Overview

Michael K. Young is part of the International section as of counsel and helps oversee the firm’s Center for International Dispute Resolution working out of our St. George law office. He is president emeritus and professor of law and public policy at Texas A&M University. Professor Young is also the former president of both the University of Washington (from 2011 to 2015) and the University of Utah (from 2004 to 2011).

Prior to joining the University of Utah, Professor Young was the dean and Lobingier professor of comparative law and jurisprudence at George Washington University Law School, and, for 20 years, the Fuyo professor of Japanese law and legal institutions and director of the Centers for Japanese Legal Studies and Korean Legal Studies at Columbia Law School, where he also co-directed the program on religion, human rights, and religious freedom.

He served in the U.S. Department of State as deputy legal advisor, deputy under secretary for Economic Affairs, and ambassador for Trade and Environmental Affairs during the administration of President George H.W. Bush. He also has served as chair, vice-chair, and a member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Professor Young graduated from Brigham Young University (summa cum laude) and Harvard Law School (magna cum laude), where he served as note editor on the Harvard Law Review. Upon graduation, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Benjamin Kaplan of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts and the Honorable William H. Rehnquist of the United States Supreme Court.

He has taught and lectured at numerous foreign universities in Japan, South Korea, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands, among others.

Professor Young has served as an arbitrator, counsel, and expert witness in several international arbitrations, including, among others, The United States v. The United Kingdom over landing fees at Heathrow Airport and Glamis Gold Corporation v. The United States, an arbitration conducted under the auspices of the investor-state dispute resolution provisions of the North America Free Trade Agreement.

He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, The New York State Bar Association, and The State Bar of California.

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