Santy Kouwagam is a postdoc at the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Society. She is a legal scholar and practitioner with deep expertise in Indonesian law and a broad understanding of multiple jurisdictions, including English, German, French, American, and Singaporean legal systems. Her work focuses on comparative legal analysis, bridging diverse legal traditions, and addressing complex cross-border legal issues.

Santy has taught Comparative European Tort Law and Principles of European Contract Law at the University of Amsterdam, as well as Principles of Private Law at University College Roosevelt.

Before transitioning to academia, Santy practiced law at a prominent commercial law firm in Jakarta, managing high-stakes cross-border disputes and commercial transactions. She earned her law degree from Universitas Hasanuddin, Indonesia, and her Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree (cum laude) in International and Comparative Law from the University of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania, USA). While in the United States, she gained significant experience with the American legal system, representing indigent litigants at the Family Law Clinic in Pittsburgh, where she was certified by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania to provide legal services. She also volunteered at the Allegheny County Office of the Public Defender and a non-profit organization supporting refugees and asylum seekers.

Santy completed her PhD at the Van Vollenhoven Institute in 2020. Her doctoral thesis, “How Lawyers Win Land Conflicts for Corporations: Legal Strategy and its Influence on the Rule of Law in Indonesia,” offers a critical examination of corporate legal strategies and their impact on governance and the rule of law. In 2019, she founded Stichting Socio-Legal Consulting, a non-profit organization that provides legal aid to individuals and companies with ties to Indonesia, handling cases such as divorce, child custody, inheritance, and housing disputes.

Currently, Santy is pursuing new research initiatives on social security for the aging population, alongside publishing academic articles based on her work. Her teaching and research reflect her commitment to understanding and connecting legal systems across different jurisdictions.

Publications