Professor OTA Shozo (太田勝造) is Professor of Law at Meiji University’s School of Law, where he teaches Law & Society and Law & Negotiation. 

His principal research interests include Law & Social Science, Law & Economics, Law & Negotiation, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), Civil Procedure, Brain Science & Law, and AI & Law. He has published widely in these areas. 

His recent English-language publications include: 

“Human Flotsam, Legal Fallout: Japan’s Tsunami and Nuclear Meltdown,” Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation, vol. 27(1), pp. 107–124 (2012), co-authored with Robert B. Leflar, Murayama Masayuki, and Hirata Ayako. [Revised and republished in Zeitschrift für Japanisches Recht (Journal of Japanese Law), vol. 17, no. 34, pp. 71–86 (2012).] 

“Effective Connectivity and Criminal Sentencing Decisions: Dynamic Causal Models in Laypersons and Legal Experts,” Cerebral Cortex, bhab484, 2022, co-authored with Takeshi Asamizuya, Hiroharu Saito, Ryosuke Higuchi, Go Naruse, and Junko Kato. 

“Number of Lawyers and Lawyer Career Mobility in Japan,” in Murayama Masayuki (ed.), The Japanese Legal Profession in Transition, Springer, 2024, Chapter 2, pp. 65–74. 

Professor OTA is a founding member of the Japan Law & Economics Association (JLEA), where he also served as president, and the Japan Association of Access to Justice (JAAJ), of which he is currently president. He has also served on the boards of the Japan Association of the Law of Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution and the Japan Association of Sociology of Law. In addition, he is a member of the Asian Law & Society Association (ALSA), the Law & Society Association (LSA), and the Research Committee on Sociology of Law (RCSL). 

He received his B.A. in Law (1980) and M.A. in Law and Politics (1982) from the University of Tokyo. His academic appointments include: Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, the University of Tokyo (1982–1984); Associate Professor of Civil Procedure, School of Law, Nagoya University (1984–1991); Associate Professor of Law & Social Science, the University of Tokyo (1991–1997); and Professor of Law, the University of Tokyo (1997–2019). 

Professor OTA’s international experience includes research as a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley (1986–1987), and Columbia Law School (1987–1988). He was Visiting Professor of Japanese Law at the University of Michigan Law School (1997–1998) and has also taught short courses at Columbia Law School and the University of Michigan.