I'm currently putting the finishing touches on a book, Litigating in America: Civil Procedure in Context, which I coauthored with Steve Subrin. We hope it will be a best seller; after all, who wouldn't want a book on civil procedure on their bedside table? But, seriously, Steve and I are excited about our joint effort, which places civil procedure in historical, cultural and comparative context. For me, the writing of the book blended my intellectual interest in the role of courts, the tension between rule and discretion, and comparative methodology. Additionally, working with Steve is a bonus—he's a real joy.

I recently published a joint study of Chinese courts with Professor Wang Yaxin of Tsinghua University. The article will appear in the American Journal of Comparative Law. Funded by the US China Legal Cooperation, it's an ambitious study of Chinese courts in three provinces. We hope our study will dispel some myths about the rule of law in China, and provide better information to court reformers in China. I will continue with that project for some time, as I hope to include some of my empirical data in a book project on how ordinary Chinese citizens are asserting their legal rights.

Years ago, I worked for a short time at Greater Boston Legal Services, and one of my cases involved organizing Chinese tenants to fight against gentrification of their building in the South End. I loved working on that case, as one of my reasons for going to law school was to provide legal services to the Asian-American community. The case was also really interesting as the tenants had never been organized before, nor had they been part of any litigation. So, it was an extremely exciting and educational journey for all of us. We won the case.

I am in the midst of Reading Lolita in Tehran; I love it. It portrays a group of women in Iran, meeting in secret to read and discuss literature. This book reminds me of the gift of freedom. Another book I loved is Jonathon Strange and Dr. Norrell, a fantasy of sorts about efforts to revive the craft of wizardry in 18th century England. The effort turned into a fight between good and evil, and all that morality stuff.

My husband, Andrew, and I love spending time with our children, watching them grow.

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