Arthur Yao

Arthur Yao at St. Mary's University School of Law

Arthur Yao (1906–2004), was the first Chinese national to teach on the Faculty of St. Mary's University School of Law, in San Antonio, Texas. He is known for his substantial contributions to the success of the law school and is a pioneer in the field of legal education.

Life and education

Growing up in China

Yao was born on August 29, 1906, in Suzhou, China. to Yao Boxi, who was a doctor of Western Medicine, and Ms. Cai, a homemaker. Yao was the youngest child of four children, an elder brother and two elder sisters.

As a child, Yao attended a missionary school, there he studied the Bible in the English language, in addition to the Three Character Classic, a Chinese classic taught to young children. He attended high school in his hometown of Suzhou and subsequently graduated from there.

Arthur Yao celebrates his birthday with his family

Early education

Upon graduation from high school in Suzhou, Yao moved to Shanghai at the age of seventeen, where he enrolled in Soochow University (Taipei) in 1923. Yao spent the next five years there earning his LL.B. Yao attended Soochow University School of Law, which was founded by Charles Rankin, an American lawyer and missionary from Tennessee, in 1915.

In 1928, Yao graduated from Soochow University School of Law, earning his LL.B. He was admitted to practice as a lawyer that same year and subsequently in August 1928, sailed to the United States, to study law at the University of Michigan.

Law school

Arthur Yao with President Blume

After his time spent at Soochow University (Taipei), where Yao obtained a legal education in the American style, becoming acquainted with Anglo-American law, he departed from Shanghai, China, on the SS President Madison (1921), and arrived at the port city in San Francisco, California. He eventually reached his destination in Ann Arbor, Michigan and enrolled in the University of Michigan Law School, on October 6, 1928. The total number of enrolled students at the time was roughly 659. Yao spent nearly three years pursuing his LL.M, as well as his S.J.D from the years of 1928 to late 1930.

Yao wrote his S.J.D dissertation on the international law of contracts, it was an original study with brilliant ideas titled International Responsibility of The State for Contracts Concluded with Private Persons Not Its Own Subjects. He was deeply interested in the study of private International law, that being, the peaceful resolution of disputes arising from commercial contracts created among two seemingly unequal parties: the state government and an alien from a foreign country on the other side. His Doctoral dissertation is a 202-page volume work, consisting of nine chapters.

Arthur Yao and wife Doreen Wong

After obtaining his degrees from University of Michigan Law School, He set out for England, where he studied law at the King's College London from 1930 to 1931. After spending about one year obtaining his degree from King's College London, and obtaining a specialization in International law Arthur returned back to China to join the faculty at Soochow University School of Law, and continued to teach there until 1948.

It was at Soochow University School of Law, where Yao met his wife, Doreen Wong. Doreen was a student of his and they later married.

Arthur Yao at Soochow Law School

Early career

Included in the subjects taught by Yao at Soochow University School of Law, were Contracts, equity, and common law pleadings. He adopted English case books for his various courses. His time as an educator here unfortunately also included a period of historical revolution and dramatic transformation in China, from the Qing dynasty, to the new Kuomintang (Wang Jingwei). Even during these times, Yao devoted himself to the education of his law students until he left to teach at Soochow University (Taipei) in Taipei, Taiwan in 1951.

In 1956, Yao began teaching at Soochow University (Taipei), Taiwan. He and his wife made the decision to come to the United States as immigrants around 1956. Arthur Yao joined the faculty at St. Mary's University School of Law two years later, in 1958. Arthur Yao and Doreen Yao started their life in the state of Missouri.

Ernest A. Raba, a dean of St. Mary's University School of Law, followed through on a recommendation, from John Wu. That recommendation was to land Yao a teaching position at the Law School. Subsequently, Doreen Yao found a job as a special education teacher in San Antonio.

Arthur Yao at an Delta Theta Phi Event

University

Yao was known as "Dr. Yao" by his students and his colleagues. He was also the first Chinese national to teach on the faculty at the Law School. Yao was a professor at the University from 1958 to 1981.

