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Raj Bhala

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Profile

Raj Bhala joined the KU Law faculty in 2003 as the Rice Distinguished Professor, the highest university-level professorship at KU. In 2011, he received the George and Eleanor Woodyard International Educator Award, a university-wide award granted to one faculty member for outstanding contributions to internationalization efforts. He has worked in 25 countries and played in another 22 countries.

Along with professors John Head and Virginia Harper Ho, Bhala is part of an outstanding International and Comparative Law (ICL) team, and continues the nearly 150-year long tradition of excellence in ICL at KU Law that includes Francis Heller, Robert Casad and John Murphy.

Bhala and Head are a unique duo among American law schools. Both have published leading texts in international business law and comparative law, both have extensive practical experience in international finance, both are Marshall Scholars, and both enthusiastically adhere to KU Law’s open-door policy, welcoming all students to their offices anytime.

Bhala's scholarly reputation in international trade is global, based in part on a sustained, prolific publication record. That record includes a treatise, “Modern GATT Law,” and a leading textbook, “International Trade Law,” both of which are widely acclaimed for their substance and style.

That record also includes more than two dozen provocative articles, including five major pieces on the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations: "Doha Round Betrayals," 24 Emory International Law Review 147 (Summer 2010); “Resurrecting the Doha Round: Devilish Details, Grand Themes, and China Too,” 45 Texas International Law Journal issue 1 (2009); “Doha Round Schisms – Numerous, Technical, and Deep,” 6 Loyola University Chicago International Law Review Issue 1 (Fall/Winter 2008); “Empathizing with France and Pakistan on Agricultural Subsidy Issues in the Doha Round,” 40 Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law 949 (October 2007); and “Poverty, Islam, and Doha,” 36 The International Lawyer 159 (2002).

Bhala's scholarship in international trade law embodies four signature themes: (1) Trade law can be an effective instrument of counter-terrorism, and enhanced peace and security are possible through trade, but the Doha Round has failed in these respects; (2) protectionist devices are embedded in the details of trade law; (3) generosity and social justice ought to play a prominent role in the trade law; and (4) precedent operates as a de facto source of multilateral trade rules. These themes are the product of a synthesis of traditional doctrinal legal analysis with development economics and social justice theory.

The boundaries of Bhala’s scholarship extend beyond international trade law. His latest book is “Understanding Islamic Law (Shari’a)” (LexisNexis, 2011). It is a text for use in law schools and a reference for practitioners. It is the first comprehensive work on the law, history and religion of Islam designed for these markets written for the English-speaking world by a non-Muslim American law professor. The text provides systematic comparisons to U.S. law and Catholic Christianity.

Bhala practiced international banking law at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which twice granted him the President's Award for Excellence. At the New York Fed, he represented the United States in international wire transfer negotiations at the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), dealt with legal issues in the largest financial market in the world (foreign exchange) and was actively involved in international banking law enforcement, including the infamous scandal involving the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI).

Bhala joined KU from George Washington, where he held the Patricia Roberts Harris Research Professorship, before which he began his teaching career at William & Mary.

Bhala is a summa cum laude graduate of Duke, where he was an Angier B. Duke Scholar. The British government awarded him a Marshall Scholarship, and he earned master's degrees from both the London School of Economics and Oxford in economics and management, respectively. He obtained his law degree with honors from Harvard.

Bhala is the editor of two book series, "Studies in Globalization and Society" (Carolina Academic Press) and "International Law and Development" (Martinus Nijoff Publishers). He is a member of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, Council on Foreign Relations, Royal Society of Asian Affairs, and American Law Institute, and has consulted to governments and international organizations.

Bhala has lectured around the world, including at the Arab Thought Foundation Annual Conference (Beirut), University of Auckland (New Zealand), Bahcesehir University (Istanbul), College of Shari'a and Law (Muscat, Oman), King Fahd University of Petroleum and Mining (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia), University of Dhaka (Bangladesh), LaTrobe University (Melbourne), University of London, University of Malaya (Kuala Lumpur), National University of Singapore and Pakistan College of Law (Lahore). He has been a visiting fellow at the Bank of Japan (Tokyo) and the University of Hong Kong. Bhala has won university-wide teaching awards at both KU and William & Mary.

Bhala serves as a foreign legal consultant to Heenan Blaikie LLP, Canada, a major Canadian law firm, and in that capacity works on trade-related projects for developing and least-developed countries.

