory, this article draws a parallel between financial crises and disasters to contend that the regulatory framework for financial systemic risk is unequipped to address its fundamental dynamics. Epitomized by the market failure rationale, financial regulation is premised on a reductionist view that purports both systemic risk and law as external to the actions of market participants. Conversely, this article advances a twofold conceptual framework. First, it shows that systemic risk emerges from the same complex dynamics that generate the financial system. Second, it understands law as an agent of complexity, thus contributing to the emergence of finance and its inherent instability. Normatively, this conceptual framework reveals the limits of current regulatory approaches and constructs a holistic risk governance framework that is akin to the one adopted to govern disaster risks.

Douglas Arner, Giuliano Castellano, and Eriks Selga (RPg) on Financial Data Governance (Hastings Law Journal)

"Financial Data Governance"
Douglas W. Arner, Giuliano G. Castellano, and
Eriks K. Selga (RPg)
Hastings Law Journal, Volume 74, Issue 2, pp. 235-292
Published in 2023

Abstract: Finance is one of the most digitalized, globalized, and regulated sectors of the global economy. Traditionally technology intensive, the financial industry has been at the forefront of digital transformation, starting with the dematerialization of financial assets in the 1960s and culminating in the post–2008 global financial crisis era with the fintech movement. Now, finance is data: financial transactions are transfers of data; financial infrastructures, such as stock exchanges and payment systems, are data networks; financial institutions are data processors, gathering, analyzing, and trading the data generated by their customers. Financial regulation has adapted to this fast-paced evolution both by implementing new regimes and by adapting existing ones. Concomitantly, general data governance frameworks to protect a broad spectrum of interests, from individual privacy to national security, have emerged. Though these areas of law intersect, their relationship often remains unclear. This Article sheds new light in this critical area, focusing on key challenges and providing viable solutions to address them.

Giuliano Castellano & Andrea Tosato on Commercial Law Intersections (Hasting Law Journal)

"Commercial Law Intersections"

Giuliano Castellano & Andrea Tosato
Hasting Law Journal, 

Vol. 72, Issue (19 April 2021)

Abstract: Commercial law is not a single, monolithic entity. It has grown into a dense thicket of subject-specific branches that govern a broad range of transactions and corporate actions. When one of these events falls concurrently within the purview of two or more of these commercial law branches – such as corporate law, intellectual property law, secured transactions law, conduct and prudential regulation – an overlap materializes. We refer to this legal phenomenon as a commercial law intersection (CLI). Some notable examples of transactions that feature CLIs include bank loans secured by shares, supply chain financing, patent cross-licensing, and blockchain-based initial coin offerings. 

     CLIs present a complex and multi-faceted challenge. The convergence of commercial law branches is frequently beset with failures in coordination that both distort incentives for market participants and increase transaction costs. Crucially, in the most severe cases, this affliction deters business actors from entering into the affected transactions altogether. The cries of scholars, judges, and practitioners lamenting these issues have grown ever louder yet methodical, comprehensive solutions remain elusive.  

     This article endeavors to fill this void. First, it provides a comprehensive analysis of CLIs and their coordination failures. Drawing from systems theory and jurisprudence, it then identifies the deficiencies of the most common approaches used to reconcile tensions between commercial law branches, before advancing the concepts of “coherence” and “unity of purpose” as the key to addressing such shortcomings. Finally, it formulates a two-step interpretive method that unties the Gordian knot created by CLI coordination failures.  Click here to read the full article. The article has been cited in the following policy documents: Cape Town Convention Academic Project, 

Guide on Best Practices For Electronic Collateral Registries (Cambridge, UK and Rome, Italy 2021); International Finance Corporation, Coordinating Prudential Regulation and Secured Transactions Frameworks: A Primer(Washington D.C., 2020); World Bank, Distributed Ledger Technology and Secured Transactions: Guidance Note 3 (Washington D.C., 2020).

AIIFL Newsletter Issue 4 (May 2021)

In AIIFL News this month, we highlight a range of publications and online appearances from the AIIFL team.

Douglas Arner

AIIFL Director | Email
 

HIGHLIGHTS

Looking Back, Looking Forward: Building Better Payment System

In the episode 3 of Looking Back Looking Forward, Douglas Arner discusses the progression of electronic payments, since its acceleration towards social development from the last hundred years, and recently towards the impact COVID-19 on global economies. The use of such payments co-developed throughout human history, from the telegraph to the automated teller machine (ATM) and, most notably, to the establishment of decentralised ledger technology (blockchain, bitcoin, etc.). Such innovative steps have encouraged the competition to raise the bar, such as DCEP, the world's first major currency central-bank digital currency in response to a more decentralised payment system.

