Focus on Global Scholarship

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The University of Washington is one of the world’s most innovative universities and delivers on its mission of education, discovery and public service – in Washington and across the globe. It is routinely ranked among the best universities in the world.

The UW School of Law faculty, students and alumni contribute to UW’s global impact by working to solve legal challenges that affect all of us. UW Law’s longstanding worldwide network of collaborators includes companies, governments, firms and universities, as well as joint projects that contribute to scholarship and broaden the student experience. Our global engagement is centered on research, scholarship, teaching, policy and practice.

Faculty Highlights

Professor Anita Ramasastry is a pioneering scholar in the field of business and human rights and anti-corruption. Her scholarship has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in two of the major decisions focused on corporate accountability for human rights abuses in overseas business operations. She is a founding Editor-in-Chief of the Business and Human Rights Journal, a peer-reviewed journal published by Cambridge University Press and is co-President of the Global Business and Human Rights Scholars Association which convenes an annual research symposium for academics from across the globe.

Ramasastry has applied her scholarly work to real world dilemmas. As a past chair and member of the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights (appointed by the UN Human Rights Council), Ramasastry has worked with business, governments and civil society to address issues such as the role of companies during the war in Ukraine and as well as challenges of forced labor in global supply chains. She has been actively involved in advising the European Parliament and European Commission on a new mandatory EU law on human rights in global supply chains. In 2021, Ramasastry was also appointed as a Special Representative on combatting corruption to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, based in Vienna. In September, Ramasastry was one of only two keynote speakers at a major conference on legal risk for the general counsels of the World Bank and all major development banks in Luxembourg. Ramasastry has also worked with FIFA and the City of Seattle on human rights policies for host cities during the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup. In February of this year, Ramasastry agreed to serve in a new university-wide leadership capacity as UW’s Senior Advisor on Global Faculty Engagement in the Office of Global Affairs, working with Vice Provost Jeffrey Riedinger who is also a UW Law faculty member.

This past summer, Professors Xuan-Thao Nguyen and Elizabeth Porter, then interim Toni Rembe Dean, met with leadership teams from Vietnam’s premier schools in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta. In addition to visiting with Vietnamese judges, lawyers, policy makers and business leaders, Professors Nguyen and Porter also met Dean Tran Van Nam of the National Economics University Faculty of Law and Dean Phan Trung Hien of Can Tho University Faculty of Law, both former UW Law visiting scholars. They visited eight law schools during their trip to Vietnam; MOUs will be signed with some of these schools in the fall. Nguyen also met with Vice Minister Nguyen Khanh Ngoc, Ministry of Justice to discuss future training for Ministry of Justice personnel at UW Law. Although the Vietnam trip was Professor Nguyen’s first in her new role as Director of UW Law’s Asian Law Center, she has long traveled to the region to lend her expertise in business law, commercial law, IP law, among other areas. Her scholarship makes her a highly sought-after expert by governments in Asia as they establish law and policy surrounding innovation ecosystems. Professor Nguyen is both a senior consultant to the World Bank IFC in China and Mekong region. and serves on the Scientific Council of Vietnam National University of Economics and Law in Ho Chi Minh City.

Professor Toshiko Takenaka has extensively published in the field of comparative patent law and is a frequent speaker for academic and professional seminars focusing on patent law in Asia, the EU and the United States. She is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice. Professor Takenaka also advises the Japanese government on the development of IP policies, serving on both the Vision Committee of Intellectual Property Headquarters in Japan’s Cabinet and the Intellectual Property Committee under the Industrial Structure Council in Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Takenaka also played a significant role in creating and building CASRIP.

The UW’s international community of alumni and friends recently had the opportunity to explore UW’s global engagement as part of UW Converge, a program that offers unparalleled access to the knowledge and people that make the UW a world-class university. Each year, the event is hosted in a global city by one of our international alumni communities. It offers a direct connection to the UW, its faculty and leadership, and its global alumni network. UW Converge is a place to gain cutting-edge knowledge from experts and a link to the University’s work and initiatives.

