2026-2027 Visiting Scholars
The U.S.-Asia Law Institute (USALI) hosts a small number of outstanding scholars each year. Our visiting scholars have included judges, prosecutors, lawyers, legal journalists, and legislators as well as academics. Learn more about how to become a USALI Visiting Scholar.
Feng Ge
Feng Ge is an environmental protection lawyer in China with extensive experience in litigation and policy advocacy. For six years, Ge led the legal department at Friends of Nature, the first environmental nongovernmental organization (NGO) in China with national influence. Ge and her colleagues at Friends of Nature advocated revisions to the Environmental Protection Law. In 2015, the revised law granted NGOs legal standing to sue polluters. Since then, Ge and her team have brought nearly fifty environmental public-interest lawsuits, including a case in Yunnan Province to protect endangered species. China's Supreme People's Court later designated it a guiding case. The United Nations recognized it as a Sustainable Development Goal Good Practice. Ge holds a doctorate in environmental law from China University of Political Science and Law. She taught at the environmental law clinic at Renmin University Law School from 2017 to 2020. Her research centers on the role of civil society in fostering the environmental rule of law in China.
Eungi Hong
Eungi Hong has been a judge in South Korea since 2009. She serves at the Seoul Central District Court. Judge Hong has researched the rights of immigrant children and South Korea’s immigrant detention in comparative perspective. Her current research focuses on state liability for wartime civilian massacres, specifically examining Korean and US court decisions arising from the Vietnam War. In the fall 2026 semester, she is co-teaching the U.S.-Asia Law Institute Colloquium: Globalization, International Law and East Asia Law with Professor Frank Upham.
Jen-Sheng “Stephen” Kuo
Jen-Sheng Kuo (郭任昇) is a judge at the Kaohsiung District Court in Taiwan. Since joining the judiciary in 2009, he has adjudicated civil and criminal cases. He has also served at Taiwan's Judicial Yuan, where he worked on administrative litigation, judicial reform, and access to justice. At the Judicial Yuan, he led the drafting of Taiwan's first Judicial Accessibility Guidelines for Persons with Disabilities. Judge Kuo was previously a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley School of Law. He has represented Taiwan's Judges Association at annual meetings of the International Association of Judges, where he has engaged in dialogue on emerging issues, including AI and the judiciary. At USALI, Judge Kuo researches the application and regulation of AI in U.S. judicial administration. He focuses in particular on its implications for judicial efficiency, fairness, human rights, judicial independence, and AI governance. Judge Kuo holds a PhD in law from National Taipei University. His doctoral research examined independent administrative agencies in Taiwan's constitutional system.
Soonhyuk Lee
Soonhyuk Lee has been a judge in South Korea since 2017. He serves at the Seongnam Branch of the Suwon District Court. His docket has included criminal cases at the single-judge and collegiate-panel levels, civil disputes from small claims to appeals, and administrative matters before collegiate panels. Before his judicial appointment, he served as a military law officer in the Republic of Korea Army. At USALI, Judge Lee draws on his judicial experience to research non-conviction-based civil asset forfeiture. He examines US federal and state frameworks, including the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act, to inform legislative design and judicial standards in South Korea. His research focuses on constitutional and procedural safeguards, including Fourth and Fifth Amendment protections, pretrial asset restraints, and burden-of-proof standards for in rem proceedings. Judge Lee holds an LLB from Seoul National University and completed his judicial training at South Korea's Judicial Research and Training Institute.
Yuuki Ochi
Yuuki Ochi is a Japanese-qualified lawyer specializing in cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and corporate matters. At USALI, Mr. Ochi researches legal support for M&A and overseas business expansion. He studies U.S. practices, laws, and legal systems in four areas of corporate practice: cross-border M&A, antitrust and regulatory filings, corporate governance, and corporate finance. By comparing U.S. and Japanese practice, he aims to contribute to Japanese legal practice. Before entering practice, Mr. Ochi earned his undergraduate law degree and his JD in Japan.
Jongwoong Park
Jongwoong Park has been a judge in South Korea since 2016. He serves at the Incheon District Court. He has handled civil, criminal, administrative, and bankruptcy cases, and is interested in enhancing access to justice through procedural and institutional improvements. His research focuses on the use of AI in the judiciary. He is particularly interested in the potential introduction of AI-based online dispute resolution systems in South Korean courts. Judge Park earned his bachelor's degree in law from Seoul National University in 2010 and received his LLM from NYU School of Law in 2026.
Tomoshi Yoshikawa
Tomoshi Yoshikawa is an associate professor at the Graduate School of Law and Politics at the University of Osaka. His research interests include Japanese and comparative constitutional law and election law. At USALI, he is conducting a comparative constitutional study of legal restrictions on election campaigning.
Yung-Cheng Lin
Yung-Cheng Lin is a Hauser Postdoctoral Global Fellow at NYU School of Law and is affiliated with USALI. His research focuses on insurance law and regulation. He examines how insurance, as a social institution, both governs and is governed by law, regulation, and broader institutional forces. Before entering academia, Lin practiced law in Taiwan, focusing on financial regulation and business law. He also worked at Taiwan's insurance regulatory agency. At NYU, he researches the Chinese health insurance system. He examines how its governance frameworks, including bureaucratic oversight and market-based mechanisms, shape structural outcomes and health care delivery. His work draws on comparative insights from the U.S. system to illuminate the Chinese context. Through document-based analysis of policy materials, he traces the regulatory dynamics and institutional logic embedded in both systems. Lin holds an SJD (2026) and an LLM (2023) from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. His doctoral dissertation examines the power-allocation questions that underlie regulatory format choices in insurance regulation. His scholarship is forthcoming in the Insurance Law Review and the Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law.