"There is no one right way to do
law school - do it as you find
works for you and create your
own experience."
Hometown: Baltimore, Maryland
Education: B.S., Cornell University (Policy
Analysis); M.S., City University of Hong Kong (Arbitration &
Dispute Resolution)
Employment: Associate - DLA Piper US LLP, New
York, N.Y.
Law School Activities:
- Founder and Coach of UW Law School's International Commercial Arbitration Team
- Student Representative on Faculty Appointments Committee
- Awards for Outstanding Commitment to the Law School & Community
- Intern to Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson, Wisconsin Supreme Court
- Fulbright Scholar (Hong Kong)
- Fluent in Mandarin Chinese
Chiann Bao lived in New York, Hong Kong, and London before coming to Madison for law school. Her desire to explore her Chinese roots took her to Beijing in the summer of her junior year at Cornell and prompted her to apply for a Fulbright scholarship to study alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in Hong Kong. After receiving her master's degree in arbitration & dispute resolution, she remained in Hong Kong and worked as a legal assistant for Morrison & Foerster, an international law firm.
Chiann's continuing interest in ADR and international law brought her to law school. She was attracted to Wisconsin by its law-in-action approach to legal education and by the opportunities offered by the school's East Asian Legal Studies Center. Although her first-year classes caused her to consider other directions for her career, she quickly returned to her long-standing passion for ADR. And, she not only pursued the tools to build a career in the field, but she also provided a path for future UW Law School students interested in arbitration.
Under Chiann's leadership and with the support and hard work of classmates, faculty, and alumni, UW Law students participated in the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot Court Competition, in Vienna and Hong Kong giving Wisconsin students the opportunity to plead before the top international arbitrators in the world.
Read more in "An Interview with Chiann Bao"