Georgetown University
Yan-ho Lai (Eric) is a research fellow with the Georgetown Center for Asian Law, where he observes and analyses the development of the rule of law and judicial independence in the context of China-Hong Kong relations. He received his PhD degree in law at SOAS University of London in 2022. His research focuses on the dynamics of legal transplant and legal professionalism in authoritarian regimes; he also studies law and politics, social movement, contentious politics and international human rights practices in Hong Kong and China. His publication can be found in academic journals such as Communist and Post-communist Studies, Journal of Asian and African Studies and the Hong Kong Law Journal.
Before joining Georgetown Law, Lai was a lecturer in political science at several universities in Hong Kong. From 2018 to 2019, he was a visiting fellow at the Center of Comparative and Public Law at the University of Hong Kong, where he conducted research on the development of legal profession and access to justice in Hong Kong. Lai was also a human rights advocate when he served in several civil society organizations in Hong Kong.
Lai is a political and legal commentator in various traditional and digital media outlets in Hong Kong, Europe and North America. He writes opinion articles on law and politics, judicial activism and international human rights. He is currently a member of Asian Civil Society Research Network, and an associate fellow at the Hong Kong Studies Hub at the University of Surrey.
Asian Civil Society Research Network 