Our Issue Experts
Joe Zhang
Law Advisor
Joe Zhang joined IISD’s Geneva office in 2014. As a Law Advisor for IISD’s Economic Law and Policy Program, his work focuses on international investment law and policy.
Since joining IISD, Joe has been advising developing country governments on international investment law issues, investment treaty negotiations, investment contract negotiations, and the development of sound domestic investment laws and policies from a sustainable development perspective. Joe also closely follows the discussions on business and human rights.
Among his recent projects are reforming the investment-related international dispute settlement regime as well as incorporating corporate accountability mechanisms in international treaties.
Before joining IISD, Joe worked as an attorney for leading international firms in the areas of commercial arbitration, capital markets and foreign direct investment. He is a member of the Oklahoma State Bar Association and the Washington State Bar Association and is qualified to practice law in China.
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Reply to Public Consultation on Canada's International Investment Agreements (FIPAs) The Canadian government launched a public consultation on Canada’s foreign investment promotion and protection agreements (FIPAs) on August 14, 2018. This commentary outlines IISD's reply. -
Cleaning up Toxic Soils in China: A trillion-dollar questionIn its latest effort to address environmental problems, China has adopted its first soil pollution law. However, how to finance the remediation of the damage already done remains a big question. -
Investment Facilitation: Making sense of concepts, discussions and processes This background note provides an overview of discussions on investment at the global level in order to better understand and place the current discussions on investment facilitation. -
Integrating Investor Obligations and Corporate Accountability Provisions in Trade and Investment AgreementsThis report synthesizes the main points that emerged from the discussions in the expert meeting co-organized by IISD and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) in Versoix, Switzerland, January 11–12, 2018. -
Investment Treaty News Quarterly (ITN), Volume 8, Issue 4, December 2017Investment Treaty News (ITN) is IISD’s flagship quarterly journal on international investment law and policy. -
China’s Largest Arbitration Institution Adopts its First Investment Arbitration RulesChina’s new rules for investment arbitration are not yet publicly available in English. We present an advanced draft of the rules, and explain why they matter. -
Investment-Related Dispute Settlement: Lessons from international accountability mechanismsWorking toward elements of a new mechanism for investment-related disputes, the expert meeting held in Washington, D.C., United States, on April 11, 2017 focused on ways forward on a compliance structure to hold companies accountable. -
Investment Treaty News Quarterly (ITN), Volume 8, Issue 2, June 2017Investment Treaty News is IISD’s flagship quarterly journal on international investment law and policy. -
Why We Need a "Comprehensive and Inclusive" Investment-Related Dispute Settlement MechanismIf investment-related dispute settlement mechanisms at the international level were to be built anew, what should they look like? -
Investment-Related Dispute Settlement: Towards an inclusive multilateral approachThis document outlines results from an IISD expert meeting discussing investment-related dispute settlement which was held in Montreux, Switzerland, May 23–24, 2016. -
Investment Treaty News Quarterly, Volume 6, Issue 4, November 2015Does the Green Economy Need Investor–State Dispute Settlement? Read more in our quarterly periodical on investment law and policy. -
Investment Treaty News Quarterly, Volume 6, Issue 3, August 2015This issue explores the new Brazilian Agreement on Cooperation and Facilitation of Investments (ACFI); the legal regimes governing farmland investments and water rights in Africa; and new ideas to empower U.S. and European workers in TTIP. -
Investment Treaty News Quarterly, Volume 6, Issue 2, May 2015In this issue:The Merits and Limitations of General Exception Clauses in Contemporary Investment Treaty Practice; Rethinking Investment-Related... -
Investment Treaty News Quarterly, Volume 5, Issue 4, November 2014In this issue:In Accordance with Which Host State Laws? Restoring the ‘Defence’ of Investor Illegality in Investment Arbitration; Who is Afraid of...
Education
Master of Laws–Asian and Comparative Law (2007): University of Washington School of Law
Juris Doctor (2006): University of Oklahoma College of Law
Bachelor of Arts (2003): East China University of Politics and Law