Courses

Harvard Law School offers a broad range of courses, seminars, and independent study opportunities regarding law in East Asia, led by HLS faculty as well as distinguished visiting instructors from around the world.

Below we have listed courses from the past four years (from the 2021-2022 academic year through the current 2024-2025 academic year). Courses are listed in alphabetical order by course title. Please use the filters to find courses by instructor and by semester. For the most up-to-date information about courses in the current academic year, please consult the HLS Course Catalog (opens in new tab).

Visiting Professors and Lecturers from prior years are listed on our Past Visiting Faculty page.

HLS Writes (opens in new tab): In addition to courses, HLS students may also get academic credit for independent studies, in which they write a paper under a faculty member’s supervision.

Cross-Registration at HLS (opens in new tab): Other schools at Harvard University also offer an enormous variety of courses related to East Asia, such as the Kennedy School, the Business School, and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. HLS students are permitted to take a limited number of courses for credit from other Harvard Schools.

Filters

Advanced Readings in Japanese Law

J. Mark Ramseyer
Fall 2023; Fall 2022
2 credits
In this reading group, students will read a wide variety of law-related materials in the original Japanese language. Class discussion will cover both any language questions that arise, and the substance of the material discussed. …

China and the International Legal Order

Mark Wu
Spring 2025; Spring 2024; Spring 2022
2 credits
In the Xi era, China has started to cast aside the long-standing maxim of “keeping a low profile and biding one’s time” in international affairs. What does China’s rise portend for the international legal order? In what ways is China seeking to reshape global norms versus uphold a status quo order exhibiting increasing fragility? This seminar examines this question for various domains of international law, including climate change, economics, sovereignty, human rights, and development. It will consider the ways in which history, geostrategic competition, as well as domestic economic and political interests impact these questions. …

Comparative Constitutional Law

Vicki C. Jackson
Fall 2023; Fall 2021
4 credits
The course will cover a series of topics arising in the comparative study of constitutional systems. Concentrating on constitutional structure and law in the United States and in such other countries as Australia, Canada, Colombia, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, Israel, Japan, Sri Lanka and South Africa, it will examine selected problems of both constitutional design and constitutional adjudication. We will, for example, take up the varying foundations and structures of judicial review of the constitutionality of laws (e.g., how are courts that engage in constitutional review structured, how are their judges appointed, what is the source of their authority to engage in constitutional review), in light of recent controversies (including those involving the environment). …

Comparative Constitutional Law

Tarunabh Khaitan (Visiting Professor)
Fall 2024; Spring 2023
2 credits
This course is a study of constitutional law and politics from a comparative perspective. It has three features that make it distinctive from, and supplementary to, more traditional courses on constitutional law: first, it examines comparative constitutional law primarily through the lens of plurinational and deeply divided societies. One supposed function of constitutions is to enshrine the priority of political and legal mechanisms over violence for resolving societal disputes. A focus on deeply divided societies will allow us to examine this function closely. We will, therefore, draw our examples not only from constitutionally influential jurisdictions (such as United States, United Kingdom and Germany), but also from constitutions of plurinational or deeply divided societies (such as South Africa, Israel, and India). The course may also include material from jurisdictions firmly outside the ‘canon’ of comparative constitutional law, such as China, Iran, Australia, Thailand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Afghanistan, and the Netherlands. …

Comparative Law: Why Law? The Experience of China

William P. Alford
Spring 2025; Spring 2024; Spring 2023; Spring 2022
4 credits
This course uses the example of China as a springboard for asking fundamental questions about the nature of law, and the ways in which it may (or may not) differ in different societies. Historically, China is said to have developed one of the world’s great civilizations while according law a far less prominent role than in virtually any other. This course will test that assertion by commencing with an examination of classic Chinese thinking about the role of law in a well-ordered society and a consideration of the nature of legal institutions, formal and informal, in pre-20th century China-all in a richly comparative setting. It will then examine the history of Sino-Western interaction through law, intriguing and important both in itself and for the broader inquiry into which it opens concerning the transmission of ideas of law cross culturally. …

Engaging China

William P. Alford, Steven Wang
Fall 2024
2 credits
This seminar will focus on the myriad of legal and related policy questions that are central to the U.S.-P.R.C. relationship. Earlier iterations of this class have addressed issues regarding trade, human rights, technology transfer, corporate governance, climate change, corruption, foreign direct and portfolio investment, disability, Taiwan, competing visions of law and development (as played out in Africa),  and the role of lawyers. We anticipate covering a similar set of topics next fall, and may also delve into AI, sanctions, and law of the sea, among other topics. …

Engaging China (Reading Group)

William P. Alford
Fall 2023; Fall 2022; Fall 2021
1 credit
This one unit course will examine the role that China has been playing in a world order in flux. We will consider, inter alia, China’s engagement of existing global norms, ways in which China may (or may not) now or in the foreseeable future be shaping such norms, and their impact on China.  In the course of so doing, we will also address the manner of US engagement with such norms. …