Bhala is an avid long-distance runner and has completed many marathons and half-marathons, including the Boston, Des Moines, Los Angeles and Richmond marathons.

Representative Publications

Books Published Since Joining KU Law in 2003

"Understanding Islamic Law (Shari'a)" (LexisNexis, 2011); "International Trade Law: Interdisciplinary Theory and Practice" (LexisNexis, 3rd ed. 2008, 2nd ed. 2001, 1st ed. 1996); Dictionary of International Trade Law (LexisNexis, 2008); "Modern GATT Law" (Thomson/Sweet & Maxwell 2005, 2nd edition forthcoming); "Trade, Development, and Social Justice" (Carolina Academic Press, 2003).

Articles

"The Lost Purpose of the Doha Round," St. John's International and Comparative Law Journal (Fall 2011); "China’s First Loss," 45 Journal of World Trade 2 (April 2011), with Professor Won-Mog Choi, Ewha Womans University School of Law, Seoul, Korea; "Doha Round Betrayals," 24 Emory International Law Review (Summer 2010); "Teaching China GATT," 1 Trade, Law, and Development number 1, 1-55 (Spring 2009); “Philosophical, Religious, and Legalistic Perspectives on Equal Human Dignity and U.S. Free Trade Agreements,” 28 Saint Louis University Public Law Review 9 (2008); “Virtues, the Chinese Yuan, and the American Trade Empire,” 38 Hong Kong Law Journal Part I, 183 (May 2008); “Competitive Liberalization, Competitive Imperialism, and Intellectual Property,” 28 Liverpool Law Review 77 (2007); "The Limits of American Generosity," 29 Fordham International Law Journal 299 (January 2006); "Saudi Arabia, the WTO, and American Trade Law and Policy," 38 The International Lawyer 741 (Fall 2004), "World Agricultural Trade in Purgatory," 79 North Dakota Law Review 691 (Spring 2003); "WTO Dispute Settlement and Austin's Positivism: A Primer on the Intersection," 9 International Trade Law & Regulation 14 (2003); "The Forgotten Mercy: GATT Article XXIV: 11 and Trade on the Subcontinent," 2002 New Zealand Law Review 301 (2002); "Theological Categories for Special and Differential Treatment," 50 Kansas Law Review 635 (2002); "The Power of the Past: Towards De Jure Stare Decisis in WTO Adjudication (Part Three of a Trilogy)," 33 George Washington International Law Review 873 (2001); "Marxist Origins of the 'Anti-Third World' Claim," 24 Fordham International Law Journal 132 (2002).

Case Review Series

Co-author (with Professor David Gantz, University of Arizona College of Law) of "WTO Case Review," published annually in the Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law.

Curriculum vitae with complete publications list
Wheat Law Library's International Trade Law page

Research Interests

International trade (particularly GATT, developing countries, trade remedies, and agriculture); Catholic social justice theory and its application to international trade; Islamic law (particularly classical theory and Islamic finance).

Education

J.D., cum laude, Harvard, 1989; M.Sc., Oxford (Management), 1986; M.Sc., London School of Economics (Economics), 1985; A.B., summa cum laude, Duke (Economics), 1984.

Admitted

New York, District of Columbia, Colorado, 1990.

Career History

Attorney, Federal Reserve Bank of New York; Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Director, Graduate Program, William & Mary 1989-1993, 1993-1998; Professor, Patricia Roberts Harris Research Professor, Associate Dean for International and Comparative Legal Studies, George Washington University School of Law, 1998-2003; Visiting Professor Duke, 1996, Michigan 1999; University of Auckland, 2003, LaTrobe University (Melbourne), 2003, World Trade Institute (Berne), 2003-2006, Rice Distinguished Professor, Kansas, 2003-present.

Member

Member: Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, Council on Foreign Relations, Royal Society for Asian Affairs, American Law Institute.

Consultant: United Arab Emirates University, U.S. Department of Commerce (Middle East Partnership Initiative), Saudi Aramco, Government of Laos, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Heenan Blaikie LL.P., Canada

Editorial Advisory Boards: LexisNexis Law School Publishing Advisory Board (1/09-present); Carolina Academic Press (12/97-12/08, 1/12-present); International Trade Law and Regulation (Thomson/Sweet and Maxwell, spring 2003-present); Shari'a and Law Journal (United Arab Emirates University, 12/07-present); Manchester Journal of International Economic Law (12/03-present).