Virginia Harper Ho
Virginia Harper Ho is the Associate Dean for International & Comparative Law, Professor of Law, a past Docking Faculty Scholar, and the Co-Director of the Polsinelli Transactional Law Center. She was named as an Earl B. Shurtz Research Professor in 2019 and received the Woodyard International Educator Award in the same year. Her research focuses on the intersections of corporate governance, sustainability and finance from a comparative perspective. She has written recently on financial disclosure, shareholder activism, comparative corporate governance and China's green finance reforms. Her work has been published by leading law journals and by the University of California-Berkeley's Institute for East Asian Studies.
Harper Ho is a former Chair of the Younger Comparativists’ Committee of the American Society of Comparative Law and is a Fellow of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations’ Public Intellectuals Program. She has also served as a Research Fellow of the International Institute of Green Finance (IIGF) at the Central University of Finance and Economics (CUFE) in Beijing, China.
Prior to entering academia, Harper Ho practiced corporate and securities law and advised U.S. and foreign multinationals on cross-border transactions. She also served as a law clerk for Chief Judge Robert Pratt of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa and as a research fellow at the University of Iowa Center for Asian and Pacific Studies. She received her J.D. with honors from Harvard Law School.
Courses Taught:
- Business Organizations
- Chinese Law
- Corporate Finance
- Deals
- Due Diligence in Business Transactions
- International Commerce and Investment
- Seminar in Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability and the Law
Education
J.D., cum laude, Harvard Law School, 2001; M.A., Indiana University-Bloomington, 1997; B.A., Russian Language & Literature, Chinese Language & Literature, summa cum laude, Indiana University-Bloomington, 1995.
Teaching
Comparative corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, private regulation, securities law and sustainable finance
Teaching Interests
- Business law
- Corporate finance
- Chinese law
- International business transactions
- Comparative law
- Deals
- Due diligence
- Corporate social responsibility
Admitted
New York 2009, Indiana 2004 (inactive), Iowa 2001 (inactive)
Career History
Visiting Research Fellow, Central University of Finance & Economics, 2018; Visiting Scholar, Zhejiang University School of Law, June 2011; Visiting Lecturer, Zhongshan (Sun Yat Sen) University, 2008, 2011; Visiting Assistant Professor, Indiana University Maurer School of Law, 2008-2010; Associate, Baker & Daniels, LLP, Indianapolis, 2004-2008; Associate, Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts PC, Des Moines, 2001-2002, 2003-2004; CAPS Research Fellow, University of Iowa, Center for Asian Pacific Studies, 2003-2004; Clerk, Judge Robert W. Pratt, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Iowa, 2002-2003.
Languages
Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, Russian
Teaching Interests
- Business law, corporate finance, Chinese law, international business transactions, comparative law, deals, due diligence, corporate social responsibility
Research
Comparative corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, private regulation, securities law and sustainable finance
Research Interests
- Comparative law
- Corporate governance
- Corporate social responsibility
- Multinational enterprises
- Risk management
- Securities regulation
- Shareholder activism
Research Interests
- Sustainable finance, corporate governance, shareholder activism, comparative law, multinational enterprises, risk management, corporate social responsibility, securities regulation
Memberships
American Bar Association, Section of International Law, Section of Business Law; New York State Bar Association