Santy Kouwagam is a guest researcher at the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Society.

Santy used to practice law at a private commercial law firm in Jakarta and has handled numerous cross-border cases and commercial transactions. Santy studied law at Universitas Hasanuddin, Indonesia. She obtained her Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree in International and Comparative Law from University of Pittsburgh (Cum Laude, Pennsylvania, United States).

In Pittsburgh, Santy was involved at the Family Law Clinic representing indigent litigants and certified by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania to provide legal services. She also volunteered as a clerk at the Allegheny County Office of the Public Defender, and at a non-profit organization which provide legal assistance to refugee and asylum seekers. 

Santy completed her PhD at Van Vollenhoven Institute (2020). Her doctoral thesis is entitled “How lawyers win land conflicts for corporations: Legal Strategy and its influence on the Rule of Law in Indonesia". Santy founded Stichting Socio-Legal Consulting in 2019, a non-profit organisation providing legal aid for people and companies with ties to Indonesia in “regular" cases such as divorce, child custody, inheritance, and housing disputes. She is currently working on journal articles based on her research, and preparing a research proposal regarding laws of succession.

Publications