People_

Associate Professor Ben Chen

LLB (Hons) BEc (Hons) PhD ANU, LLM JSD Columbia

ARC DECRA Fellow

Phone

+61 2 8627 6887

Email

[email protected]

Address

F10 - Law School (Camperdown)

The University of Sydney

Websites

LawtoData: An Empirical Legal Research Automator

Social Science Research Network (SSRN)

GitHub

Resume

Curriculum vitae

Biographical details

Ben Chen is a law and economics scholar writing in the areas of equity and trusts, succession law, civil procedure, and game theory. His publications include full-length original articles in American Law and Economics Review, Cornell Law Review, Economic Theory, Melbourne University Law Review (on parens patriae, class actions), and Modern Law Review. His sole-authored, practitioner-oriented articles have been cited extra-judicially by judges of the New South Wales and Queensland Courts of Appeal. The Australian Research Council has awarded him a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) and a Discovery Project (DP) grant.

Research interests

Law and Economics
Equity and Trusts
Succession Law
Civil Procedure
Game Theory

Teaching and supervision

Equity
Conflict of Laws
Commercial Conflict of Laws
Contracts

Current projects

LawtoData: An Empirical Legal Research Automator
The Behavioural Economics of Inheritance Litigation (funded by the Australian Research Council)
Superannuation as Inheritance (funded by the Australian Research Council)
Portfolio Management under Hindsight Judging
Remedying Judiciall Hindsight Bias
Behavioral Contest Success Functions with Lessons for Settlement and Prospect Theory

Associations

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), Advance HE (2023-present)
Councillor, The Francis Forbes Society for Australian Legal History (2019-present)
Lawyer, Australian Capital Territory (admitted 2014, non-practising)

Awards and honours

American Law and Economics Review Best Theory Paper Runner-up (American Law and Economics Association)
Sydney Research Accelerator (SOAR) Prize (University of Sydney)
Hart Publishing Prize Runner-up
Herman N Finkelstein Memorial Fellow (Columbia University)
Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar (Columbia University)
Australian Postgraduate Award (Australian National University)
The Treasury Scholarships (Australian National University)
Burgmann College Bursaries (Australian National University)

Selected publications

Dynamic and Principled: The Influence of Sir Anthony Mason

(The Federation Press, 2022)

Expand all

Edited Books

McDonald, B., Chen, B., Gordon, J. (2022). Dynamic and Principled: The Influence of Sir Anthony Mason. Sydney, NSW: The Federation Press.

Book Chapters

Chen, B., Legg, M. (2023). The Law and Economics of Australian Class Actions. In James Metzger and Michael Legg (Eds.), The Australian Class Action: A 30 Year Perspective, (pp. 202-224). Sydney: The Federation Press.
Chen, B. (2022). Appropriate Uses of Law and Economics in the Judicial Process: Illustrated by an Incomplete Contracts Perspective on Promissory Estoppel in Australian Law. In Barbara McDonald, Ben Chen, Jeffrey Gordon (Eds.), Dynamic and Principled: The Influence of Sir Anthony Mason, (pp. 280-295). Sydney, NSW: The Federation Press.
Scott, E., Chen, B. (2019). Fiduciary Principles in Family Law. In Evan J. Criddle, Paul B. Miller, and Robert H. Sitkoff (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Fiduciary Law, (pp. 1-24). New York: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
Chen, B., Gordon, J. (2019). Interpretive Formalism in the Law of Obligations: Thirty Years After Form and Substance. In Andrew Robertson, James Goudkamp (Eds.), Form and Substance in the Law of Obligations, (pp. 373-402). Oxford: Hart Publishing. [More Information]

show 1 more

Journals

Chen, B. (2025). Socially Optimal Ex-ante Adjudication. American Law and Economics Review, (forthcoming).
Chen, B., Rodrigues-Neto, J. (2023). The Interaction of Emotions and Cost-shifting Rules in Civil Litigation. Economic Theory, 75, 841-885. [More Information]
Chen, B., Legg, M. (2022). An Economic Perspective on Costs in Australian Class Actions. Melbourne University Law Review, 45(3), 950-995. [More Information]
Chen, B., Silver, N. (2022). Undue Influence and Will Substitutes: Vitiating Transactions that Blur the Boundaries between Life and Death. The Modern Law Review, 85(2), 295-325. [More Information]
Chen, B. (2021). Elder Financial Abuse: Capacity Law and Economics. Cornell Law Review, 106(6), 1457-1538. [More Information]
Chen, B. (2021). Family Fiduciaries in the Protective Jurisdiction. Melbourne University Law Review, 44(1), 55-97. [More Information]
Chen, B. (2020). Elder Financial Abuse: Fiduciary Law and Economics. Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics and Public Policy, 34, 307-360. [More Information]
Chen, B. (2018). Equitable Relief in Transnational Intellectual Property Disputes. Journal of Equity, 12(2), 151-167.
Chen, B. (2018). Issues in Law and Economics, by Harold Winter (Chicago University Press, Chicago, IL, 2017), pp. 233. Economic Record, 94:304, 101-114. [More Information]
Chen, B. (2014). Historical foundations of choice of law in fiduciary obligations. Journal of Private International Law, 10(2), 171-203. [More Information]
Chen, B. (2013). Diminution and secularisation of oaths in Australian courts. Australian Bar Review, 37, 291-306.

