Professor Margaret Y.K. Woo to Receive the Jerome A. Cohen Lifetime Achievement Award
09.14.26 — Professor Emerita Margaret Y.K. Woo has been named the recipient of the 2027 Jerome A. Cohen Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Section on East Asian Law & Society. Named for pioneering China law scholar Jerome A. Cohen, the award's inaugural recipient in 2022, the award honors a career of distinguished teaching, service and scholarship in the field of East Asian law and society.
“It’s an honor to follow in the tradition of the great Jerome Cohen. Equally special is to be voted in by colleagues whom I respect and admired so much,” said Woo, a leading authority on both the Anglo-American and Chinese legal systems.
Woo’s scholarship on Chinese law and civil justice reform has shaped the field internationally. Over more than three decades on the Northeastern Law faculty, Woo helped build the modern American study of Chinese law, bridging two legal traditions with a rigor and clarity that shaped how a generation of scholars and students came to understand justice across borders. Her scholarship on civil procedure and dispute resolution in China has been foundational to the field, and her voice — in the classroom, on the page and in public life — has long extended beyond the academy to matters of civil rights and the Asian American experience.
Woo is the author and co-author of several books, including Comparative Civil Procedure (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2025), Global Issues in Civil Procedure (West Academic, 2021), Chinese Justice: Civil Dispute Resolution in Contemporary China (Cambridge University Press, 2011), Litigating in America: Civil Procedure in Context (Aspen Publishing, 2006) and East Asian Law: Universal Norms and Local Culture (Routledge, 2003). Her forthcoming memoir, The City of Jade Trees, recounts her Chinese family’s challenges, ordeals and accomplishments in the United States, from her great grandfather’s immigration journey to her own distinguished career as a law professor.
The award will be presented during the AALS Annual Meeting in New York City on Wednesday, January 6, 2027.
About Northeastern University School of Law
The nation’s leader in experiential legal education since 1968, Northeastern University School of Law offers the longest-running, most extensive experience-based legal education program in the country. Northeastern provides its students with unparalleled practical legal work experiences through its signature Cooperative Legal Education Program. More than 1,000 employers worldwide in a wide range of legal, government, nonprofit and business organizations participate in the program. With a focus on social justice and innovation, Northeastern University School of Law blends theory and practice, providing students with a unique set of skills and experiences to successfully practice law.
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