The USC Gould School of Law strengthened its scholarly impact with the addition of Professor of Law Angela Zhang, a leading expert in Chinese tech regulation and AI. Her research focuses on global tech regulation, China and U.S. national security issues, and how China regulates big tech and AI. Zhang’s most recent book High Wire: How China Regulates Big Tech and Governs Its Economy (Oxford University Press), released in March 2024, has been covered in The New York Times, Bloomberg, Wire China, MIT Tech Review and many other international news outlets.
Zhang is currently conducting research on artificial intelligence regulation, a topic that is included in a USC Gould class she will teach beginning in Spring 2025. Students will learn about AI and its significant impacts on the law and legal practice, not only in the U.S. but globally. She is also introducing a new course in the spring semester on the law and economics of U.S.-China relations, exploring how escalating geopolitical tensions are reshaping laws in both countries.
She says she’s excited to bring her global perspective on regulation and diversity to the classroom and into conversation with her colleagues. “I want Gould students and faculty to see me as a cultural carrier,” she says. “As someone who has lived, received education, and worked in China, the U.S. and Europe, I can bring that global perspective and be a bridge to help facilitate conversations about the rising geopolitical tensions between the East and West for example.”
Zhang says she was drawn to antitrust law during her JD studies at the University of Chicago Law School where her mentor and advisor, the former Judge Richard A. Posner, was very influential. “It was a huge honor to study and work under his guidance,” she says. “My dissertation was focused on Chinese antitrust law and enforcement.”
Before coming to USC Gould, Zhang was a professor at University of Hong Kong, New York University School of Law and King’s College London. Earlier in her career, Zhang practiced law for six years in Asia, United States and Europe. She worked as a bankruptcy lawyer at Debevoise & Plimpton in New York and as an antitrust attorney at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton in Brussels.
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