Biography

Sonam Tshering is an Associate Professor at JSW Law, promoted to this position in July 2024. He teaches contracts, procedural laws, comparative public procurement, procedural rights for persons with disabilities, and privacy and media laws.

Since joining JSW Law in fall 2017 as a Junior Lecturer, Sonam has taken on various roles within the institution. He currently serves as the Associate Dean for the JSW Law Center and chairs the Research Review and Ethics Committee. His leadership experience at JSW Law also includes chairing the Faculty Selection Committee, participating in the Law School’s Climate Change and Environment Taskforce, and managing an Asia Foundation Grant project. Additionally, he has been involved in the Degree++ Committee and Accreditation Committee. Sonam is also a Faculty Advisor and Editor-In-Chief for JSW Law Review and serves as an Editor for other academic publications.

Prior to his academic career, Sonam worked for over six years in the Royal Government of Bhutan as an Assistant Legal Officer, Trainer, Enforcement Officer, Official Media Spokesperson and legal advisor for the Bhutan Narcotic Control Authority, Narcotic Control Board, and Tobacco Control Board. His contributions in tobacco control earned him the Regional Director’s award during the World No Tobacco Day in 2012 from the Southeast Asia Regional Organization, World Health Organization (WHO). He was also part of the Informal Working Group, Tobacco Free Initiative (TFI), WHO, helping to draft the Protocol on Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Furthermore, he served as an expert consultant in drafting Timor-Leste’s Tobacco Control Act under the Southeast Asia Regional Office, WHO.

Sonam also worked in the Parliament of Bhutan as a Parliamentary Committee Secretary for both the Good Governance Committee of the National Assembly and the Public Accounts Committee, and as a Legislative Officer at the National Assembly Secretariat.

Sonam began his professional journey as a Trainee Reporter with the Bhutan Broadcasting Service Corporation, Bhutan’s only National Broadcast Organization. In 2009, he received the First Media Fellowship Award from the Center for Science and Environment, an NGO based in New Delhi. Since 2019, Sonam has been writing a weekly legal op-ed for Kuensel, Bhutan’s oldest and largest newspaper, producing over 250 articles spanning almost five years.

Sonam holds an LL.M from George Washington University (2018), an LL. B from Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University (2016), a Post Graduate Diploma in National Law (2009), and a BSc from the University of Delhi (2007). He is admitted to the Bar Council of Bhutan and is licensed to practice law in Bhutan.

Areas of Interest

• Commercial Contracts 
• Contracts Drafting 
• Litigation and conflict management 
• Dispute Resolution: Negotiation
• Media and mass communication laws 
• Privacy and digital laws 
• Constitutional Laws 
• Election Laws 
• Environmental Laws 
• Arbitration laws 
• Mediation laws