Mark D. West is a U.S. legal scholar and Nippon Life Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School

University of Michigan Law School

The University of Michigan Law School is the law school of the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor. Founded in 1859, the school has an enrollment of about 1,200 students, most of whom are seeking Juris Doctor or Master of Laws degrees, although the school also offers a Doctor of Juridical...

 and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. He is widely published on the subject of Japanese law and the Japanese legal system, and is regarded as a leading American authority in these areas. From 2003 to 2008, West served as director of the University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies.

Publications

West is the author or co-author of five books:

• Economic Organizations and Corporate Governance in Japan: The Impact of Formal and Informal Rules. C. J. Milhaupt, co-author. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2004.
• Law in Everyday Japan: Sex, Sumo, Suicide, and Statutes. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2005.
• Secrets, Sex and Spectacle: The Rules of Scandal in Japan and the United States. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2006.
• The Japanese Legal System: Cases, Codes, and Commentary. C.J. Milhaupt & J.M. Ramseyer, co-authors. University Casebook Series. New York: Foundation Press, 2006.
• Lovesick Japan: Sex, Marriage, Romance, Law. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, 2011.

He has published articles in English and Japanese in the Journal of Japanese Studies, Hōritsu Jihō, American Journal of Comparative Law, Law and Society Review, Journal of Comparative Economics, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, University of Chicago Law Review, and Northwestern University Law Review among others. He is a frequent lecturer at universities in the United States and Japan, and an editor of the Journal of Japanese Law.

Education

West earned his B.A., magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa

Phi Beta Kappa Society

The Phi Beta Kappa Society is an academic honor society. Its mission is to "celebrate and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences"; and induct "the most outstanding students of arts and sciences at America’s leading colleges and universities." Founded at The College of William and...

, from Rhodes College

Rhodes College

Rhodes College is a private, predominantly undergraduate, liberal arts college located in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Originally founded by freemasons in 1848, Rhodes became affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in 1855. Rhodes enrolls approximately 1,700 students pursuing bachelor's and master's...

 and his J.D. with multiple honors from Columbia Law School

Columbia Law School

Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, is one of the oldest and most prestigious law schools in the United States. A member of the Ivy League, Columbia Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Columbia University in New York City. It offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in...

, where he was notes and comments editor for the Columbia Law Review

Columbia Law Review

The Columbia Law Review is a law review edited and published by students at Columbia Law School. In addition to articles, the journal regularly publishes scholarly essays and student notes. It was founded in 1901 by Joseph E. Corrigan and John M. Woolsey, who served as the review's first...

.

He clerked for the Hon. Eugene Nickerson

Eugene Nickerson

Eugene Hoffman Nickerson was the Democratic county executive of Nassau County, New York from 1962 until 1970. Nickerson was the only Democrat to be elected county executive in Nassau County until 2001...

 of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

West has been a Fulbright Research Scholar

Fulbright Program

The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946. Under the...

, an Abe Fellow, and a fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

The is an independent administrative institution in Japan, established for the purpose of contributing to the advancement of science in all fields of the natural and social sciences and the humanities.-History:...

.

External links

• Mark D. West, University of Michigan Law School page
• Publications
• Mark D. West, Social Science Research Network
  Social Science Research Network
  The Social Science Research Network is a website devoted to the rapid dissemination of scholarly research in the social sciences and humanities. SSRN is viewed as particularly strong in the fields of economics, finance, accounting, management, and law. SSRN was founded in 1994 by Michael Jensen ...
  
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