2025 Conference – The Law and Development Institute

Law and Economic Development (2025)

The Law and Development Institute and the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, William S. Richardson School of Law co-hosted the 2025 Law and Development Conference. Forty leading and emerging scholars and experts from Asia, North America, Europe, Latin America, and Africa presented papers on the following key topics:

Sustainable Development, Law, and Environmental Protection
Law, Information, Technology, and Development
Trade Law and Development
International Investment Law and Development
Property Law and Sustainability
Rising Issues in Law and Development

Date: December 5 and 6, 2025
Venue: University of Hawaii School of Law, 2515 Dole Street Honolulu, HI 96822, USA

Schedule:
Day 1: December 5, 2025

8:45am-9:15am	Registration
9:15am–9:20am	Welcome Speech, Dean Camille A. Nelson, University of Hawaii School of Law
9:20am-9:25am	Opening Statement, Prof. Y.S. Lee, The Law and Development Institute, West Virginia University, USA
9:25am–9:30am	Welcome Address, Prof. Richard Chen, University of Hawaii School of Law
9:35am–10:00am	Keynote Speech “Water, Federalism, and Sustainability: The South Africa Case and Beyond” Prof. Jonathan Zasloff, UCLA School of Law, USA
10:00am–12:00pm	Panel 1: “Sustainable Development, Law, and Environmental Protection” Chair: Prof. Andrew Morriss, Texas A&M University, USA “Law, Development, and Environmental Justice: Decolonial Pathways in Colombia’s Post-Conflict Legal Landscape” Prof. Rashmi Raman, Center for International Law, National University of Singapore “Balancing Renewable Energy Deployment and Environmental Safeguards: A Legal Perspective from the EU and Italian Contexts” Prof. Giovanni Coinu, University of Cagliari, Italy “Geopolitical Tensions, Environmental Conflict and the Developmental Law: Reconstructing Environmental Frameworks” Mr. Imam Hossain, IDCLA, Bangladesh “Towards a Permafrost Protection Treaty in the Arctic” Prof. Katherine Trisolini, Loyola University Los Angeles, USA “Environmental Constitutionalism and the Future of Sustainable Development: A Human Rights Imperative in Closing Global Governance Gaps” Assistant Prof. Jennifer Mike, American University of Nigeria
12:00pm–1:30pm	Lunch
1:30pm–3:10pm	Panel 2: “Law, Information, Technology, and Development” Chair: Prof. Jonathan Zasloff, UCLA School of Law, USA “Navigating Quantum Frontier: Emerging Legal and Development Challenges” Dr. Katri Nousiainen, Seton Hall University, USA “Why U.S. Cities Should Comply With Public Record Requests” Prof. Randall Johnson, University of Missouri Kansas City, School of Law, USA “Law and Development in Smart Cities: A Case Study of Hangzhou’s Regulatory Model and Its International Impact” Ms. Yuxing He & Prof. Vai lo Lo, Bond University Faculty of Law, Australia “Sustainable Digital Trade: Governing Code and Law in the Digital Economy” Assistant Prof. Kwanghyuk Yoo, Kean University, USA “Sustainable Development, Digital Trade Agreements and the Digital Economy” Assistant Prof. Keinde Folake Olaoye, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar
3:30pm–3:45pm	Coffee Break
3:45pm–5:45pm	Panel 3: “Trade Law and Development” Chair: Prof. Y.S. Lee, The Law and Development Institute, West Virginia University, USA “Trade and Development in a Shifting International Landscape” Prof. Katrin Kuhlmann, Georgetown University Law Center, USA “Tariffs, Trade and In Terrorem Development” Prof. Salil Mehra, Temple University School of Law, USA “Opportunity Lost” Prof. Ronnie R. Gipson, Pennsylvania State University Dickinson Law School, USA “Climate-Compatible Trade Law as a Catalyst for Sustainable Economic Development in Pacific Small Island States” Prof. Alberto Costi, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand “Export Controls of Dual Use Goods and Technologies: Balancing Security and Sustainable Development” Prof. Alexandr Svetlicinii, University of Macau, Macau (China)
5:45pm–6:00pm	First Day Closing
6:30pm–7:50pm	Conference Dinner (speakers and invite guests only)

