Date: January 14, 2026 (Wednesday)
Time: 1pm-2pm
New Venue: Room 901, 9/F Cheng Yu Tung Tower, The University of Hong Kong
Speaker: Kyle Rozema (Professor of Law, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law)
I investigate the types of occupational licensing requirements that protect the public. To do so, I employ professional discipline as a measure of harm and exploit considerable state-level variation in distinctive licensing requirements for American lawyers. Using data from 34 states between 1984 and 2019, I find evidence suggesting that the only requirements that reduce harm are those that restrict entry for certain high-risk individuals. Even with these requirements, however, it takes over a decade after a lawyer obtains a license for any noticeable reduction in harm to materialize, and the cumulative impact on harm is small in absolute terms.
Professor Kyle Rozema is interested in understanding all aspects of the legal profession and legal institutions. Much of his research focuses on studying how society should structure and regulate the legal profession, courts, and law schools. Other parts of his research explore more descriptive aspects of the profession, including documenting diversity along several dimensions. A common thread of his research is collecting novel data and developing empirical methods to provide new facts and insights to help create a better legal system.
Moderator: Ryan Whalen, Associate Professor & Director of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Legal Studies, The University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law
To register, please go to https://hkuems1.hku.hk/hkuems/ec_regform.aspx?guest=Y&UEID=104602.
For inquiries, please contact Ms. Grace Chan at / 3917 4727.