John W. Head

Professor of Law
Subjects: Comparative Law, International Commerce and Investment,

Public International Law, International Economic Law
Phone: 785-864-9233

Profile

John Head holds both an English law degree from Oxford University and a J.D. degree from the University of Virginia. Before joining the KU law faculty, he was in private practice in Washington, D.C., and served as legal counsel to the Asian Development Bank and to the International Monetary Fund. He has taught law in several countries in Europe and Asia and regularly undertakes overseas assignments involving international financial law, international organizations, and international legal training. He was the Paul Hastings Visiting Professor at the University of Hong Kong in March-April 2008 and spent the spring 2009 term teaching and conducting research at the University of Trento in northern Italy as the Trento Chair in Law, part of the Fulbright Distinguished Chairs Awards Program.

Head is an outstanding teacher who has held the Schroeder Teaching Fellowship and has received the W.T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence, the Provost's Award for Leadership in International Education, the Immel Award for Teaching Excellence, the Dean Frederick J. Moreau Award, the Graduate Mentor of the Year Award and the Michael P. Malone International Leadership Award. He coaches two of the school's highly successful international law moot court teams and serves as co-sponsor of the International Law Society.

Representative Publications

"China's Legal Soul — The Modern Chinese Legal Identity in Historical Context" (Carolina Academic Press, 2009); "General Principles of Business and Economic Law" (Carolina Academic Press, 2008); "Losing the Global Development War" (Brill-Nijhoff, 2008); "Global Business Law: Principles and Practice of International Commerce and Investment" (Carolina Academic Press, 2006); "The Future of the Global Economic Organizations: An Evaluation of Criticisms Leveled at the IMF, the Multilateral Development Banks, and the WTO" (Transnational Publishers, 2005); "Law Codes in Dynastic China: A Synopsis of Chinese Legal History in the Thirty Centuries from Zhou to Qing" (Carolina Academic Press, 2005) (co-authored with Yanping Wang); "Protecting and Supporting Indigenous in Latin America: Evaluating the Recent World Bank and IDB Policy Initiatives," 14 Michigan State University Journal of International Law 383 (2006); "Responding to 9/11: Lurching Toward a Rule of Scofflaw," 15 Kansas Journal of Law and Public Policy 1 (2006); "Agriculture, Free Trade, and Global Development: Some Personal Observations," 14 Kansas Journal of Law and Public Policy 221 (2005); "Getting Down to Basics: Strengthening Financial Systems in Developing Countries," 18 The Transnational Lawyer 257 (2005); "Seven Deadly Sins: An Assessment of Criticisms Directed at the International Monetary Fund," 52 University of Kansas Law Review 521 (2004); "The Asian Development Bank" (Kluwer Law International, 2002); "Preventing Financial Chaos: An International Guide to Legal Rules and Operational Procedures for Handling Insolvent Banks" (with Ramsey)(Kluwer Law International)(2000); "For Richer or For Poorer: Assessing the Criticisms Directed at the Multilateral Development Banks," 52 Kansas Law Review 241 (2004); "Code Cultures, Chaos, and Champions: Common Features of Legal Codification Experiences in China, Europe, and North America," 13 Duke Journal of Comparative and International Law 1 (2003); "What Has Not Changed Since September 11 — The Benefits of Multilateralism," 12 Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy 1 (2002); "Throwing Eggs at Windows: Legal and Institutional Globalization in the 21st -Century Economy, " 50 Kansas Law Review 731(2002); Global Implications of the Asian Financial Crisis: Banking, Economic Integration, and Crisis Management in the New Century," 25 William Mitchell Law Review 939 (1999); "Selling Hong Kong to China: What Happened to the Right of Self-Determination?" 46 Kansas Law Review 283 (1998); "Evolution of the Governing Law for Loan Agreements of the World Bank and Other Multilateral Development Banks," 90 American Journal of International Law 214 (1996); "International Business and Kansas Lawyers: An Update on International Trade Rules and How they Affect Kansas," 65 Journal of the Kansas Bar Association 26 (1996); "China's Treatment of Crimes Against the Environment: Using Criminal Sanctions to Fight Environmental Degradation in the PRC," 8 Columbia University Journal of Chinese Law 145 (with Yang Chun-xi and Liu Sheng-rong; published also in Chinese by Renmin University Jurists' Review [Junguo Renmin Daxue Faxue Jia]); "Supranational Law: How the Move Toward Multilateral Solutions Is Changing the Character of 'International' Law," 42 Kansas Law Review 605 (1994); "Suspension of Debtor Countries' Voting Rights in the IMF: An Assessment of the Third Amendment to the IMF Charter," 33 Virginia Journal of International Law 591 (1993).

Curriculum Vitae with Publications List

Research Interests

International economic law, international public law, comparative law legal history, dynastic Chinese law.

Education

J.D., Virginia, 1979, Editorial Board, Virginia Journal of International Law; B.A., M.A. Juris, Oxford, 1977; B.A., Missouri-Columbia, 1975.

Admitted

D.C. 1979

Career History

Judicial Clerk, DC Court of Appeals 1979-80; Associate, Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, 1980-83; Counsel, Asian Development Bank, Manila, Philippines (1983-88) and International Monetary Fund, DC (1988-90); Assoc. Prof., Kansas 1990-95; Prof., 1995-present.

Member

American Society of International Law.

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