 Watch it HERE

“Looking Back, Looking Forward” is a regular video segment launched in January 2020. For more information on the University of Hong Kong's financial technology programme and all the episodes of Looking Back Looking Forward, visit the FinTech Videos page and discover the transformation of information technology's ever-growing impact on finance.

PUBLICATIONS AND REPORTS

Selected articles, books and reports from the AIIFL team

Forming Transnational Dispute Settlement Norms: Soft Law and the Role of UNCITRAL's Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific

Shahla Ali

AFI Innovative Regulatory Approaches Toolkit

Douglas W.Arner, Ross P. Buckley, Dirk A. Zetzsche, Eriks Selga, Ghiyazuddin Mohammad, Jaheed Parvez, Roberta Consiglio

China and the Global Economic Architecture: Approaching the Challenges of the 2020s

Uzma Ashraf Barton and Douglas W. Arner

Sovereign Digital Currencies: Reshaping the Design of Money and Payments Systems

Ross P. Buckley, Douglas W. Arner, Dirk A. Zetzsche, Anton N, Didenko, Lucien van Romburg

Regulating Artificial Intelligence in Finance: Putting the Human in the Loop

Ross P. Buckley, Dirk A. Zetzsche, Douglas W. Arner, Brian Tang

Commercial Law Intersections

Giuliano G.Castellano and Andrea Tosato

‘Hub-and-Spoke’ Bid-rigging and Corporate Attribution under Hong Kong Competition Law

Kelvin Kwok

Applying ‘Deep ESG’ to Asian Private Equity

Frederick J. Long, Syren Johnstone

The Case for a Best Execution Principle in Cross-Border Payments

Dirk A. Zetzsche, Ross P. Buckley, Douglas W. Arner

SELECTED MEDIA

Bloomberg Documentary

Red Lines: China & Big Tech

China Talk

China's Anti-Monopoly Moment

Angela Zhang

Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)

Part 1 

Interviews with HKMA Chief Executive Eddie Yue, HKU Professor Douglas Arner, and PWC's Gary Ng.

Alliance for Innovative Regulation (AIR)

Barefoot Innovation Podcast

Around the World: HKU's Douglas Arner

EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES

30 June 2021

James Merralls Visiting Fellowship in Law Lecture

Digital Finance, COVID-19 and Existential Sustainability Crises: Building Better Financial Systems

hosted by Melbourne Law School at the University of Melbourne

Presenter: Douglas Arner, Kerry Holdings Professor in Law & AIIFL Director, HKU

Details and Registration

 

Oriol Caudevilla presented Digital Assets in Hong Kong: What are They and How are They Taxed at the AIIFL’s Taxation Law Research Programme (TLRP) (31 May 2021)

Details

Giuliano Castellano shared his research on Commercial Law Intersections at the 59th Forum Financial Market Regulation - The Fragmentation of Commercial Law: Challenges and Normative Approaches at the University of Zurich within the University Research Priority Program (URPP) on Financial Market Regulation (11 May 2021)

Details

Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) Virtual Discussion

Hong Kong as an International Financial Center

Douglas Arner

Syren Johnstone on Smart Regulation: Regulatory Framework for DLT-based Projects at the GBA Blockchain Week Virtual Summit (30-31 March 2021)

Watch HERE

 

Syren Johnstone on Perspectives on Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Regulation at the University of Hawaii (22 March 2021)

Watch HERE

 

A team of five students from across different Law, Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship Lab (LITE Lab) courses won the HKU’s Faculty of Engineering Innovation Academy InnoSpark with VR Mock Court Pitch for Access to Justice (23 February 2021)

Details

JOIN US!

We are seeking to expand our world leading team in the area of FinTech, RegTech and Digital Finance.

 

Post-Doctoral Fellow in Finance, Technology and Regulation

Applications close: 31 July 2021, HK Time

 

More details and online application are available HERE.

 

Research Assistant Professor in FinTech / RegTech

Applications close: 30 June 2021, HK Time

 

The HKU-Standard Chartered Foundation FinTech Academy, with the aim to cultivate interdisciplinary research in FinTech, has established a Research Assistant Professor Scheme. 

