Maiko Meguro joined the Amsterdam Center for International Law in September 2016.

Her research examines what enables international law to function as a legal system across states of diverse social, economic and cultural backgrounds. She approaches this question through the doctrine of sources and legal interpretation; comparative law (with focus on legal transplantation); and semiotics and cognitive science. Her work also employs social science methodologies including process-tracing to investigate not only how legal concepts transform across cultural boundaries but why such transformation follows systematic patterns. Her inquiry into the foundations of legal coordination in a system without central authority, first developed in her doctoral work on how states with fundamentally different domestic frameworks formalise their commitments through legal instruments, now extends across these disciplinary methods. Her applications span climate change, digital governance, and the relationship between law and semiotics in AI environments.

Research Fields :

Legal Theory | Sources of Law | Interdisciplinary Approaches to International Law | Law of International Organizations | Environmental Law | Trade and Investment Law | International Courts and Arbitrations | Transnational Law on Digital Technologies.

Professional Background: 

Maiko has worked extensively in international treaty negotiations and policy development in trade, digital technology, and environmental sectors. She currently leads cross-border data flows and data free flow with trust initiatives at the OECD. She has held  positions with Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) , the Digital Agency of Japan and the European Commission's DG CONNECT.

During her time with GOJ, she represented Japan in multilateral and bilateral negotiations on the digital economy, including serving as co-chair of the G7 Digital Technology Working Group during Japan's G7 Presidency. She has participated in COP/CMP processes under the UNFCCC, contributed to IPCC proceedings, engaged with WTO dispute settlement mechanisms, and worked on negotiations for trade agreements including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement.

She have also worked as a lawyer at several institutions including the Energy Charter Treaty, Brussels.  For editorial experiences, she was a theme developper (topic editor) at the OXIO (Oxford International Organizations).

Maiko has a LLM in Public International Law from the University of Amsterdam, and a Master's in International Relations(specialized in international law) from the University of Tokyo, Japan.