Symeon C. Symeonides is the Alex L. Parks Distinguished Professor of Law and Dean Emeritus at Willamette University, in Oregon, USA. He is an award-winning author and renowned expert in comparative private international law, which he has taught for more than forty years in the United States and Europe. He has published nearly thirty books and more than 120 articles in seven languages. His work has been honored with six academic prizes and two Lifetime Achievement Awards. He has drafted choice-of-law codifications for three states and an international model law for the Institut de droit international, of which he is a titular member. He is a past president of the International Association of Legal Science and the American Society of Comparative Law. He holds two degrees summa cum laude in private and public law from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, an LL.M and an S.J.D from Harvard, and three honorary doctorates.