Immigrant of the Day: Professor Lan Cao (Viet Nam)

Lan Cao (1961-) is the author of the 1997 novel Monkey Bridge and is a professor of law at the College of William & Mary Marshall-Wythe School of Law. Monkey Bridge is the semi-autobiographical story of a mother and daughter who leave Vietnam to come to the United States.

Cao was born in Vietnam and experienced the Vietnam War as a civilian. She moved to the United States when she was 13. Cao received her B.A. in political science from Mt. Holyoke College and her J.D. from the Yale Law School. She specializes in International Business & Trade; International Law; Law and Development. Cao currently teaches Corporations, International Business Transactions, and International Trade Law.

Cao joined the William & Mary law faculty in 2001 after teaching law at Brooklyn Law School. She clerked for Judge Constance Baker Motley of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and practiced law with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York City.

Besides Monkey Bridge (1997), Cao is co-author of Everything You Need to Know About Asian Americans (Penguin Plume 1996) ( 2d ed. 2004). Cao has written many law review articles.

KJ