Schedule:
Day 2: December 6, 2025

8:30am–8:50am	Second Day Registration
8:50am–10:50am	Panel 4: “International Investment Law and Development” Chair: Prof. Richard Chen, University of Hawaii School of Law, USA “Networks of Legal Integration and Development Outcomes in Post-Colonial Africa: An Analysis of Tax and Investment Treaties” Prof. Andrew Morriss & Prof. Charlotte Ku, Texas A&M University School of Law & Bush School of Government and Public Service, USA “The Takings Counterrevolution: International Investment Law as a Prohibition on Redistribution” Prof. Andrew Larkin, New York University School of Law, USA “International Investment Law and Sustainable Development – Friend or Foe?” Prof. Barnali Choudhury, Osgoode Law School, Canada “The Right to Sustainable Development within the African Continental Free Trade Agreement” Prof. Ali Kairouani, Mohammed V University of Rabat, Morocco “Development at Whose Cost? Indigenous Peoples, International Investment Law, and the Struggle for Land Rights in Africa and Asia” Ms. Irene Kariuki, Advocate, High Court of Kenya “Attracting Investment in Times of Uncertainty: An Comparative Analysis of National State’s Practices” Ms. Daniela Oliveira, University of Brasilia, Brazil
11:00am–12:00pm	Junior Scholars Panel Chair: Prof. Katrin Kuhlmann, Georgetown University Law Center, USA “Law, Bureaucracy, and Development: A Neoweberian Reading of Codification Efforts in Saudi Arabia” Mr. Muad Al Juhany, J.S.D. Candidate, Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, Faculty Member, College of Sharia and Law, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University “Rethinking Property Rights with regard to their Social Function: Commons, Culture and Sustainable Governance in the Italian Legal Framework” Dr. Fabrizia Cesarano, Scuola Superiore Meridionale, Italy “The Dilemma of Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) in Times of Political Crises: The Application of Ukraine-Russia BIT and Its Implications on Interstate War” Ms. Yujin Seo, The Law and Development Institute
12:00pm–1:30pm	Lunch
1:30pm–3:10pm	Panel 5: “Property Law and Sustainability” Chair: Prof. Salil Mehra, Temple University School of Law, USA “Cultural Sustainability & Propertization: A Cautionary View” Prof. Sean Pager, Michigan State University College of Law, USA “The Numerus Clausus Principle and Land Law in East Africa: A Comparative Analysis of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania” Prof. David Finnegan, Cooley Law School, USA “Property, Power, and the Pacific: Fast-Tracking Seabed Mining in Aotearoa-New Zealand” Dr. Myra Williamson, Aukland University of Technology Law School, New Zealand “Legal and Policy Frameworks to Protect the Property Rights of Women Migrant Workers in Line with Agenda 2030: A Case Study of Uganda” Ms. Elizabeth Bakibinga, University for Peace, United Nations “Suiting Property Law for Sustainability: Bridging the Anthropocentric and Eco-centric Paradigms” Ms. Shulun Tian & Ms. Hai Du, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong (China) “The Way of Water: How the United States Can Learn from the Palauan System of Custom Deference” Ms. Anika Maan, Court Counsel, Supreme Court of Palau
3:30pm–3:45pm	Coffee Break
3:45pm–5:45pm	Panel 6: “Rising Issues in Law and Development” Chair: Prof. Sean Pager, Michigan State University, USA “The (Un)intended Consequences of South Korean Legal Education Reform” Prof. Sung Eun (Summer) Kim & Mr.. Yonghyung (Thomas) Chung, UC Irvine School of Law, USA “Aid and Influence: China’s Development Agenda in a Post-USAID World” Dr. Francesca Farrington, University of Aberdeen, U.K. “Institutional experimentation in Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs): the case of the Brazilian “Drex” Prof. Gabriel Lochagin, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil “Chinese Law and Development (CLD): The Strategic Role of Non-legal Norms in the Cross-Border Economic Order” Dr. Claudia Lu Yi, Peking University School of Transnational Law, China “The Impact of Economic Preferences in Development – a Critical Assessment” Ms. Laura Panades-Estruch, Truman Bodden Law School of the Cayman Islands and University of Liverpool (UK)
5:45pm–5:50pm	Closing Statement, Prof. Y.S. Lee, The Law and Development Institute, West Virginia University, USA