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(Photo credit: Cookie Tsai)
Kuan-Ting Chen (陳冠廷) is a J.S.D. student at Cornell Law School from Kaohsiung, Taiwan. His research focuses on the openness of private law, exploring why and how private law reasoning can incorporate insights from foreign disciplines and foreign legal systems. Before attending Cornell, Kuan-Ting earned his LL.B. and LL.M. from National Taiwan University and was admitted to the Ph.D. program at National Chengchi University. Kuan-Ting worked as a research assistant at Academia Sinica, Taiwan’s premier research institution, where he published journal articles on legal normativity, comparative law, and legal reasoning. He also co-authored two amicus curiae briefs submitted to the Taiwan Constitutional Court, one of which was cited in a judgment of the Court.
Research Interests- Jurisprudence
- Comparative Law
- Private Law Theory
Selected Publications
Kuan-Ting Chen. (2026). A Rawlsian Critic on Stability Problem of Public Reason: Same-Sex Marriage Debates in Taiwan as an Example, In East Meets West: Justice, Law, and Politics: The 13th Kobe Lecture and the 2nd IVR Japan International Conference, Chiba, September 2023, edited by Makoto Usami & Hidehiko Adachi. pp.281–297. Stuttgart, Germany: Franz Steiner Verlag.
Kuan-Ting Chen and Yun-Chien Chang. (2024). How to Do Legal Interpretation with Comparative Law: A Methodological Reflection and Reconstruction. National Taiwan University Law Journal 53(2): 293-361. (TSSCI Tier1, in Chinese) (link)
Kuan-Ting Chen. (2023). The Tyranny of Efficiency: A Critical Review on the Methodological Thesis in Professor Yun-chien Chang’s Interpreting Private Law: A Social Scientific Approach, Academia Sinica Law Journal 32: 277-312. (TSSCI Tier1, in Chinese) (link)
Kuan-Ting Chen. (2020). The Absence of the Mental State in the Theory of Legal Normativity: A Reflection on Hart’s and Raz’s Theories, Academia Sinica Law Journal 27: 345-406. (TSSCI Tier1, in Chinese) (link).
Han-Wei Ho, Keng-Wei Fan and Kuan-Ting Chen. (accepted). Revisiting Doctrine of Clarity: An Empirical Doctrinal Reconstruction, National Taiwan University Law Journal. (TSSCI Tier1, in Chinese)
Dissertation Committee
- Yun-chien Chang (Co-Chair)
- Emily Sherwin (Co-Chair)
Awards and Fellowships
- Hu Shih Memorial Award, East Asia Program, Cornell University, 2026
- Cornell Law School Graduate Fellowship, Cornell University, 2025
- CALI Excellence for the Future Awards: Comparative Private Law, 2024
- The Study Abroad Fellowships, Ministry of Education (Taiwan), 2023
Contact Information
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Mayar Darawsha Mayar Darawsha is a J.S.D. candidate from Arrabah City, Israel. Before attending Cornell, Mayar obtained her LL.B. degree from Tel-Aviv University. During her LL.B. she worked as a teaching assistant with Professor Eliav Lieblich in Public International Law course for 4 consecutive terms. Mayar also worked as a corporate lawyer in Israel for two years at Herzog Fox & Ne’eman and Amit Pollak Matalon law firms. Mayar also served as an editor in the Cornell International Law Journal (ILJ). Mayar is fluent in Arabic, Hebrew, and English.
Mayar obtained two CALI Awards in Public International Law and Political Obligation courses.
Research interests
Laws of Armed Conflict and the Use of Force
International Human Rights Law
Political Theory
Dissertation Committee
Muna Ndulo (Chair)
Jens David Ohlin
Contact Information
Email: md968@cornell.edu
Phone: (607) 262-4515 -
Michelle du Plessis joined Cornell Law School’s J.S.D. program in 2025. Her research examines how international commercial law and conflict of laws frameworks (choice of law and jurisdiction) interact with decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and smart contracts.
Michelle earned her LL.M. at Cornell in 2024 as a Fulbright Scholar, receiving multiple CALI Awards and the Harry G. Henn Memorial Prize. She previously completed B.Com Law and LL.B. degrees at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, was an exchange scholar at Leiden University, in the Netherlands, and interned at the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH). At Cornell, she served as a General Editor of the Cornell International Law Journal.
Before returning to academia, Michelle practiced at White & Case LLP in Johannesburg and New York, advising private equity sponsors, lenders, and corporates on cross-border corporate and debt-finance transactions. Earlier, she was an Academic Associate in the University of Pretoria’s Private Law Department for the delict and property law courses, and co-authored peer-reviewed publications on equality law and legal education. She is an admitted Attorney of the High Court of South Africa and has passed the New York State Bar Exam (admission pending).
