Northwestern Pritzker Law Professor Annelise Riles Inducted in the Order of the Academic Palms of the Republic of France

Annelise Riles, Professor of Law, was inducted as a Chevalier in the Order des Palmes Academiques, or Order of the Academic Palms, of the Republic of France, for a lifetime contributing to diplomacy, legal science, and Franco-U.S. relations. Consul General of France in Chicago, Yannick Tagand pinned her with the regalia of the order on November 7. The Order of Academic Palms was created in 1808 by Napoleon I to be bestowed by the French Republic on distinguished academics and teachers and for valuable service to universities, education and science. It is the oldest non-military French decoration. 

“It’s truly the greatest imaginable honor to become a Chevalier in the Order des Palmes Academiques,” said Riles. “Through scholarship, teaching, policy work and public engagement, I hope that I can contribute to maintaining and expanding the strong ties between the United States and France.”

“Congratulations to Professor Annelise Riles on this incredibly well-deserved recognition of her impactful contributions,” said Dean Hari Osofsky. “We are grateful for the difference that she makes and thrilled for her to receive this honor.”

Professor Riles joined the Northwestern Pritzker Law faculty in 2018 and holds a courtesy appointment in the department of anthropology. From 2018 to 2023 she served as Executive Director of Northwestern University’s Buffett Institute for Global Studies. Her scholarship spans a wide range of substantive areas including human rights, managing and accommodating cultural differences, and the regulation of the global financial markets. Key areas in legal studies include comparative law, the conflict of laws, financial regulation, socio-legal studies and international law. In anthropology, her work is known for its methodological contributions as well as for its contributions to the study of international institutions and expertise.

She has conducted legal and anthropological research in China, Japan, and the Pacific and speaks Chinese, Japanese, French, and Fijian. She has published on a wide variety of topics, including comparative law, conflict of laws, financial regulation, and central banking. Her first book, The Network Inside Out, won the American Society of International Law’s Certificate of Merit for 2000-2002.

Riles is also the founder and director of Meridian 180, a multilingual forum for transformative leadership. Its global membership of 800+ thought leaders in academia, government, and business work together to generate ideas and guidance on the most important problems of our time, including global financial governance, environmental governance, and data governance.

She has taught at the London School of Economics, University of Tokyo, and Yale University, among others. Riles is a former professor of anthropology and far east legal studies at Cornell University. During her time at Cornell, she received the Anneliese Maier Award for lifetime achievement across the social sciences and humanities from the German government and Humboldt Foundation.

Professor Riles received an AB from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, a MSc in Social Anthropology from the London School of Economics, a JD from Harvard Law School, and a PhD in Social Anthropology from University of Cambridge.