CHEAH W.L.
Dr. Cheah W.L. is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law of the National University of Singapore (NUS) since 2007. She holds academic qualifications from the National University of Singapore (LL.B., LL.M.), Harvard Law School (LL.M.), European University Institute, and Oxford University (D.Phil). She is a qualified lawyer (called to the New York Bar) and holds a diploma in arbitration (Queen Mary University of London). She conducts research in the core disciplines of international and comparative criminal law, transitional justice, and human rights with a focus on the intersections of law, culture, and power.
Education
DPhil (Oxford University); LLM (Harvard University); LLM, LLB (NUS)
Curriculum Vitae
Current Courses
Criminal Law (G)
Dr. Cheah W.L. is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law of the National University of Singapore (NUS) since 2007. She holds academic qualifications from the National University of Singapore (LL.B., LL.M.), Harvard Law School (LL.M.), European University Institute, and Oxford University (D.Phil). She is a qualified lawyer (called to the New York Bar) and holds a diploma in arbitration (Queen Mary University of London). She conducts research in the core disciplines of international and comparative criminal law, transitional justice, and human rights with a focus on the intersections of law, culture, and power. Within these areas, her research explores the diverse and complex roles performed by domestic and international criminal courts beyond their paradigm aim of adjudicating on the guilt or otherwise of those charged with criminal offences.
Her work has been accepted for publication in journals such as the Leiden Journal of International Law, European Journal of International Law, Journal of International Criminal Justice, Human Rights Quarterly, Michigan Journal of International Law, Harvard Human Rights Journal, and International Journal of Law in Context. She is presently working on a book project about the Singapore war crimes trials. She also co-founded (with Ms Ng Pei Yi) of the Singapore War Crimes Trials Web Portal, which is kindly supported by Singapore National Heritage Board and Singapore Academy of Law. She has been awarded several research grants, such as the Humboldt University-NUS Research Collaboration Grant and the Singapore Judicial College Research Grant. Among others, she currently holds editorial positions at the Journal of International Criminal Justice, Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies, and the Singapore Journal of Legal Studies. She is also on the Coordinating Committee of the European Society of International Law’s Interest Group on International Criminal Law.
Cheah W.L. has received teaching awards from the NUS Law Faculty (2019/2020, 2018/2019, 2015/2016) and the NUS University Scholars Program (2015/2016). Her teaching experience includes periods at the Centre for Transnational Legal Studies (London, UK), Oxford University (UK), Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3 (France), and the Royal University of Law and Economics (Cambodia).
Prior to joining academia, Cheah W.L. served as a Legal Officer at INTERPOL’s Office of Legal Affairs (Lyon, France). She has been invited to speak on the practical impact of her research by the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia. In 2011, Cheah W.L. was a Visiting Professional at the International Criminal Court, and in 2018, she was awarded a Kathleen Fitzpatrick Visiting Fellowship at Melbourne Law School’s Laureate Program in International Law.
For more information about Cheah W.L.’s research and a complete publications list, please see: https://cheahwuiling.com/
Book Chapters
Journal Articles
Representative Publications
Cheah W.L. (2022) “Peoples’ Tribunals as Law-makers: The Tokyo Women’s Tribunal and the Limits of Human Rights Law”, Transnational Legal Theory, Volume 13, Issue 1, pp 8-30.
Cheah W.L. (2020) “Culture and International Criminal Law”, in Kevin Heller, Frédéric Mégret, Sarah Nouwen, Jens Ohlin and Darryl Robinson (eds.), Oxford Handbook of International Criminal Law, Oxford University Press, pp 748-767.
Cheah W.L. and Moritz Vormbaum (2018) “British War Crimes Trials in Europe and Asia (1945-1949) – A Comparative Study”, Leiden Journal of International Law, Volume 31, Issue 3, pp 1031-1055.
Cheah W.L. (2018) “Culture and Understanding in the Singapore War Crimes Trials (1946-1948): Interpreting Arguments of the Defence”, International Journal of Law in Context, Volume 14, Issue 1, pp 87-109.
Cheah W.L. (2017) “The Curious Case of the Singapore BIA Desertion Trials: War Crimes, Projects of Empire, and the Rule of Law”, European Journal of International Law, Volume 28, Issue 4, pp 1217-1240.
- International Criminal Law
- Human Rights and Transitional Justice
- Criminal Justice and Constitutional Liberties