Professor Lau teaches Family Law, Children & the Law, Law & Sexuality, and other related seminars at UNC. His current research focuses on the law's treatment of non-traditional families, the law's construction and regulation of identity, and international and comparative approaches to equality rights. His scholarship has appeared in numerous academic journals, including the California Law Review, Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, Minnesota Law Review, Northwestern University Law Review, and University of Chicago Law Review. Professor Lau has also been quoted by numerous media outlets, including the Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, South China Morning Post, and Ming Pao Daily.
In addition to teaching at UNC, Professor Lau currently serves on the board of directors for the ACLU of North Carolina, the board of advisors for the University of Hong Kong's Centre for Comparative and Public Law, and the advisory board for Diversity Factor, a consultancy based in Hong Kong. In 2011, Professor Lau was named Professor of the Year by the law school's Pro Bono Program.
Professor Lau joined the UNC faculty in 2009, after spending two years as an Associate Professor of Law at Hofstra Law School, where he also co-directed Hofstra's LGBT Rights Fellowship Program. Prior to joining the Hofstra faculty, Professor Lau worked at UCLA School of Law's Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law & Public Policy. At the Williams Institute, he served as a Public Policy Fellow and then as the Harvey S. Shipley Miller Teaching Fellow. He also served as a visiting fellow at the University of Hong Kong's Centre for Comparative and Public Law. Outside of academia, Professor Lau has worked for the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, Children Rights, and the law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton in New York.
Professor Lau received his J.D. from the University of Chicago, where he served as the Executive Topics & Comments Editor of the University of Chicago Law Review and served on the staff of the Chicago Journal of International Law. At the University of Chicago, Professor Lau was named a Stonewall Scholar for excellence in his work related to sexual orientation rights and was awarded the Ignacio Martín-Baró Award for the best human rights paper by a professional or master's degree student. Professor Lau completed his B.A. at the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude.
Professor Lau's research regarding North Carolina's potential constitutional amendment regarding marriage: