Rate My Professor Lan Cao

Cao earned her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1987, serving as Note Editor of the Yale Law Journal from 1986 to 1987, and her B.A. in Political Science from Mount Holyoke College in 1983, graduating magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and as Sarah Williston Prize Winner for the highest senior class grades. Her research in international economic law addresses law and development, rule of law, international trade, ethnic economies, and cultural dimensions of global issues. Key publications include the 600-page monograph Culture in Law & Development: Nurturing Positive Change (Oxford University Press, 2016); 'Dollar Trap and China’s Central Bank Digital Currency,' 25 Chapman L. Rev. 503 (2023); 'Ethnic Economies, Cultural Resources, and the African American Question,' 91 U. Cin. L. Rev. 303 (2022); 'Weaponizing Culture to Undermine International Women’s Rights,' 73 Hastings L.J. 233 (2022); 'Made in America: Race, Trade, and Prison Labor,' 42 N.Y.U. Rev. Law & Social Change 1 (2019); 'Pride and Prejudice in U.S. Trade,' 7 Notre Dame J. Int’l & Comp. L. 1 (2017); and 'Currency Wars and the Erosion of Dollar Hegemony,' 38 Mich. J. Int’l L. 101 (2016). She has received the honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Mount Holyoke College in 2023, the Michael Lang Award for Scholarly Excellence in 2022, Chapman University Fowler School of Law Unit Faculty Excellence Award in 2021, and was voted 1L Professor of the Year by Chapman's 2025 1L class in 2022-2023. Her scholarship appears in leading journals, and she contributes op-eds to The New York Times and The Washington Post on trade and Vietnam-related topics.