Preston Torbert

Preston M. Torbert practices and teaches legal drafting from a comparative perspective. 

Mr. Torbert is currently Senior Counsel at Baker & McKenzie’s Chicago office where he has practiced for 37 years, drafting documents and advising clients on trade, investment, and compliance matters in China. He is a founder of the firm’s China Practice Group, and a co-founder of the firm’s Taipei and Beijing offices. 

He holds degrees from Princeton (A.B.), Chicago (Ph.D. in Chinese history), and Harvard (J.D.). 

Mr. Torbert is the author of The Ch’ing Imperial Household Department, of  three books in Chinese on drafting English-Chinese bilingual contracts, and of numerous articles, including most recently, “Globalizing Legal Drafting: What the Chinese Can Teach Us About Ejusdem Generis and All That” in The Scribes Journal of Legal Writing (2007).