 

More details and online application are available HERE.

Giuliano Castellano et al on Coordinating Prudential Regulation and Secured Transactions Frameworks : A Primer (World Bank Group)

Coordinating Prudential Regulation and Secured Transactions Frameworks : A Primer

Giuliano G Castellano, Pratibha Chhabra, and John M Wilson

The World Bank Group

Published in November 2020

Description: Coordination between secured transactions law and rules regulating financial products and institutions is of primary importance to support establishing a sound and inclusive credit ecosystem. This Primer illustrates why coordination between secured transactions law reforms and prudential regulation is needed; introduces the rationale and key tenets of prudential regulatory regimes. Also, specific attention is given to capital requirements and prudential loan-loss provisioning. The Primer also identifies a set of typical issues emerging from the reform experiences of several jurisdictions and presents the key elements of the regulatory strategy to approach such issues.

HKU-SCF FinTech Academy Awarded “Best Governance, Risk and Compliance Solution“ in TechChallenge 2020

Congratulations to Professor Douglas Arner, Mr Brian Tang, and other teammates from Standard Chartered and HKU-SCF FinTech Academy on winning the Award for Best Governance, Risk and Compliance Solution in the inaugural “TechChallenge - Digitising Trade Finance” (TechChallenge).  The team proposed TradePro, a machine-learning model for trade finance inclusion for SMEs using internal and external datasets.  Recognition also goes to Dr Giuliano Costellano, who was a member of the Kozolchyk National Law (NatLaw) team shortlisted for the same problem challenge.

     Launched in August 2019, TechChallenge is a joint initiative of the BIS Innovation Hub and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, designed to showcase the potential for new innovative technologies to resolve problems in trade finance (TradeTech). Winners were selected from 103 technology solutions submitted by applicants worldwide to three problem statements: (1) Connecting Digital Islands and Increasing Network Size and Effects; (2) Trade Finance Inclusion for SMEs; and (3) TradeTech for Emerging Markets. Besides the best solution to each of the problem statement, other awards were made to recognize outstanding solutions in different aspects. All 17 winners and runners-up were invited to showcase their submissions at the Hong Kong Fintech Week, which ran as a virtual event on 2-6 November 2020.  For more information, see the BIS's press release statement (2 November 2020) and the TechChallenge Showcase for the names of all the winners, runners-up and shortlisted participants.

Giuliano Castellano Contributes to World Bank Group's Guidance Notes on Distributed Ledger Technology & Secured Transactions

Dr Giuliano G. Castellano's immense expertise on the use of digital assets as collateral has helped to shape and inform three substantial guidance notes published in May 2020 by the World Bank Group. The guidance notes are part of new series on Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) & Secured Transactions: Legal, Regulatory and Technology Perspectives. A DLT system is defined as a "distributed computerized system that enables participants (nodes) to submit, validate, and store information into a database (distributed ledger) that is disseminated, synchronized, and maintained fully or partially across nodes, without the need for intermediaries". 

     The first note is titled "Collateral Registry, Secured Transactions Law and Practice". It "examines the potential of DLT within the context of the UNCITRAL Model Law on Secured Transactions" (p 7). The second note considers the regulatory implications of integrating digital assets and distributed ledgers in credit ecosystems. Dr Castellano developed the primary technical content for this note. The third note provides a "primer on [DLT] and highlights the junctures at which this new technology meaningfully impacts secured transactions frameworks" (p 7). DLT is described as a "new paradigm" with the following facets: a "novel database technology", a "novel form of pure intangibles" and "transactional automation" (p 10).
     Dr Castellano was recently appointed by UNIDROIT to be a member of its Working Group on the Model Law on Factoring. Factoring is an important type of financing that is increasinly being used around the world.  "In 2019, global factoring volume reached 2.9 trillion euros." (UNIDROIT website).  Dr Castellano will share his knowledge on teh regulatory aspects that might affect the development of this international instrument.    

New Issues - HKU Law's SSRN Legal Studies Research Paper Series (May - June 2020)

UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG FACULTY OF LAW LEGAL STUDIES RESEARCH PAPER SERIES

Vol. 10, No. 7: June 1, 2020

DOUGLAS W. ARNER, EDITOR

SIMON N. M. YOUNG, EDITOR

'Deep ESG': A Holistic Validation Methodology for Asian Private Equity

Frederick J. Long, Olympus Capital Asia, Hong Kong

Syren Johnstone, Faculty of Law, University of Hong Kong, Asian Institute of International Financial Law

Yash Ghai and the Constitutional Experiment of 'One Country, Two Systems' in HongKong

Cora Chan, The University of Hong Kong - Faculty of Law

Albert H. Y. Chen, The University of Hong Kong - Faculty of Law

The Chinese Tradition of Administrative Law

Albert H. Y. Chen, The University of Hong Kong - Faculty of Law

Reflections on the Key Ingredients for Successful Reform of International CommercialArbitration in the Asia Pacific

Weixia Gu, University of Hong Kong - Faculty of Law

比較的レンズをとおした仲裁の考察：一般的原則と具体的争点 (Looking at Arbitration through A Comparative Lens: General Principles and Specific Issues)

Weixia Gu, University of Hong Kong - Faculty of Law

The European Union as Promoter of Equality in Asia: Beyond Economic Tools ofInfluence

Holning Lau, University of North Carolina School of Law

Kelley Loper, The University of Hong Kong - Faculty of Law, University of California, Berkeley - Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law

UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG FACULTY OF LAW LEGAL STUDIES RESEARCH PAPER SERIES

Vol. 10, No. 6: May 1 , 2020

DOUGLAS W. ARNER, EDITOR

SIMON N. M. YOUNG, EDITOR

Table of Contents

Constitutional Amendment Versus Constitutional Replacement: An Empirical Comparison

David S. Law, The University of Hong Kong - Faculty of Law, University of California, Irvine School of Law

Ryan Whalen, The University of Hong Kong - Faculty of Law

Digital Finance & The COVID-19 Crisis

Douglas W. Arner, The University of Hong Kong - Faculty of Law

Janos Nathan Barberis, The University of Hong Kong - Faculty of Law, CFTE - Centre for Finance Technology & Entrepreneurship

Julia Walker, Thomson Reuters - Refinitiv (formally Thomson Reuters)

Ross P. Buckley, University of New South Wales (UNSW) - Faculty of Law

Andrew M. Dahdal, Qatar University - College of Law

Dirk A. Zetzsche, Universite du Luxembourg - Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance, Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf - Center for Business & Corporate Law (CBC)

Commercial Law Intersections

Giuliano G. Castellano, The University of Hong Kong, Faculty of Law

Andrea Tosato, University of Nottingham, School of Law, University of Pennsylvania Law School

Castellano & Tosato on Personal Property Security Law: International Ambitions and Local Realities (new book chapter)

"Personal Property Security Law: International Ambitions and Local Realities"
Giuliano Castellano & Andrea Tosato
in L Ghia (ed), International Business Law (Wolters Kluwer Int'l, 2019) 283-337
Published in December 2019, U of Penn, Inst for Law & Econ Research Paper No. 20-27
Abstract: Personal property security law is a key element of “access to credit” and “financial inclusion”. The prevailing view is that a legal framework enabling the effective use of personal property as collateral markedly benefits both lenders and borrowers. Lenders can offer financing at a lower cost thanks to reduced credit risk; borrowers can access funding by leveraging the otherwise unavailable value of the assets integral to their operations.
     Over the past century, the priorities of personal property security law have evolved fundamentally. As small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and individual entrepreneurs have become the growth engine of both developed and developing economies, legislators have grown sensitive to the financing needs of these entities. In parallel, the advent of the information society has demanded that lawmakers address squarely the rules governing the use as collateral of intangibles such as “receivables”, “intermediated securities”, “non-intermediated securities”, and “intellectual property rights”, rather than confine their gaze to tangibles such as industrial machinery, mobile equipment and inventory. Concurrently, the increasingly transnational nature of both economic development policies and commercial activity have engendered the need for global principles and standards for asset-based lending.
     To address these novel priorities and promote a healthy and vibrant credit ecosystem, international and regional organizations have undertaken projects aimed at modernizing and harmonizing personal property security law. Over time, these efforts have yielded a panoply of legal instruments. Binding conventions have been adopted to unify the rules of discrete facets of personal property security law, while soft-law texts, such as model laws and legislative guides, have been formulated to supply comprehensive legal templates to lawmakers keen to revise their domestic legal regimes. Nevertheless, states have struggled to assimilate these international efforts into their domestic legal systems. Common law jurisdictions have been loath to abandon the familiarity and safety of the path paved by centuries of case law; in similar vein, civil law jurisdictions have resisted inducements to renovate the normative infrastructure erected by the codifications of the 19th century.
     This Chapter explores the tension between international ambitions and local realities, with a special focus on the issues encountered in civil law jurisdictions. To this end, the case of Italy is examined as a living experiment in comparative personal property security law. In this jurisdiction, the recent enactment of a non-possessory security device, absent a comprehensive reform of the country’s civil code affords important lessons for any civil law system which might be pondering personal property security law reforms. More profoundly, it epitomizes the gap that separates the aspirations of international legal instruments from their effective implementation in domestic contexts. This analysis is divided into two parts. The first reviews international and regional legal initiatives that have shaped the personal property law landscape and then identifies a set of core tenets shared among them. In the second part, attention shifts to Italy, scrutinizing both the personal property security legal edifice originally constructed in this jurisdiction and the attempts to overhaul it that have taken place over the past three decades. This is followed by a critical appraisal of the current state of the law, by reference to the aforementioned core tenets of personal property law reform.

Giuliano Castellano on UNCITRAL Secured Transactions (Podcast)

"UNCITRAL Podcast 3 Secured Transactions"

11 September 2019

Description: A panel of experts discusses the UNCITRAL Practice Guide to the Model Law on Secured Transactions adopted by the Commission in July 2019. The Practice Guide explains the key features and benefits of the Model Law and provides step-by-step explanations on how to use movable assets as security for financing purposes. Experts participating in the podcast are (in alphabetical order): Mr. Bruce Whittaker (University of Melbourne, Chair of Working Group VI that prepared the draft Practice Guide), Ms. Catherine Walsh (McGill University), Mr. Giuliano Castellano (University of Hong Kong), Mr. Marek Dubovec (Kozolchyk National Law Center) and Mr. Neil Cohen (Brooklyn Law School). Mr. Ryan Harrington (UNCITRAL) moderates the discussion.

RGC Awards $4.6 Million in Research Funding to HKU Law 2019/20

Congratulations to our 8 colleagues who were successful in the 2019-2020 round of research grant funding by Hong Kong's Research Grants Council (RGC).  For the first time, two colleagues (Johannes Chan and Frank He) were successful in obtaining the Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship (HSSPF), which provides recipients with the time and funding to pursue research in place of teaching and administrative duties over the course of 12 months.  Five General Research Fund (GRF) projects were funded to study money laundering offending in Hong Kong, law reform implications of disruptive technologies for finance, enforcement of the arbitral awards under the Belt and Road Initiative, elites and judicial power in the age of populism, and the establishment of British admiralty law in Hong Kong 1861 to 1943.  An Early Career Scheme (ECS) project was funded to study political community and the legal status of established states.  The details of the new funded projects are as follows:

HSSPF

• Johannes Chan, Constitutional Review and Judicial Independence underOne Country, Two Systems: Convergence or Divergence?, $508,949
• Frank He, Gendered Divorce Litigation in China, $494,000

GRF

• Simon Young, An Empirical Study of Money Laundering Offending in Hong Kong, $719,984
• Giuliano Castellano, Creating Credit: Law Reforms, Policy Tensions, and Disruptive Technologies, $686,476
• Weixia Gu, Enforcement of Arbitral Awards under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI): Regional Harmonization of the Public Policy in Context of the BRI Asia, $449,000
• Alex Schwartz, Court Curbing: Elites and Judicial Power in the Age of Populism, $685,320
• Felix Chan, The Establishment and Administration of British Admiralty law in Hong Kong and Other Treaty Ports under the Treaty of Nanking: 1861-1943, $574,000

ECS

• Alex Green, Political Community and the Legal Status of Established States, $455,520

HKU Law Welcomes Four New Colleagues in Diverse Areas

Dr Giuliano G Castellano is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law, a Fellow of the Asian Institute of International Financial Law (AIIFL), and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. 

     Giuliano holds a law degree from Bocconi University (Milan, Italy), a PhD in Economics and Social Sciences (Ecole Polytechnique, Paris), and a PhD in Law (Inter-University Centre for Law, Economics and Institutions, University of Turin).  Before joining HKU, he was based at the University of Warwick, School of Law, where he joined as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor. At Warwick he was also a faculty member of the Central Banking and Financial Regulation Qualification Programme, a postgraduate programme delivered by the Warwick Business School to the Bank of England. Prior to that, he was an LSE Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Law Department (Law and Financial Markets Project), where he taught and researched in the field of financial regulation. 

