Professor Lynette Chua wins Law & Society Association International Prize, in a first for Singapore

NUS Law is delighted to share that Professor Lynette Chua ’03 has been awarded the (US-based) Law & Society Association International Prize for 2024. This is a major prize, awarded annually to a scholar—normally resident outside the US—in recognition of scholarship that has contributed significantly to the advancement of knowledge in the field of law and society. The prize is for her body of scholarly work in the broad fields of legal mobilisation and legal consciousness.

Lynette is the first woman of Asian descent to win the award since it was established a quarter of a century ago and is now strongly positioned globally as a leading figure in the field of law and society. She specialises in research on legal mobilisation (whether and how people use the law) and legal consciousness (how people experience and understand the law), using social science methods, especially in-depth qualitative interviews, ethnography, and archival materials, to carry out her research.

The study of legal mobilisation and legal consciousness helps one to understand the relevance and power of law in people’s lives, such as in their everyday routines and when they encounter problems or grievances. Her work has not only advanced sociolegal scholarship in the context of Asia but has been influential in leading to a rethink of approaches to law and society research in the United States and European contexts.

Reflecting on her win, Professor Chua said, “I am deeply grateful to NUS for providing the resources and intellectual space to do my research and writing. I am also thankful for my colleagues, whose friendship and support make NUS a safe and nurturing place to think and work.”

The Dean of NUS Law, Professor Andrew Simester, expressed pride at the win, saying, “It is exciting to see a colleague recognised as one of the world’s leading scholars in her field. We are all very pleased for Lynette. She is a path-breaking academic and this award is very much deserved.”

The Law and Society Association International Prize was first awarded in 2001, and this year’s award ceremony was held on 7 June 2024 at its annual conference in Denver, USA.

About Professor Chua:

She is the author of The Politics of Rights and Southeast Asia (Cambridge University Press, 2022), The Politics of Love in Myanmar: LGBT Mobilization and Human Rights as A Way of Life (Stanford University Press, 2019) and Mobilizing Gay Singapore: Rights and Resistance in an Authoritarian State (Temple University Press, 2014). Additionally, she is the co-editor of The Asian Law & Society Reader (2023, with David Engel and Sida Liu), Out of Place: Fieldwork and Positionality in Law and Society (2024, with Mark F. Massoud) and Contagion, Technology, and Law at the Limits (forthcoming, with Jack Jin Gary Lee).

She has also published articles in top journals such as the Law and Society Review, Law and Social Inquiry, Journal of Law and Society, Annual Review of Law and Social Science, and International Journal of Constitutional Law. Her award-winning books and influential articles are widely cited around the world.

In addition to her scholarship, she is heavily engaged in service, training and mentorship through law and society academic organisations such as the Law and Society Association (LSA) and the Asian Law & Society Association (ALSA). She was the LSA Trustee Class Representative from 2017 to 2019 and ALSA President from 2022 to 2023. Currently, she is an Editor-in-Chief of the Asian Journal of Law & Society and co-director of the Training Initiative for Asian Law and Society Scholars (supported by a Henry Luce Foundation grant).