Climate & intergenerational justice
How courts, statutes and markets can protect future generations. Recent work covers the ICJ's climate advisory opinion, the Finch ruling, carbon credits and what legal positivism owes to people not yet born.
Legal academic & lawyer · Singapore and Cambridge
Ben Chester Cheong
PhD (Cantab) · LLM (Cantab) · LLB (Exon), First Class Hons
I write about how law can answer to people who are not yet born: in climate and planning law, in the duties of companies and their directors, and in the rules we set for artificial intelligence.
- Teaching
- Law Lecturer (tenured), School of Law, Singapore University of Social Sciences
- Research
- Fellow, Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance (C-EENRG), University of CambridgeAssociate Academic Fellow, Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law (APCEL), National University of Singapore
- Visiting
- Visiting Fellow, School of Law, University of Reading
- Practice
- Counsel, Sustainability practice, Rajah & Tann Singapore
- Admitted
- Singapore (2017) · England & Wales (2019)
Core sample · 2019–2025
- Article
- Chapter
- Commentary
- Op-ed
Research
My work spans private and public law, legal theory and technology law. It has been cited by the Singapore Government, INTERPOL and WIPO. Four lines of enquiry run through it.
Corporate & commercial law
Directors' duties, limited liability, reflective loss and ESG litigation, with a focus on making company law account for long-term and environmental harm.
AI, data & technology law
Transparency and accountability in algorithmic decisions, legal personhood for AI, remedies for data breaches, blockchain and the metaverse.
Public law, policy & education
The principle of legality, Singapore's legal system and public institutions, commentary on public policy and geopolitics, and how to teach law well to adult learners.
Published in
Law Quarterly Review, Journal of Corporate Law Studies, Journal of Environmental Law, Transnational Environmental Law, Journal of Business Law, Statute Law Review, Capital Markets Law Journal, International Company and Commercial Law Review, The Company Lawyer, Journal of Planning & Environment Law, Singapore Academy of Law Journal, Asian Journal of Legal Education
Publications
46 pieces from 2019–2025, cited in OSCOLA form. Filter by theme or type, search titles, or copy a citation straight into your footnotes.
Theme
Type
Career
Trained as a corporate finance lawyer before moving into teaching and research. Dual-qualified in Singapore and in England & Wales.
- Now
- Counsel, Sustainability practice, Rajah & Tann SingaporePractice
- Fellow, C-EENRG, University of CambridgeAppointment
- Associate Academic Fellow, Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law, National University of SingaporeAppointment
- PhD, University of CambridgeDegree
- 2024
- Visiting Fellow, School of Law, University of ReadingAppointment
- Inaugural MOE-START Overseas PhD Scholar, Singapore University of Social SciencesAward
- Joined C-EENRG, University of CambridgeAppointment
- 2022
- SUSS Award for Teaching Excellence (Winner)Award
- 2021
- Tenure, Singapore University of Social SciencesAppointment
- SUSS Award for Teaching Excellence (Honourable Mention)Award
- Accredited Mediator, Singapore International Mediation InstituteQualification
- 2020
- Of Counsel, financial services regulatory practice, RHTLaw AsiaPractice
- 2019
- Admitted as Solicitor, Senior Courts of England & WalesAdmission
- 2018
- Law Lecturer, School of Law, Singapore University of Social SciencesAppointment
- 2017
- Associate, Finance & Projects, Baker McKenzie.Wong & Leow, working on loans above US$500 million, IPOs and bond issuesPractice
- Admitted as Advocate & Solicitor, Supreme Court of SingaporeAdmission
- 2016
- Singapore Bar Examinations (Part B): joint 3rd of 664 candidates, with three distinctionsAward
- 2015
- LLM, Churchill College, University of CambridgeDegree
- 2014
- LLB, First Class Honours, University of Exeter: 2nd of 241, Stones Prize for the best LLB dissertationDegree
Teaching
From 2018 to 2023 I convened Law of Business Organisations at SUSS, the compulsory module on partnership, company law and corporate insolvency. I teach mostly adult learners, and I have written about how to teach them well.
- Law of Business OrganisationsConvenor 2018–23
- Contract LawSUSS
- Equity & TrustsSUSS
- Legal Methods & Singapore Legal SystemSUSS
- Mediation AdvocacySUSS
- Advanced Corporate PracticeSingapore Bar Exams, Part B
Commentary for
The Straits Times The Business Times CNA TODAY Nikkei Asia Al Jazeera Voice of America The Star The Edge Singapore The Standard (Hong Kong) Berita Harian Chinese Social Sciences Today
Peer reviewer for
- Journal of Corporate Law Studies
- Journal of Financial Crime
- Journal of Money Laundering Control
- Climate Policy
Contact
For research collaboration, media comment, speaking invitations or supervision enquiries, email me.
benchestercheong@suss.edu.sg