Jianlin Chen

Professor Jianlin Chen is a Professor at Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne, where he holds key leadership roles as Associate Dean (International), Director of Studies for Asian Law, and Deputy Director of the Asian Law Centre. He began his academic career at the University of Hong Kong in 2011 and joined Melbourne Law School in 2017. Chen earned his LLB from the National University of Singapore and both his LLM and JSD from the University of Chicago. Qualified to practice law in Singapore and New York, he is bilingual in English and Chinese, having grown up in Singapore and Taiwan. His teaching responsibilities include Economic Analysis of Law, Corporations Law, Commercial Law in Asia, Comparative Sexual Offences, and Natural Resources Law in Asia.

Chen's primary research interests focus on law and religion and criminal law, with particular emphasis on fraud, including religious fraud regulation and fraudulent sex criminalization, analyzed through comparative and economic lenses. His broader research agenda investigates how various state actions—such as law, regulation, tax, state ownership, public contracts, and government speech—share similar capacities to achieve public interest goals, critiquing the distinct legal frameworks typically applied to each. Other areas of academic interest include natural resources and property rights, corporate and securities law, government procurement, culture wars, charity, and tax. These align with his expertise in Natural Resources & Property, Corporate and Commercial Law, Law & Religion, Economic Analysis of Law, and Criminal Law. Key publications comprise the monograph Law and Religious Market Theory (Cambridge University Press, 2017), alongside articles such as "Singapore's Culture War over Section 377A: Through the Lens of Public Choice and Multilingual Research" (Law & Social Inquiry, 2013), "Optimal Property Rights for Emerging Natural Resources: A Case Study on Owning Atmospheric Moisture" (University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, 2016), "Property Rights Arrangement in Emerging Natural Resources: A Case Study of China's Nationalization of Wind and Sunlight" (Columbia Journal of Asian Law, 2013), and works in Sydney Law Review, Columbia Journal of Asian Law, 公司法评论, and 北大法律评论.

Professional Email: jianlin.chen@unimelb.edu.au