U.S.-Asia Law Institute

What U.S.-Asia Law Institute does

The U.S.-Asia Law Institute (USALI) is a non-profit research and educational organization, currently headquartered at NYU School of Law in New York City. Founded in 1963 originally as the Universities Service Centre in Hong Kong by the late Jerome A. Cohen, the Institute serves as a bridge between the United States and East Asia, promoting mutual understanding on legal issues and using constructive engagement to advocate for the rule of law and human rights. Its work is geographic in scope across China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, and audience in scope across policymakers, students, legal professionals, and the general public. Cohen's founding legacy positioned the Institute as one of America's preeminent research centers for the study of law in East Asia and as an honest critic when warranted.

USALI conducts its mission through several programmatic channels: legal exchange programs, conferences and speaker programs (including the Gelatt Dialogue series), research publications via USALI Perspectives, a weekly This Week in Asian Law newsletter, event recordings, a visiting scholar program, and educational courses taught at NYU. It also operates dedicated workstreams such as the Japan Center and the Program on International Law & Relations in Asia. The Institute does not commercialize technology products and does not maintain a public API or SDK.

The Institute's funding comes exclusively from grants and gifts, not from product sales or paid services. With a headcount of approximately 7 employees, operations run at the scale of a small academic research unit housed within NYU School of Law. There are no disclosed financials, no funding rounds, no parent or subsidiary relationships, and no equity-based ownership.

Name

U.S.-Asia Law Institute

Legal name

U.S.-Asia Law Institute

Website

https://usali.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1963

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The U.S.-Asia Law Institute is a non-profit research and educational organization at NYU School of Law that studies law in East Asia, serving policymakers, students, and legal professionals through publications, conferences, newsletters, and visiting scholar programs funded by grants and gifts.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Legal Research and Education

NAICS

Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (611310), International Affairs (92812), Legal Services (5411)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), International Affairs (9721)

akta.pro primary industry

Law School Research Centers & Institutes (e.g., Law & Economics, Human Rights) (EDAHAIAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Visa, Immigration Liaison & Travel Document Policy (Foreign Affairs) (BPAIAIAL), Law & Legal Studies Scholarly Publishing (EDAGAFAG), Law School Continuing Legal Education (CLE) & Executive Programs (EDAHAIAH)

Keywords

• Legal research
• East Asian law
• Rule of law advocacy
• Legal education
• International legal exchange

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Grants and Gifts: The Institute is funded by grants and gifts to conduct legal exchange programs, hold conferences and speaker programs, publish research and analysis, and teach courses about law in East Asia.

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The U.S.-Asia Law Institute is a non-profit research and educational organization that studies and promotes understanding of law in East Asia. It conducts legal exchange programs, hosts conferences and speaker programs (including The Gelatt Dialogue series), publishes research and analysis (USALI Perspectives), runs a Visiting Scholar Program, teaches courses on East Asian law, and operates specialized programs such as the Program on International Law & Relations in Asia and the Japan Center. All activities are funded by grants and gifts and target policymakers, students, legal professionals, and the public.

Product overview

The U.S.-Asia Law Institute (USALI) is a research institute at NYU School of Law that serves as a bridge between East Asia and the United States, promoting mutual understanding on legal issues and advocating for rule of law and human rights. The organization offers research publications, legal exchange programs, conferences, speaker programs, visiting scholar programs, and educational courses about law in East Asia. Key offerings include USALI Perspectives (a publication/blog featuring articles on Asian law), event recordings, and the Program on International Law & Relations in Asia.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Visiting Scholar Program An in-residence program hosting international scholars for research and legal exchange at USALI; designed for visiting legal scholars studying East Asian law.
• Program on International Law & Relations in Asia A dedicated program examining international law and relations issues across Asia, supporting research, events, and analysis for scholars, policymakers, and legal professionals.
• Japan Center A center within USALI focused on legal issues specific to Japan, producing research, events, and commentary for U.S. and Japanese audiences.
• Legal Exchange Programs Programs facilitating legal exchange between American and East Asian legal professionals and scholars, fostering mutual understanding and constructive engagement on legal reform.
• Conferences and Speaker Programs (including The Gelatt Dialogue) Conferences, speaker programs, and the recurring Gelatt Dialogue series featuring legal experts discussing East Asian law and cross-border legal issues; events are open to students, scholars, policymakers, and the public, with recordings made available online.
• Educational Courses on East Asian Law Courses teaching law and legal developments in East Asia, primarily delivered to students at NYU School of Law and the broader academic community.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Asia Society: Nonprofit organization promoting understanding of Asia through education, policy, and cultural programming. Comparable in international-affairs mission and audience engagement, though it operates at substantially larger scale and with broader programmatic scope.
• Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies: US Department of Defense-funded center in Hawaii that addresses security, law, and policy issues across the Asia-Pacific. Overlaps with USALI on rule-of-law and regional security discourse, but operates as a broader, government-funded institution rather than a specialized academic research center.
• Carnegie Endowment for International Peace — Asia Program: Global think tank with a dedicated Asia program addressing governance, rule of law, and US-China relations. Comparable analytical focus on legal and political reform in Asia, though as part of a much larger foreign-policy portfolio.
• Council on Foreign Relations — Asia Program: Influential foreign-policy institution with dedicated programming on Asia covering legal, political, and security issues. Comparable convening function for US-Asia policy discourse, with a wider mandate than USALI's legal-research focus.
• Brookings Institution — East Asia Policy Studies: Major DC think tank producing policy analysis on East Asia, including governance, rule of law, and US-China relations. Comparable topical overlap, but at significantly greater scale and with a policy (vs. legal-academic) framing.

Direct peers

• Paul Tsai China Center (Yale Law School): Yale Law School-based center focused on Chinese legal reform, rule of law, and US-China legal relations. Directly comparable to USALI in mission, scholarly output, and convening role for Chinese legal studies at a top US law school.
• Center for Asian Law (Georgetown Law): Georgetown Law center dedicated to scholarship on law across Asia, with similar focus areas including China, Japan, and transnational legal issues. Comparable academic mission and law-school institutional setting.
• East Asian Legal Studies (Harvard Law School): Harvard Law School program supporting research and teaching on East Asian law. Comparable to USALI as a US law-school-anchored center producing scholarship and convening scholars on law in China, Japan, and Korea.

Regional players

• Institute of East Asian Studies (UC Berkeley): UC Berkeley's multidisciplinary center for the study of East Asia, supporting scholarship on law, politics, and society. Comparable research-and-convening mission, though US West Coast-based rather than NYC-anchored like USALI.
• East Asia Center (Columbia University): Columbia University-based center supporting research and programming on East Asia. Comparable academic setting and audience in New York, with overlapping interest in law and governance across the region.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/us-asia-law-institute

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about U.S.-Asia Law Institute