Professor Ghai is a world-renown legal scholar and legal researcher. He has lectured in the leading law schools in the world, including Yale, Harvard and University of East Africa at Dar-es-Salaam. Professor Ghai has authored numerous publications on various subjects ranging from Decentralization of Power, Ethnicity, Human Rights and Social Development and Freedom of Expression.

Professor Ghai has been involved in constitution making in various countries in the world, His latest foray into this area was as the Chairman of the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission, the body that was legally mandated to spearhead the constitution review process in Kenya. No doubt he brought his experiences from Constitution making in inter alia, the Fiji, Afghanistan and Papua New Guinea.

The Jurist of the Year Award for 2001 was awarded to Professors Ghai, jointly with the late Dr. Oki Ooko Ombaka in recognition for his courage, commitment and selflessness to
having an open and inclusive constitutional reform process that would enhance the legitimacy and goodwill for the process. This was the first time the award was made jointly.

Professor Yash Pal Ghai is currently the Sir. Y.K. Pao Professor of Public Law, University of Hong Kong.