Y.S. (Steve) Lee

Courses Taught

• Business Organizations
• Contracts
• Corporations
• International Business Transactions
• International Commercial Arbitration
• International Economic Law / International Trade Law
• Law and Development
• Public International Law
• Professional Responsibility
• Sales (UCC Article 2)
• Transactional Skills

Biography

Y.S. (Steve) Lee is a lawyer, economist, and international relations scholar with internationally recognized authority in law and development and international trade law. He is currently a full-time, tenure-track faculty member at the West Virginia University College of Law and serves as Director and Professorial Fellow of the Law and Development Institute. 

Over the past 25 years, he has taught and conducted academic research at leading universities across the United States, Europe, and Asia, including Cornell University, New York University, Emory University, Tulane University, the University of Manchester (U.K.), and the University of Sydney (Australia).

Dr. Lee earned his undergraduate degree in economics with academic distinction from the University of California, Berkeley, and received his law degrees (B.A., M.A., Ph.D.) from the University of Cambridge. He is licensed to practice law in multiple jurisdictions, including the United States (California and North Carolina) and the United Kingdom.

He has published over 130 academic works—including articles, books, chapters, and shorter notes—with major publishers in North America, Europe, and Asia. His research focuses on international economic law, law and development, development economics, and business law. Professor Lee is the originator of two influential theoretical frameworks: the “General Theory of Law and Development,” which explores the causal mechanisms through which law affects development; and the “New General Theory of Development Economics,” which identifies and analyzes the key elements that constitute economic development. 

He is currently an Associate Editor of the Journal of World Trade and the Founding Editor-in-Chief of the Law and Development Review.

Dr. Lee has participated in numerous bilateral and multilateral negotiations on trade and investment at international forums, including the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). 

He has appeared as government counsel before WTO dispute settlement panels and the Appellate Body, and has advised national governments, international law firms, and consulting firms on trade and development projects and major international commercial arbitration cases. 

He has delivered over one hundred invited lectures and presentations on international economic law, law and development, and the WTO at institutions including Harvard Kennedy School, Johns Hopkins SAIS, and the World Bank.

Publications and Research

• Reclaiming Development in the World Trading System (2d ed.) (3d ed., Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2026).
• Revival of Industrial Policy: Implications for International Trade Law , 34 Minnesota Journal of International Law (2025).
• Safeguard Measures in World Trade: The Legal Analysis (4th ed., Edward Elgar, 2025).
• National Security as a Means to a Commercial End: Call for a New Approach , 102 Nebraska Law Review1-51 (2023).
• Reconciling Corporate Interests with Broader Social Interests—Pursuit of Corporate Interests Beyond Shareholder Primacy , 13 William & Mary Business Law Review 1-62 (2022).
• Law and Development: Theory and Practice (2d ed. Routledge, 2022).
• Managing COVID-19: Legal and Institutional Issues , 23 Minnesota Journal of Law, Science, and Technology 1-76 (2021).
• The Fallacy of Contract in Sexual Slavery  (co-authored with Natsu Taylor Saito and Jonathan Todres), 42 Michigan Journal of International Law 291-319 (2021).
• The Last Call for Civil Rights: Toward Economic Equality , 37 Georgia State University Law Review 1265-1303 (2021).




• International Trade Law Post Neoliberalism , 68 Buffalo Law Review 413-478 (2020).
• Are Retaliatory Trade Measures Justified under the WTO Agreement on Safeguards? 22 Journal of International Economic Law 439-458 (2019).
• Three Wrongs Do Not Make a Right: The Conundrum of the U.S. Steel and Aluminum Tariffs , 18 World Trade Review 481-501 (2019).
• General Theory of Law and Development , 50 Cornell International Law Journal 415-472 (2017).
• Reconciling RTAs with the WTO Multilateral Trading System: Case for a New Sunset Requirement on RTAs and Development Facilitation , 45 Journal of World Trade 625-647 (2011).




• Theoretical Basis and Regulatory Framework for Microtrade: Combining Volunteerism with International Trade towards Poverty Elimination , 2 Law & Development Review 367-399 (2009).

Education

• Ph.D., University of Cambridge
• M.A., University of Cambridge
• L.L.B., University of Cambridge
• B.A., University of California at Berkeley