Top Law Don from Yale joins NUS Law

Professor Alec Stone Sweet will be appointed inaugural Saw Swee Hock Centennial Professor in Law

NUS Law is proud to announce that Professor Alec Stone Sweet, an internationally renowned professor of comparative constitutional law and comparative politics will be leaving his tenured position at Yale University School of Law to join NUS Law.

Professor Alec Stone Sweet will be the first to take up the Saw Swee Hock Centennial Professorship in Law. The Chair is generously supported by Professor Saw Swee Hock, President’s Honorary Professor of Statistics at NUS, who has supported numerous education and research related ventures at universities worldwide, and represents one of the most distinguished appointments at NUS.

Professor Simon Chesterman, Dean of NUS Law, said: “Alec Stone Sweet is one of the very best scholars in the world on comparative constitutional law and comparative politics. We are thrilled that he will be the first Saw Swee Hock Centennial Professor of Law. Having been a tenured professor at Yale for a decade, his decision to give up that post and move to Singapore is an indication of how far and how fast NUS Law has risen. Given Alec’s scholarship on the evolution of legal systems, in particular the economic and political impact of courts, it is also a natural move that places him the heart of Asia’s premier legal hub.”

When asked about his move to NUS Law, Professor Stone Sweet said: ““I have chosen to move to NUS because my future research will focus on Asian law and institutions, and NUS Law is clearly the most important law school in Asia.”

He adds, “There are three main reasons for taking up this exciting opportunity. First, given my current book is on the evolution of international arbitration, Singapore’s growth as the dispute resolution hub for Asia is extremely attractive to me. NUS Law hosts SIMI the Singapore International Mediation Institute and will allow me watch closely the development of the newly launched International Commercial Court. My research also covers regional integration and being in Singapore will place me at the heart of the developments in ASEAN. Finally, as one of my fields of research is comparative law, the NUS Law Centre for Asian Legal Studies which has already become an important and widely-respected research institution has made the study of constitutionalism its top priority.”

When asked about Singapore, Professor Stone Sweet laughs, “I’ve spent exactly one week in Singapore. Imagine – moving to the other end of the world to live in a place I hardly know! What I do know is that I am moving to a great university and I have no doubt that the NUS Law community will make me feel welcome. The Bukit Timah campus looks like a wonderful oasis dedicated to teaching and scholarship, and I am looking forward to making a new home there.”

Professor Saw Swee Hock whose generosity established the Professorship said: “The Saw Swee Hock Centennial Professorship in Law was created to push the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law to new heights of excellence. I am delighted that it has led to the appointment of Professor Alec Stone Sweet, a tenured full professor who is giving up his position at Yale Law School to move to NUS. I am confident that Professor Stone Sweet will make a tremendous contribution to the research and teaching mission of the Faculty of Law.”

In the latest report by London-based Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings by Subject 2015, NUS Law was ranked as the top law school in Asia and 14th in the world. Widely regarded as the region’s leading law school, NUS Law sees itself as part of a global conversation about the study and practice of law. Its diverse faculty includes 60 full-time academics together with many adjuncts and visitors; its 1,200 undergraduate and postgraduate students include some of Singapore’s top school leavers as well as outstanding scholars from all over the globe.

For Professor Stone Sweet’s Bio, please click here.

For Professor Saw’s Bio, please click here.