History of International Law

Idriss Fofana
Fall 2024
3 Credits
This course explores the evolution and historical roots of the present-day international legal system from a global perspective. We will trace intellectual trends, institutional developments, and historical conflicts or oppositions that shaped relations between political communities from 1450 C.E. to the 1970s. The objective is to gain insight into why certain foundational aspects of today’s international law, such as the doctrine of sources, the subjects of international law, and self-determination, have assumed their current form. …

International Business Law

Mark Wu
Fall 2024; Spring 2023
3 Credits
This course aims to provide students with a broad overview of the problems that confront businesses as they go global and how different forms of law work to address such problems. Through a series of examples, the class will explore the legal and policy implications that arise out of cross-border transactions. How do businesses navigate markets that operate very differently than their own home market? We explore how treaties, national laws, and informal norms shape and constrain business decisions. Among the topics to be explored are how businesses deal with issues such as corporate social responsibility, intellectual property protection, corruption, privacy, and enforcement of arbitration awards. This class will focus, in particular, on transactions with Asia, but will draw on examples from other regions as well. …

International Trade Law

Mark Wu
Spring 2025; Spring 2024; Fall 2022
4 Credits
This course focuses on the law governing international trade as established by the World Trade Organization. It engages in an in-depth analysis of WTO rules and case law. The class will examine the strengths and weaknesses of the existing regime and discuss the difficulties in reforming the system. Besides focusing on the basic principles governing trade in goods and services, the course will also examine specialized areas such as technical standards, agriculture, food safety, subsidies, trade remedy measures, and intellectual property. In addition, the course will focus on the geopolitical tensions between major trading powers as well as on the new issues being addressed through regional trade agreements. …

Introduction to Japanese Law

J. Mark Ramseyer
Winter 2025; Fall 2023; Fall 2022; Fall 2021
3 credits
This course is designed to introduce the non-specialist law student to major features of the Japanese legal system. The course attempts to integrate the structures, processes, and personnel of the Japanese legal system with other features of Japanese society and history. Topics covered include (but are not limited to): Litigation and extra-judicial settlement, the legal services industry, economic regulation, criminal procedure, and constitutional litigation. …

Public International Law

Idriss Fofana
Spring 2025
4 Credits
This is an introductory course to international law, with a focus on public international law. The first part of the course examines the nature, sources, and methods of international law. Topics covered include the doctrine of sources, international responsibility, the resolution of international disputes, subjects of international law, international institutions, and the interaction between domestic and international law. …

Re-Imagining Global Order as Asia Re-Emerges

William P. Alford, Mark Wu
Fall 2022
2 credits
The re-emergence of Asia is posing conceptual and practical challenges to understandings of and frameworks for global order that were ascendant throughout the latter half of the 20th century. This workshop will examine the content of those challenges and what that suggests about the prospects for global order in the 21st century. Within Asia, the workshop is likely to focus principally on East and South Asia. …

The Comparative Law Workshop

William P. Alford, Idriss Fofana
Past Instructors: William P. Alford, Intisar Rabb, Idriss Fofana (Fall 2023)
Fall 2024; Fall 2023
2 Credits
This workshop will engage key questions in comparative law, using as focal points the study of African and Chinese and other Asian legal systems (including Islamic law), and legal history. Students will read examples of influential scholarship in each field both for their importance and as a vehicle for thinking about methodological issues in comparative work in general.  Students will also have the opportunity to engage several leading  scholars in each field, as well as scholars earlier in their career, who will present works-in-progress. Students considering taking the Workshop should attend the first class even if not formally enrolled. …

Tibet and China

Lobsang Sangay
Spring 2025; Fall 2023; Fall 2022
1 credit
This Reading Group will focus on the question of and solutions for Tibet. It will look at the historical status of Tibet and the current situation of the Tibetan people. The class will examine the guarantees and practices of national minority rights under the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China in light of international human rights standards. Do China’s guarantees respecting national minority rights meet international standards regarding the right to self-determination or the protection of minorities. Might reference to the rights of indigenous people be helpful? The approach of the seminar will be to interrogate the best ways to address these issues and find solutions. We will look at the evolution and major changes in the stand of the Dalai Lama from seeking independence, to what he has described as a zone of peace for …

U.S. Economic Statecraft Law

Mark Wu
Fall 2023
4 credits
This course examines the laws underlying U.S. policymaking for trade. It explores the different means through which the U.S. has attempted to use trade agreements as well as unilateral measures to advance its economic and geostrategic interests. How is policy crafted among the different agencies and branches within the U.S. government? How have digital technology, offshoring, the rise of China, and the impasse in multilateral negotiations impacted U.S. interests and strategy? Among the topics to be explored are: delegation of powers; national security reviews; preference programs for developing countries; recent free trade agreements (TPP and USMCA); export controls; and adjustment assistance for workers displaced by trade. Particular emphasis will be placed on comparing the Trump Administration’s policies with those of its recent predecessors. …

Scroll to Top