The Asian Law Institute (ASLI) was established in 2003 through the efforts of several leading Asian law schools to foster Asian legal scholarship and to facilitate greater interaction amongst legal scholars in Asia as well as legal scholars outside Asia working on Asian law.

It prides itself as an indigenous Institute of Asian law, created in Asia by Asian law schools and open to the world. The acronym ‘ASLI’, which means ‘indigenous’ or ‘original’ in several Asian languages, reflects the essence of the institution which aims to be a truly home-grown Asian law institute in Asia.

ASLI has sixteen founding member schools that are among the very top law schools in Asia. Their representatives sit on the Board of Governors which meets annually. The National University of Singapore (NUS), which led the initiative, continues to provide administrative and financial support for ASLI, including hosting its Secretariat at the NUS Law School.

Each year, ASLI organises one of the largest (if not the largest) annual conference focusing on Asian law. ASLI also organises other thematic conferences and workshops in Singapore and elsewhere in Asia. ASLI also welcomes NUS colleagues from member ASLI institutions as ASLI Fellows. These Fellows spend two months in Singapore researching, writing and presenting the fruits of their research.