Virginia Harper Ho
Virginia Harper Ho is a Professor of Law, a past Docking Faculty Scholar, and the inaugural Co-Director of the Polsinelli Transactional Law Center. Her research focuses on the intersections of law and governance from a comparative perspective. She has written recently on financial disclosure reform, shareholder activism, comparative corporate governance, Chinese labor law reform, and corporate social responsibility. Her work has been published by the Vanderbilt and Columbia international law journals, the Journal of Corporation Law, the Columbia Journal of Asian Law, and University of California-Berkeley's Institute for East Asian Studies, among others.
Harper Ho previously taught as a visiting assistant professor at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law and advised U.S. and foreign multinationals in cross-border transactions,regulatory compliance, and corporate finance matters. In addition, she 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, where she was awarded the 2001 Yong K. Kim Memorial Prize for her research on Chinese labor law reform.
Courses Taught:
- Business Organizations
- Chinese Law
- Corporate Finance
- Seminar in Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability and the Law
- Deals
- Due Diligence in Business Transaction
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
Business Organizations, Chinese Law, Corporate Finance, Seminar in Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability and the Law, Due Diligence in Business Transactions, Deals
Admitted
New York 2009, Indiana 2004 (inactive), Iowa 2001 (inactive)
Career History
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.
Research
Comparative corporate governance, private regulation, corporate social responsibility, comparative labor and employment law.
Memberships
American Bar Association, Section of International Law, Section of Business Law; New York State Bar Association; American Society of International Law.
Selected Publications
"Team Production & the Multinational Enterprise," 38 Seattle University Law Review 499 (2015).
"The Recursivity of Reform: China’s Amended Labor Contract Law" (with Qiaoyan Huang), 37 Fordham International Law Review 973 (2014).
"Of Enterprise Principles and Corporate Groups: Does Corporate Law Reach Human Rights?", 56 Columbia Journal of Transnational Law 113 (2013).
“Beyond Regulation: A Comparative Look at State-Centric Corporate Social Responsibility & the Law in China,” 46 Vanderbilt Transnational Law Journal 375 (2013).
“Corporate Governance as Risk Regulation in China: A Comparative View of Risk Oversight, Risk Management, and Accountability,” 4 European Journal of Risk Regulation 463 (2012).
"Theories of Corporate Groups: Corporate Identity Reconceived," 42 Seton Hall Law Review 879 (2012).
"'Enlightened Shareholder Value': Corporate Governance Beyond the Shareholder-Stakeholder Divide," 36 Journal of Corporation Law 59 (2010).
Selected Presentations
"Shareholder Activism and Firm-Specific Risk: Arbitraging Engagement," invited participant (selected competitively), United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment Academic Network Conference: Bridging the Gap, Montreal, Canada, Sept. 22-24, 2014.
“Government Voluntary Clubs: A Comparative Look at Regulatory Innovation,” Fudan University, School of International Relations and Public Affairs, July 1, 2013.
“Corporate Governance as Risk Regulation in China: A Comparative View of Risk Oversight, Risk Management, and Accountability,” American Association of Law Schools (AALS) Annual Meeting, Section on Business Associations panel on Business Associations and Governance in Emerging Economies, Jan. 5, 2013.
“Corporate Social Responsibility, Law, and the State: The PRC Approach in Comparative Perspective,” Institute for U.S.-China Issues, University of Oklahoma China Faculty Forum, Oct. 5, 2011.