At the time Yao joined the faculty at the law school in June 1958, only thirty-seven students had graduated from the prior 1957 class. He was one of twenty other faculty members, and was only one of two faculty members who were born out of the United States. Yao was one of the seven regular professors on the law school faculty, others also included Ernest A. Raba, Francis Sayer Henke, and Orville C. Walker.

Among the subjects taught by Yao were Domestic relations, Trusts, Contracts, Remedies, and Future interests. These subjects were taught in as many as ten courses led by then Professor Yao. Dr. Yao was not only influential and important to his students because of his excellent and exceptional teaching skills, but because he made his best efforts to share his knowledge by ways that were accessible and understandable to his students. Yao also remained an active member of the Chinese Bar Association, even during his time in San Antonio. He continued to be active and influential in his home community as well.

Arthur Yao receives outstanding teacher award

Law school newsletter

The Student bar association of St. Mary's University School of Law ran a newsletter, Barrister News, and Yao made his mark with a comment printed to it in 1961. He wrote a short essay titled, Denial of Justice in International Law, this was an attempt by Yao to define and to clarify this important concept under International law. This idea, the idea of what it meant to be in the "denial of justice" in our community of nations, stemmed from his doctoral dissertation at University of Michigan Law School. Yao was continuing to investigate and research a topic that was of deep interest to him.

The Barrister News described Yao as someone who had the ability to amaze his students in many ways, including his ability to cite to authority from memory. He was quoted to have a "encyclopaedia mind," and a "brilliant teacher devoted to students" at the Law School.

Academic achievements

• In 1964, Yao received an award by the Bickett Senate of Delta Theta Phi for his exceptional devotion to the law and his law students.
• In 1968, Yao was the first ever recipient of the Delta Theta Phi Outstanding Teacher Award. This is an award based on knowledge of courses taught, preparedness in delivering the lectures, ability to effectively communicate subject matter to students, and for reputation and respect among the students as well as the legal profession.
• In 1993, Yao was one of two listed St. Mary's Law professors listed in the publication Outstanding Educators of America, the 1973 edition.
• From the period of 1936 to 1937, Yao published a series of essays in the China Law Review. These essays continue to explore the same theme and theory as his Michigan Law School Dissertation.
• Yao wrote and published at least two traditional law review articles while he was a professor at St. Mary's University School of Law. One of the two essays is titled, Revocation of Trust Under Section 41 of the Texas Trust Act." This Article was published in 1963, only a few years after Yao had joined the Law School's faculty. His second article, Want of Trustee as Affecting the Creation of Trusts, was subsequently published in 1970.
• In November 1959, Yao gave a speech at the Fenwick Club luncheon concerning women in China and in the United States, and this was widely reported by the local news at the time.

Legacy

Yao retired from St. Mary's University School of Law in May 1981. Yao was a pioneer for Chinese-American legal educators in the United States, and continues to be a prominent face for evolution today. Yao died on May 19, 2004 in San Antonio, Texas. His wife, Doreen, died later in 2006. Although the two never had any biological children, the Yao's do have relatives still scattered throughout the United States. Yao was known to be a frugal man, and very few personal items were left behind.

Yao successfully earned both his LL.M as well as his J.S.D., from the University of Michigan. He remained a loyal alum throughout his life. In 1950 he served as the Treasurer for the Taipei, Taiwan, Chapter of the Michigan Alumni Association.

Not only was Yao a prolific scholar and professor, but also a practicing lawyer. He served as a member of the Chinese Bar Association as a professor in Shanghai. He further served as a full-time legal advisor to the Civil Air Transport Co. of Taiwan, a government owned and run entity. He actively participated in bar meetings and delivered speeches and lectures to Texas lawyers, as he was also an active member of the State Bar of Texas. Yao has even spoken to young lawyers of the junior bar, and made an impact on the larger community of San Antonio, through his widely reported speeches, which even gained news media attention.

Yao was born into a Christian family, and grew up a practicing Christian. He and Doreen attended the First Presbyterian Church, in San Antonio. The couple remained loyal members of the church until their death, and Yao chose to have his ashes buried within the wall of the church, and Doreen's ashes buried in the same church grounds.