Keith Hand

Background

About Keith Hand

I am an experienced corporate lawyer, legal scholar, and administrator with 30 years of experience working on projects and research related to East Asia. My research focuses on political-legal reform in Greater China, with particular attention to constitutional law, citizen efforts to use the law to promote legal, social, and political change, Chinese domestic law as a tool of foreign policy, China's anti-sanctions regime. My scholarship has been cited in nearly 500 scholarly and government publications, and I have been cited in leading media including Berlinske (Denmark), ChinaFile, Christianity Daily, The Christian Science Monitor, Deutche Welle, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Guardian, Jutland Post (Denmark), McClatchy News Service (18 papers, including the Miami Herald and Sacramento Bee), The New York Times, Radio Free Asia, Reuters, South China Morning Post, Time, and The Wall Street Journal. As UC Hastings Associate Dean for Global Programs from 2015 to 2022, I managed international operations at the law school, including partnerships with more than 30 foreign law schools, an LL.M. program with 20 to 35 students per year, student exchange programs with 17 foreign law schools, a visiting foreign scholar program, and an international internship stipend program. In this role, I managed a substantial annual budget and supervised four staff and faculty members with Global Programs responsibilities, chaired the faculty Global Programs Committee, ensured Global Programs compliance with ABA standards, led a yearlong institutional assessment of the LL.M. program to satisfy accreditation requirements, and planned and executed a three-year initiative to enhance LL.M. recruiting that led to the creation of thirteen new partnerships with law schools and bar associations in East Asia. As co-founder and director of the Center for East Asian Legal Studies, I have planned and executed over 75 public events on East Asian legal systems since 2009 (including conferences, lectures, town halls, and practice-focused roundtables), managed partnerships with law schools and bar associations across East Asia, and designed three new courses in Asian law. Our Center mentors students with professional interests in the region, and coordinates with alumni to identify employment and mentoring opportunities. We have collaborated with high-profile partners, including the Japan Society of Northern California and the National Committee on U.S-China Relations, on events and initiatives.