Tai-Heng Cheng

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Tai-Heng Cheng is a legal scholar, lawyer, and international arbitrator. Since June 1, 2006, he has been Associate Professor and Associate Director of the Center for International Law at New York Law School [1] and Guest Professor at Sarah Lawrence College [2].

He pursued his first law degree at St Edmund Hall, Oxford University, where he was an Oxford University Scholar. In 1999, he graduated with Double First Distinction in the Final Honors School of Jurisprudence (law). He then attended Yale Law School, where he was Howard M. Holtzman Fellow for International Law and studied under Prof. W Michael Reisman. He graduated with a Masters in Law degree in 2001 and a Doctor of the Science of Law degree in 2004. He also received a Master of Arts degree from Oxford University in 2004 and a Graduate Diploma in Singapore Law from the National University of Singapore in 2001.

Cheng is the author of the book "State Succession and Commercial Obligations" (Transnational Publishers, 2006), the only post-Cold War treatise on how to manage international contracts, loans and commercial treaties when state succession or regime change occur. In 2005, an article in The Straits Times applied his Central Case Approach to human rights to the execution of an Australian drug trafficker in Singapore.1 He has given many talks,[3] including presentations to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on International Relations [4][5][6], Yale Law School, Duke Law School [7] and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.

He was previously associated with the New York law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, where he represented AIG, BlackRock, Bechtel, General Electric, Weight Watchers [8] [9][10], and Toys 'R' Us [11][12]. He was also previously appointed Senior Officer of the Singapore Police Force, where he gave advice on legal issues and counter terrorism. He also advised the Prosecutor General of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor.

He is and has been a member of the Alternative Dispute Resolution, United Nations, and the International Law Committees of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. He is also Special Counsel to the Special Committee on the Bar Examination of the New York State Bar Association. He is a charter member of Network 2020 [13], a global security think-tank. In 2005, Turkish Daily News reported his impressions from a fact finding mission to Turkey where he met with met with military generals, senior elected representatives, religious leaders and dissidents [14]. In 2006, the National Law Journal and New York Law Journal reported that he led an international fact finding mission to Iran, where he met with Massoumeh Ebtekar, Iran's first woman Vice President and former spokesperson for the hostage takers of the U.S. embassy, mullahs, ambassadors, professors, civil society reformers and UN officials in Tehran [15].

Contents

[edit] Notes

1. Andy Ho, "Not quite black and white; Is the human rights situation in Singapore as dire as some critics say?" The Straits Times (Singapore), 25 November 2005.

[edit] References

[edit] Books and book chapters

  • State Succession and Commercial Obligations. Transnational Publishers, 2006. Review: New York Law Review.
  • "Fair and Equitable Treatment in Conflict Zones." In 'Managing Foreign Direct Investment During and After Armed Conflict.' UNCTAD, forthcoming.

[edit] Law Reviews and other scholarly publications

  • "Renegotiating the Doctrine of Odious Debt." Duke Law and Contemporary Problems. Forthcoming in 2007.
  • "Power, Norms, and International Intellectual Property Law." Michigan Journal of International Law. Forthcoming in 2007.
  • "Precedent in Investment Treaty Arbitration." Fordham International Law Journal. Forthcoming in 2007.
  • "Power, Authority and International Investment Law." American University International Law Review 20:465 (2005).
  • "The Central Case Approach to Human Rights." Pacific Rim Law & Policy 13:257 (2004).
  • "HIV Surveillance: Individual Rights Versus the Common Good." Yale Journal of Human Rights 17:1 (2001).

[edit] Newspaper articles, practice materials, and other publications

  • "Law Manual for Frontline Policing." Singapore Police Force, 2002.