Pitman Potter

HSBC Chair
Institute of Asian Research
Professor of Law
UBC Law Faculty
University of British Columbia

BA (1978) Chinese Studies (History), George Washington University.
MA (1980), Political Science, University of Washington.
JD (1985), Law, University of Washington.
Ph.D. (1986, with distinction) Political Science, University of Washington.
MDiv. (2008) Vancouver School of Theology

Tel: 604.822.5653
Fax: 604.822.8108
E-mail: potter@law.ubc.ca
Office Location: Allard Hall, room 361

Profile

Pitman Potter is a Professor of Law at UBC Law Faculty and HSBC Chair in Asian Research at UBC's Institute of Asian Research. Professor Potter's teaching and research are focused on PRC and Taiwan law and policy in the areas of foreign trade and investment, dispute resolution, intellectual property, contracts, business regulation, and human rights. Professor Potter has served on numerous Editorial Boards for journals such as The China Quarterly, The Hong Kong Law Journal, Taiwan National University Law Review, China: An International Journal, and Pacific Affairs. He has published several books, including most recently A Guide to Business Law in Asia (w/ Ljiljana Biukovic, Lexis/Nexis 2008), as well as numerous book chapters and articles for such journals as Law & Social Inquiry, The China Quarterly, and The International Journal. In addition to his academic activities, Professor Potter is admitted to the practice of law in British Columbia, Washington and California, and serves as a consultant to the Canadian national law firm of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP. As a Chartered Arbitrator, Professor Potterr is engaged in international trade arbitration work involving China. He has served on the Board of Directors of several public institutions, including Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, where he is now a Senior Fellow.

Research Interests

• Chinese Law and Politics
• International Trade and Investment Law
• Human Rights
• Comparative Law
• Globalization

Courses

• Chinese Law
• Trade and Investment in the PRC
• Perspectives and Methods in Asia Pacific Policy Studies
• Governance and Human Rights in Asia

Selected Publications

• Pitman B. Potter and Ljiljana Biukovic, ed., A Guide to Business Law in Asia (Markham ONT: Lexis/Nexis, 2008).
• Pitman B. Potter, History in the Making: The Dalai Lama Dialogues in Vancouver 2004 (Vancouver: Institute of Asian Research, 2007).
• Pitman B. Potter, "China and the International Legal System: Challenges of Participation," The China Quarterly No. 191 (Sept. 2007), pp. 699-715.
• Lesley Jacobs and Pitman B. Potter, "Selective Adaptation and Human Rights to Health in China," Health and Human Rights vol. 9 no. 2 (2006) pp. 112-134.
• Pitman B. Potter, "Governance of the Periphery: Balancing Local Autonomy and National Unity," Columbia Journal of Asian Law (2006).
• Pitman B. Potter, "Selective Adaptation and Institutional Capacity: Perspectives on Human Rights in China," International Journal vol. 61 no. 2 (2006).

Books

• Pitman B. Potter, Treaty Performance in China: Norms and Operations on Trade and Human Rights (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2014, forthcoming).
• Pitman B. Potter, The Legal System of the People's Republic of China (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013, forthcoming).
• Pitman B. Potter, Law Policy and Practice on China's Periphery: Selective Adaptation and Institutional Capacity (London: Routledge, 2011).
• Pitman B. Potter (with Thomas Adams), ed., Issues in Canada China Relations (Toronto: Canadian International Council, 2011).
• Pitman B. Potter and Ljiljana Biukovic, ed., Globalization and Adaptation in International Trade Law (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2011).

Articles

• Pitman B. Potter, ""International and Domestic Selective Adaptation: The Case of Charter 08," in John Gillespie and Pip Nicholson, ed., Law and Development and the Global Discourses of Legal Transfers (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), pp. 56-81.
• Pitman B. Potter and Sophia Woodman, "Boundaries of Tolerance: Charter 08 and Debates over Political Reform," in Jean-Philippe Beja, Fu Hualing, an dEva Pils, ed., Liu Xiaobo, Charter 08 and the Challenges of Political Reform in China (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2012), pp. 97-117.
• Pitman B. Potter, "4 June and Charter 08: Approaches to Remonstrance," China Information Volume 25 Issue 2 (July 2011), pp. 121 – 138.
• Pitman B. Potter, "Comment: People's Republic of China Provisional Regulations on Art Import and Export Administration," in International Journal of Cultural Property (2011) No. 18, pp. 1-7.
• Pitman B. Potter, "Dilemmas of Access to Health Care in China," China: An International Journal Vol. 8 no. 1 (March 2010), pp. 164-179.
• Pitman B. Potter, "Coordinating Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility," in Hong Kong University Law Journal (2009), pp. 675-698. Reprinted in Tsinghua Faxue (Tsinghua Law Journal, 2011 no. 1 (Jan. 15, 2011), pp. 43-55 (in Chinese). Reprinted as Pitman B. Potter, "Coordinating Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility," in Wesley Cragg, ed., Business and Human Rights (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2012).

Publications listed on the UBC Law Library Faculty Research Publications Database