Professors Hunt, Lee Join the American Law Institute

Professors John P. Hunt and Peter S. Lee have been elected to the American Law Institute, the nation’s most prestigious non-governmental law reform organization. UC Davis Law now counts 23 current or emeriti faculty in the ALI.

John P. Hunt 

Peter S. Lee

Hunt’s area of scholarly interest is law and finance. His recent work focuses on student-loan bankruptcy. Previously, his scholarship has addressed municipal bankruptcy, credit rating agencies, and mortgage securitization, transfer and modification. 

Before joining the UC Davis faculty in 2009, Hunt was Research Director of the Law and Finance Program at the Berkeley Center for Law, Business and the Economy. He also has worked as a regulatory lawyer and litigator at two major law firms and as a credit derivatives research analyst. 

Hunt received a J.D. from Yale Law School, a master’s in financial engineering from the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business and a bachelor’s from Harvard College. He served as a law clerk to the Honorable Stephen F. Williams of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.  

Lee teaches and writes in the field of intellectual property law, particularly focusing on patent law, innovation, and technology transfer. His current scholarship explores the institutional context of innovation and the intersection of intellectual property law and the structure of innovative and creative industries. 

His scholarship has appeared in The Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, California Law Review, Duke Law Journal, Michigan Law Review, and other leading journals. He has received numerous awards for his scholarly work, including the UC Davis Chancellor’s Fellowship, the Samsung-Stanford Patent Prize, and inclusion in West/Thomson’s annual Intellectual Property Law Review.  

Lee directs the law school’s new Center for Innovation, Law, and Society, which seeks to explore the legal and social implications of innovation, science and technology. Lee proposed the creation of the center, which launched this spring with events featuring top scholars and attorneys from King Hall and elsewhere. 

Lee holds a J.D. from Yale Law School and a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University. He joined the Davis faculty after clerking for Judge Barry G. Silverman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. 

Professor Lee received the Distinguished Teaching Award in 2016.