      Giuliano’s research interests lie in the fields of financial regulation, international financial law, law & finance, and regulatory theory. His work has been published in the Modern Law Review, Law & Contemporary Problems and Fordham International Law Journal. He recently led a three-year research project, supported by the British Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and intended to maximise the impact of his research regarding access to finance. His research has been leading him to collaborate with international organisations, development agencies, and national governments. Since 2010, he has been serving as a Legal Expert for the Italian delegation at the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), Working Group VI (security interests). In this capacity he contributed to the drafting of several international soft-law instruments designed to promote secured credit, including the UNCITRAL Model Law on Secured Transactions, adopted by the UN in 2016. In addition, he is currently involved in legal and regulatory reform projects in a number of jurisdictions, with the intent to foster financial inclusion, access to credit, and financial stability.

     Dr Jedidiah Joseph Kroncke is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law and Deputy Director of the JD programme.  He currently teaches property, equity and trusts, as well as courses in common law reasoning for civil law students.

     Previously, he was a professor at FGV Sao Paulo School of Law and the Senior Fellow at the East Asian Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School. Dr Kroncke garnered a range of awards and fellowships as he earned a BA in Asian Studies and Legal Studies from the University of California Berkeley, a JD from Yale Law School, and a PhD in Social and Cultural Anthropology also from the University of California, Berkeley. After graduate school, he was awarded the Oscar M Ruebhausen Fellowship at Yale Law School, the Samuel I Golieb Fellowship in Legal History at NYU Law and the Berger-Howe Fellowship in Legal History at Harvard Law School. He has been a visitor at the International University College of Turin and the National University of Singapore. 

     Dr Kroncke’s research centres on international legal history and the study of alternative labour and property institutions. His interdisciplinary work draws on the US, Chinese and Brazilian legal experiences, and is devoted to the productive indigenization of comparative legal analysis. He routinely presents his work at leading law schools across the globe, and is a reviewer for several leading international journals as well as the university presses of Oxford and Cambridge.

    His book, The Futility of Law and Development: China and the Dangers of Exporting American Law (Oxford University Press), explores the role of U.S.-China relations in the formation of modern American legal internationalism and the decline of American legal comparativism. Previous publications have addressed law and development, authoritarian law, comparative constitutionalism, and the link between domestic legal innovation and comparative law. He is currently completing a book on the transnational history of the American model of legal education, as well as projects on the evolution of international law and cross-cultural knowledge. He is the first Associate Editor on comparative and non-Western history for the Law & History Review.

     His projects in labour and property include work on cooperative landholding, the role of labor and employment law in development, employee owned corporations, comparative union democracy, and the relationship of property and labor rights in democratization. New projects include republican conceptions of the corporation, versions of economic democracy in debates over universal basic income and job guarantee programs, and the implications of automation for the future acquisition of productive property. He is an active member of the Association for the Promotion of Political Economy and Law, as well introductory associate editor for the Journal of Law and Political Economy.

Jacky CK Yeung joined the Faculty of Law as a full-time Lecturer in July 2018 and will be teaching Evidence and Criminal Procedure in the upcoming academic year. He obtained his BCom (Accounting) degree at Macquarie University and completed our JD, PCLL and LLM (Arbitration & Dispute Resolution) programmes.      His teaching career began with the appointment as the Teaching Assistant in Accounting and Law in 2012 by the HKU School of Business (currently the HKU Faculty of Business and Economics). After being called to the Bar in 2016, he continued to teach in various tertiary institutions as part-time Teaching Assistant, Research Assistant, Instructor and Lecturer until taking up the current appointment.      Apart from Evidence and Criminal Procedure, Jacky is also developing his research interests in Legal Education, Education Law and Transportation Law. He is exploring opportunities to further participate in scholarly activities related to these areas.

     Dr David Kwok is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Law and a member of the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies of the Faculty of Law at the University of Oxford. His research interests are anthropology of law, comparative environmental law and private law. He is interested in exploring issues relating to legal consciousness, legal culture and legal pluralism in the context of clashing and conflicting legal, social and religious constructs, ideals and practices. He has published in the areas of comparative law, dispute resolution and historical practices of law.