Shih-Chun “Steven” Chien joins the CSU Cleveland-Marshall College of Law faculty this Fall as an Assistant Professor.
Professor Chien spent the past three years as a Research Social Scientist at the American Bar Foundation (housed at the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law). He holds a JSD (Doctor of the Science of Law) degree from Stanford Law School and an LL.M. degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Professor Chein also earned LL.M. and LL.B degrees from National Chengchi University in Taiwan.
Even with his extensive legal education in both locations, Professor Chien finds it difficult to compare the legal systems in the United State and his native Taiwan.
“I have spent most of my academic career trying to understand, doctrinally and empirically, the functions of legal systems in different social, cultural, and political contexts. I think law is always a reflection of the people it governs and the social issues it tries to resolve. A legal system, like any ecosystem, consists of its own domain, actors, and ‘rules of the game.’ What has fascinated me the most is how different societies came up with different notions of what a ‘good lawyer’ means and how they perpetuate that idea through legal education and professional socialization,” said Chein.
Professor Chien knew early in his legal studies in Taiwan that he wanted to be a law professor and that it would lead him to going abroad. But he was unsure if he should study in Germany or the United States. His mentor at that time, Professor Yung-Hua Yang, who himself studied law in Germany, convinced Professor Chein that if he wanted to make a difference in the legal profession, that he should go to the larger of the two countries. He considers that the best advice he’s received in his career and looks forward to spending the entirety of his career in the United States.
In his first semester at CSU C|M|LAW, Professor Chien will be teaching Criminal Procedure. His teaching interests also include the Legal Profession, Evidence, and Torts.
“For me, being a law professor is the best job in the world because part of my role is to nurture and inspire the next generation of the legal profession,” said Chien.
“I realize that teaching law is a bit like mountain climbing,” he continued. “As a law professor, your job is to guide your students climbing up to the peak. You need to try and find the most efficient and elegant way to do so. And there are many ways to climb that mountain! I am early in my career, but I have quickly fallen in love with the nature of the job.”
As a researcher at the American Bar Foundation (ABF), Professor Chien’s scholarship focused on the sociology of the legal profession, with a particular interest in questions of professional ethics in the areas of criminal law and procedure. His research has focused on the exercise and control of prosecutorial and police discretion, as well as DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) issues in legal education and the legal profession.
Professor Chien’s ABF research project, “Portrait Project 2.0: Asian Americans in the Legal Profession Phase I – Creating Descriptive Datasets of Law School Enrollment and Judicial Clerkships,” examines the factors that shape the careers of Asian American lawyers to understand why they are underrepresented at the upper echelons of the U.S. legal profession.
Professor Chien also has a paper-in-progress, “Serving the Public Good: Some New Data on an Old Question.” The paper examines whether the COVID-19 pandemic and other recent civil justice reform/Black Lives Matter movements affect students’ motivations for attending law school and their career aspirations.
“I think the findings of this study could provide an opportunity for U.S. law schools to reconsider and refashion supportive pipelines into public service positions,” explained Chien. “I believe it is crucial for law school faculty, staff and administration, such as their career services offices, to provide continuous support to students to nurture public service motivations.”
Professor Chien is new to the Cleveland area, but having lived throughout the United States and across the globe, he finds himself more focused on the people he is able to meet and the community he gets to serve rather than on the physical location.
“During the recruitment process, I had the opportunity to interact with Dean Fisher and many of my current colleagues. I felt inspired by the core mission and vision of the law school,” explained Chien. “I think the value of law school should be to serve its students and the public, and to be a frontline guardian of the legal profession. I also very much like the fact that many of Cleveland-Marshall graduated students decide to stay in the area and use their own legal knowledge and skills to serve the community.”