show 8 more

Expand all

2025

Chen, B. (2025). Socially Optimal Ex-ante Adjudication. American Law and Economics Review, (forthcoming).

2023

Chen, B., Rodrigues-Neto, J. (2023). The Interaction of Emotions and Cost-shifting Rules in Civil Litigation. Economic Theory, 75, 841-885. [More Information]
Chen, B., Legg, M. (2023). The Law and Economics of Australian Class Actions. In James Metzger and Michael Legg (Eds.), The Australian Class Action: A 30 Year Perspective, (pp. 202-224). Sydney: The Federation Press.

2022

Chen, B., Legg, M. (2022). An Economic Perspective on Costs in Australian Class Actions. Melbourne University Law Review, 45(3), 950-995. [More Information]
Chen, B. (2022). Appropriate Uses of Law and Economics in the Judicial Process: Illustrated by an Incomplete Contracts Perspective on Promissory Estoppel in Australian Law. In Barbara McDonald, Ben Chen, Jeffrey Gordon (Eds.), Dynamic and Principled: The Influence of Sir Anthony Mason, (pp. 280-295). Sydney, NSW: The Federation Press.
McDonald, B., Chen, B., Gordon, J. (2022). Dynamic and Principled: The Influence of Sir Anthony Mason. Sydney, NSW: The Federation Press.
Chen, B., Silver, N. (2022). Undue Influence and Will Substitutes: Vitiating Transactions that Blur the Boundaries between Life and Death. The Modern Law Review, 85(2), 295-325. [More Information]

show 1 more

2021

Chen, B. (2021). Elder Financial Abuse: Capacity Law and Economics. Cornell Law Review, 106(6), 1457-1538. [More Information]
Chen, B. (2021). Family Fiduciaries in the Protective Jurisdiction. Melbourne University Law Review, 44(1), 55-97. [More Information]

2020

Chen, B. (2020). Elder Financial Abuse: Fiduciary Law and Economics. Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics and Public Policy, 34, 307-360. [More Information]

2019

Scott, E., Chen, B. (2019). Fiduciary Principles in Family Law. In Evan J. Criddle, Paul B. Miller, and Robert H. Sitkoff (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Fiduciary Law, (pp. 1-24). New York: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
Chen, B., Gordon, J. (2019). Interpretive Formalism in the Law of Obligations: Thirty Years After Form and Substance. In Andrew Robertson, James Goudkamp (Eds.), Form and Substance in the Law of Obligations, (pp. 373-402). Oxford: Hart Publishing. [More Information]

2018

Chen, B. (2018). Equitable Relief in Transnational Intellectual Property Disputes. Journal of Equity, 12(2), 151-167.
Chen, B. (2018). Issues in Law and Economics, by Harold Winter (Chicago University Press, Chicago, IL, 2017), pp. 233. Economic Record, 94:304, 101-114. [More Information]

2014

Chen, B. (2014). Historical foundations of choice of law in fiduciary obligations. Journal of Private International Law, 10(2), 171-203. [More Information]

2013

Chen, B. (2013). Diminution and secularisation of oaths in Australian courts. Australian Bar Review, 37, 291-306.

Selected Grants

2024

Superannuation as Inheritance: Law, Practice and Reform, Silver N, Chen B, Australian Research Council (ARC)/Discovery Projects (DP)

2023

The Behavioural Economics of Inheritance Litigation, Chen B, Australian Research Council (ARC)/Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA)

2021

SOAR Prize, Chen B, DVC Research/SOAR Prizes

2020

Dynamic and Principled: The Influence of Sir Anthony Mason, Chen B, The Francis Forbes Society for Australian Legal History/Research Grant

The University of Sydney Law School

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Associate Professor Ben Chen

Selected publications

Publications

Selected Grants

2024

2023

2021

2020

Related research articles

Law and economics researcher wins Australian Research Council Award

Early career researchers awarded $9.5m funding

SOARing in Law

Push for change to elder abuse laws to prevent false claims