As our world becomes ever more connected, the work that UW Law faculty undertake in the global arena is more important than ever as we help companies, governments, firms and NGOs across the world as they work towards a more just and equitable society. We invite you to learn more about the scholarly discourse, events and programs, centers and institutes that UW Law faculty have contributed to in the section below.

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Upcoming Events

Programs, Centers & Institutes

Publications

Presentations & Conference Participation

  • Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Upcoming Speaker, Strengthening Personal Data Governance in Financial Institutions, Shanghai Forum Roundtable at Fudan University (Nov. 26, 2022). Hybrid event sponsored by APEC Business Advisory Council and Shanghai Forum.
  • Jennifer S. Fan, Panelist, UW Converge Special Session: Innovation for Impact, UW Converge, University of Washington (October 14, 2022)
  • Michael Hatfield, Speaker, A Study of Tax Lawyers Discussing Duties, 31st Annual Tax Research Network Conference, University of Edinburgh (September 6, 2022)
  • Elizabeth Porter & Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Asian Law Center collaboration with law schools in Vietnam (Summer 2022)
  • Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Speaker, Crypto & NFT Litigation, TECHFEST2022, Thai Binh Duong University, Faculty of Law & Management, Nha Trang (August 17, 2022)
  • Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Speaker, Transforming an Aspirational Document to a Living Legal Document: The Vietnam Constitution, Department of Civil Law, Vietnam National University School of Law, Hanoi (August 10, 2022)
  • Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Speaker, Crypto & NFT Litigation, Vietnam National University School of Law, Hanoi (August 9, 2022)
  • Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Speaker, IP & Fintech Financing Vehicles, National Economics University in Hanoi (August 8, 2022)
  • Xuan-Thao, Speaker, Accounts Receivable and Inventory Financing, World Bank IFC Training in Ho Chi Minh City (August 5, 2022)
  • Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Speaker, International Best Practices for Revisions of Secured Transaction Law, World Bank IFC (August 4, 2022)
  • Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Speaker, Financial Data and Legal Framework, World Bank IFC Asia & Pacific Workshop in Ho Chi Minh City (August 3, 2022)
  • Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Speaker, Security and Credit Agreements, World Bank IFC Asia & Pacific Training in Ho Chi Minh City (August 1-2, 2022)
  • Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Panelist, ABA-IPL Landslide Understanding the Intricacies of Using Intellectual Property as Collateral (July 19, 2022)
  • Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Speaker, IP Legal Issues in the Metaverse, Keio University (July 8, 2022)
  • Anita Ramasastry, Keynote Speaker, Green Environmental Good Governance [osce.org], Aarhus Centers Annual Meeting/OSCE, Vienna (October 19, 2022) 
  • Anita Ramasastry, Keynote Speaker, Development Banks’ Legal Risks for Human Rights Issues in the Supply Chain, European Investment Bank Legal Risks Conference (September 29, 2022)
  • Anita Ramasastry, Panelist, Policy Developments in Japan and their Impact on Asia, Responsible Business and Human Rights Forum Asia [rbhrforum.com], hosted by United Nations Development Program Bangkok (September 22, 2022) 
  • Anita Ramasastry, Panelist, A WTO Reform Agenda in Support of Decent Work and Just Development, Public Forum 2021: Trade Beyond Covid 19 - Building Resilience (Hybrid), World Trade Organization (Sept. 28, 2021) (with Sharan Burrow & Richard Kozul-Wright)
  • Toshiko Takenaka, Speaker, Patentability and Patent Enforcement in Digital Economy, 2022 WIPO-China Summer School, Nanjing University of Science and Technology (Virtual) (September 22, 2022)
  • Dongsheng Zang, Speaker, AI Tech Innovation and Legal Responses in East Asia, Shizuoka University (March 30, 2022)

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