Leo Yu

Headshot of Leo Yu, faculty member at ÃÛÌÒ½´Dedman School of Law.

Associate Clinical Professor of Legal Research, Writing, and Advocacy

Full-time faculty

Email

peiy@smu.edu

Website

Leo Yu obtained his J.D. and LL.M from ÃÛÌÒ½´Dedman School of Law. After law school, he joined the Constitutional Law Center for Muslims in America, where he litigated a series of federal cases involving complex civil rights and constitutional issues. He then joined the City of Dallas as a Senior Assistant City Attorney, and he handled cases relating to land use, environmental violations, and public nuisance.

Professor Yu’s primary research interests are civil rights litigation and Asian American jurisprudence. As an educator who received legal educations from the U.S. and China, he is fully bilingual, and passionate about comparative law issues between China and the U.S., and the legal education for foreign attorneys in America. Professor Yu holds multiple leadership positions at the Bar. He currently serves as a director of the Texas Young Lawyers Association (TYLA), representing young attorneys in the Dallas area.

Professor Yu is a frequent speaker and moderator on civil rights, equality, and diversity issues. He is the creator of  podcast, a platform for attorneys to discuss the Fifth Circuit’s jurisprudence on constitutional issues and criminal justice reform.

Area of expertise

  • Legal Research, Writing and Advocacy
  • Civil Rights
  • Asian American Jurisprudence

Education

LL.B., Dongguan University of Technology
LL.M., ÃÛÌÒ½´Dedman School of Law
J.D., ÃÛÌÒ½´Dedman School of Law

Courses

Legal Research & Writing for International LL.M.s
Perspectives of the American Legal System
Civil Rights Litigation

Articles

Reviving Exclusion, Texas A&M Law Review (forthcoming 2025)

From Criminalizing China to Criminalizing the Chinese, 55 Columbia Human Rights Law Journal 45 (2024)
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Piercing the Procedural Veil of Qualified Immunity: From the Guardians of Civil Rights to the Guardians of States’ Rights, 81 Washington and Lee Law Review 775 (2024)
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Home Is Where We Unite – A Look at a Classic Fourth Amendment Issue, 84 Texas Bar Journal (2021)

Media

Podcast Creator, (cir.) (April 2021 – Present)

South China Morning Post, Op-Ed,  (March 2023)

Phoenix News (Hong Kong), quoted in  (March 2023)

The Straights Times (Singapore), quoted in  (February 2023)

South China Morning Post, quoted in  (February 2023)

South China Morning Post, Op-Ed,  (February 2023)

Houston Chronicle, Op-Ed,  (January 2023)