Scalia Law Welcomes Three New Faculty

Scalia Law School welcomes three new faculty this semester: Professors Weijia Rao, Donald J. Kochan, and Yijia Lu.

Professor Weijia Rao
Professor Weijia Rao

Weijia Rao

Weijia Rao joins Scalia Law as an Assistant Professor of Law, teaching Contracts and International Trade Regulations .Her recent scholarship has been published in the International Review of Law and Economics and Harvard International Law Journal.

Prior to joining the faculty, Professor Rao practiced international trade and investment law at Sidley Austin LLP in Washington DC. Professor Rao earned her Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.S.D.) and Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the University of Chicago Law School, and Bachelor of Laws and BA in Economics from Tsinghua University, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Tsinghua China Law Review.

Professor Donald J. Kochan
Professor Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan has joined Scalia Law where he is taking an active role as Deputy Executive Director of the school’s Law & Economics Center. Professor Kochan recently served as the Parker S. Kennedy Professor of Law for Chapman University’s Dale E. Fowler School of Law. He taught Property Law; Administrative Law & Practice; Natural Resources Law & Policy; Real Estate Transactions; Commercial Leasing; Corporations; Agency & Partnership; Law & Economics. He also served as Inaugural Associate Dean for Research & Faculty Development.

Professor Kochan’s other academic appointments include:

  • Georgetown University Law Center, Visiting Scholar, 2018.
  • University of Virginia School of Law, Instructor in Law and Olin Fellow, 2003-2004
  • George Mason University School of Law, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, 2002-2003

From 1999 to 2002, Professor Kochan was an Associate in the DC office of Crowell & Moring LLP, where he practiced in the areas of Natural Resources and Environmental Law. In 1998-1999, he served as a Judicial Law Clerk for the Honorable Richard F. Suhrheinrich on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Professor Kochan’s education:

Cornell Law School, J.D.,1998

At Cornell, he was Managing Editor for the Cornell International Law Journal; and Editor and Executive Editor of the symposium editions of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. Western Michigan University, B.A.,1995. Political Science and Philosophy, magna cum laude.

Professor Yijia Lu
Professor Yijia Lu

Yijia Lu

Yijia Lu joins Scalia Law from NYU School of Law where he was a law-and-economics fellow from 2018 to 2020. Professor Lu’s teaching and research interests include: Contracts, Law and Economics, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Law and Society, and Comparative Law. His recent scholarship has been published in the International Review of Law and Economics and the Journal of Public Economic Theory.

Professor Lu was a visiting professor at the University of Paris II Pantheon-Assas from 2018 to 2020. He was a summer legal intern at the Ministry of Finance in the Republic of Chile in 2013 and a summer legal intern at Development and Partnership in Action in Cambodia.

Professor Lu’s education:

  • Ph.D. in economics from Yale University, 2018
  • J.D., Stanford Law School, 2014
  • M. Phil in economics, Yale University, 2009
  • M.A. in economics, Yale University, 2009
  • B.A. in physics, Princeton University, 2007