Awards and Fellowships:
- Cornell Law School Fellowship: J.S.D., Cornell Law
- Fulbright U.S. Foreign Student Scholarship: LL.M., Cornell Law
- E.O. International Peace Scholarship: LL.M., Cornell Law
- Cornell Law School Tuition Scholarship: LL.M., Cornell Law
- Harry G. Henn Memorial Prize, Cornell Law: Highest grade, Business Organizations
- CALI Awards, Cornell Law: Digital Assets; Advanced FinTech Writing; Business Organizations
- Allan Gray Orbis Foundation Scholarship: B.Com Law, LL.B., University of Pretoria
- Abe Bailey Travel Bursary: South African national scholar
- Leiden University–South Africa Scholarship: Undergraduate exchange semester
Select Publications and Conferences:
- Choice of Law of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), Berger International Speaker Series, Cornell Law (2024).
- Looking for SPACs in South Africa, Without Prejudice (Q4 2021).
- The Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act 4 of 2000: Proposals for Legislative Reform to Promote Equality through Schools and the Education System, Erasmus Law Review 13(3): 49–64 (2020) (co-author).
Dissertation Committee
Professor James Grimmelmann (Chair)
Research Interests:
- International Commercial Law;
- Conflict of Laws (choice of law, jurisdiction, judgment recognition);
- Law & Technology;
- DAOs and smart contract governance;
- Digital assets;
- Cross-border enforcement and dispute design.
Contact Information
Email: md2243@cornell.edu
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/m-du-plessis/ -
Hao Huang is a J.S.D. student at Cornell University Law School from Yuzhou, China. His JSD research focuses on how expertise shapes technology regulation.Before Cornell, He obtained a LL.M. degree with Dean’s List from UC Berkeley School of Law and a J.M. (J.D. equivalent) degree from Renmin University of China Law School. Before starting law school, He studied English literature at Harbin Institute of Technology.
Research Interests:Data Privacy
AI governance
Copyright
Regulation
Law & Economics
Social Theory
Selected Publications:
Same Text, Different Meaning: China’s Risk-Based Approach to Data Protection (with Xiaodong Ding, Yeliang Wang, Zhengyu Shi), Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, vol. 12, 2025.
For Whom is Privacy Policy Written? A New Understanding of Privacy Policies
(with Xiaodong Ding), Computer Law & Security Review, vol. 55, 2024.
Dissertation Committee:
Frank Pasquale (Chair)
Contact Information
Email: hh874@cornell.edu
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hao-huang-law/
Website: https://haohuang-law.github.io/
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Upasana Singh is a J.S.D. candidate at the Cornell Law School. Her research examines the institutionalization of restorative justice in the American criminal justice system, focusing on responses by state agencies once the harm is done. She also studies implementation methods to uncover how RJ related reforms are translated into lasting institutional practices. She is also working as a research assistant with Dr. Kaushik Basu, Carl Marks Professor of International Studies at Cornell University. She holds an LL.M. from Cornell Law School with a focus on conflict resolution and restorative justice. She serves on the review board of the Indian Law Institute Law Review. She also reviews manuscript for Law & Social Inquiry journal.
Prior to this, she served as an Assistant Professor of Law in India and practiced as an advocate in the Supreme Court of India and the High Court of Delhi.
Upasana is also a certified mediator, holding credentials from the London School of Mediation, UK, and the High Court of Delhi, India. She is the founder of Accords International, an organization committed to shaping the next generation of mediators and restorative justice facilitators.
Academic Honors & other Recognitions
Cornell Graduate Legal Studies Law Fellowship (2026-27)
Cornell Graduate Legal Studies Law Fellowship (2025-26).
Reppy Institute Graduate Fellowship (2025-26).
Cornell Graduate Legal Studies Law Fellowship (2024-25).
Fellowship for Outstanding Work in Mediation Policy, Global Policy Insights.
Award for Distinguished Service in Social Work, Sewa Samarpan Samiti, India.
Bar Admissions
All India Bar Council
Delhi Bar Council
Supreme Court Bar Association, India
Research Interests
Criminal law and procedure
Juvenile Justice
Victimology
Restorative justice
ADR and alternatives to criminal legal system
Criminal Law, Public Policy, and Governance.
Contact Information
Email: us58@cornell.edu
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Yiang Zhu is a J.S.D. candidate from Shanghai, China. His research focuses on evictions within Chinese communities in the U.S., aiming to uncover how social norms influence the dynamic between landlords and tenants in lease disputes.
Yiang earned his LL.B. from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2023 and his LL.M. from Cornell Law School in 2024. During his LL.B., he served as a research assistant on empirical studies of private lending cases and civil litigation rates. At Cornell, Yiang serves as the Eisenberg Research Fellow specializing in empirical legal studies. He received CALI Awards in Contracts and Legal Writing courses and delivered the 2024 Law School Convocation speech.
Dissertation Committee
Yun-chien Chang (Chair)
Research Interests
Property Law
Law and Society
Law and Economics
Empirical Legal StudiesContact Information
Email: yz2962@cornell.edu
Phone: (607) 262-7564