Professor Peter Yu is Texas A&M University School of Law's newest member of the American Law Institute (ALI). ALI is the leading independent organization in the United States producing scholarly work to clarify, modernize, and otherwise improve the law, according to its website. Yu is among the 38 members newly elected by his peers to the ALI.

Founded in 1923, the ALI is made up of judges, lawyers, and law professors "of the highest qualifications." The Institute drafts, discusses, revises, and publishes Restatements of the Law, Model Codes, and Principles of Law that are "enormously influential in the courts and legislatures, as well as in legal scholarship and education."

To promote law reform, the ALI elects individuals who "reflect the excellence and diversity of today's legal profession." The Institute’s work allows its distinguished members to "influence the development of the law in both existing and emerging areas, to work with other eminent lawyers, judges, and academics, to give back to a profession to which they are deeply dedicated, and to contribute to the public good."

Yu joins 11 Texas A&M Law colleagues who currently are ALI members:

• Robert Ahdieh, Dean
• Irene Calboli
• Susan Fortney
• Paul George
• Randy Gordon
• Michael Green
• Bill Henning
• Glynn Lunney
• Andrew Morriss
• Meg Penrose
• Huyen Pham

According to the ALI, institute membership is a distinct professional honor, and the total number of elected members is limited to 3,000.

"By bringing together eminent judges, highly accomplished practicing lawyers, and top scholars, ALI has earned a uniquely trusted reputation for work that is of the highest quality and integrity."

Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said at the 2002 ALI annual meeting, "This is the most prestigious legal group in the United States. The American Law Institute is the leading institution in forming written expression of legal principles that have evolved in many areas of the law."

Professor Peter Yu directs the Center for Law and Intellectual Property at Texas A&M University School of Law and holds a joint appointment at the School of Law and the Department of Communication at Texas A&M University. He is an award-winning teacher, a prolific scholar and a world-renowned expert on international intellectual property and communications law. He also writes and lectures extensively on international trade, international and comparative law, and the transition of the legal systems in China and Hong Kong.

Yu has served as the general editor of The WIPO Journal published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and as the Director of Studies of the American Branch of the International Law Association. His lectures and presentations have spanned over 30 countries on six continents, and he is a frequent commentator in the national and international media. His publications have appeared in Chinese and English and have been translated into Arabic, French, Japanese, Spanish and other languages.

In the past two decades, Yu has directed four highly-ranked intellectual property law programs in the United States. Under his leadership, the intellectual property law program at Texas A&M University has been transformed into a leading international hub for research and education in the field. In the past four years, peer surveys conducted by U.S. News and World Report have ranked Texas A&M consistently among the top 10 intellectual property law programs in the United States.