The record at the law school
Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law awarded Chui a Juris Doctor in May 2024 and identified her as the youngest person ever to graduate from it. She was 19, a Los Angeles native who had arrived with two bachelor's degrees already completed.
Alongside the degree she recorded 182 hours of pro bono work, among the highest totals in her graduating class. That figure is the detail that separates the record from a curiosity. Pro bono hours are logged, verified and performed for people who need legal help and cannot pay for it, which means a substantial share of her law school years went into actual client work rather than into finishing early.
Two degrees before most students start one
The foundation was laid at home. Her mother homeschooled her from the second grade, covering the standard subjects: English, mathematics, history and science. She then entered California State University, Los Angeles, and left it at 16 with dual degrees in psychology and criminal justice.
The combination is worth noting, because it is unusually well aimed at the career that followed. Criminal justice supplies the institutional map of courts, policing and sentencing; psychology supplies the part of legal practice that no statute covers, which is why people behave as they do under pressure. Finishing both at 16 meant arriving at law school with a subject-matter grounding most first-year students do not have.
What she said about being the youngest
Chui's own account plays down the age difference rather than the work. “I was never treated as the youngest law student,” she said. “My classmates always treated me as an equal, as a peer.”
She has also been consistent in describing the effort involved. “Anything you do, it’s always going to be hard work,” she said. “It’s going to take intentional effort to move forward.” Her advice to people hesitating over an application was to submit it anyway: if something interests them, she said, they should apply, because the outcome is unknowable in advance.
The clerkship
From the autumn of 2024 she served as a judicial law clerk to Justice James P. Beene of the Arizona Supreme Court.
A clerkship at a state supreme court is one of the most competitive first posts in American law, and it is a research job rather than an advocacy one: reading the record, examining the authorities, drafting for a judge who will decide cases that bind every lower court in the state. Being selected for one at 19 is a judgement about capability made by a sitting justice, which is a stronger signal than any record about age.
Where Charmaine Chui is now
The documented record ends with the clerkship beginning in the autumn of 2024. The sources used here do not say whether she has since been admitted to the bar, where she practises, or what she intends to specialise in.
Some things about her are not in the record at all and are not guessed at here: no date of birth is published, and no family details beyond her mother's role as her teacher. What is established is a sequence that is rare in any jurisdiction, and rarer still at this pace: homeschooled from the second grade, two degrees at 16, a law degree at 19 as the youngest in her school's history, 182 pro bono hours, and a state supreme court clerkship immediately afterwards.
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christiana Imafidon | United Kingdom | Studying at Durham University at eleven | Age 0 |
| Viemens Bamfo | Ghana | Admitted to the University of Ghana at 12 (2019) | Age 12 |
| Bastian Eichenberger | Switzerland | The University of Freiburg's youngest student, at 14 (2014) | Age 14 |
| Shania Muhammad | United States | Langston University's youngest graduate, at 15 | Age 15 |
| Charmaine Chien-Yu Chui | United States | Youngest ever graduate of ASU's law school, at 19 | Age 19 |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Youngest ever graduate of ASU's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, May 2024, at 19 (AZFamily)
- Dual degrees in psychology and criminal justice from Cal State LA at 16, after being homeschooled from second grade
- 182 pro bono hours; clerkship with Justice James P. Beene of the Arizona Supreme Court from autumn 2024
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- No date of birth published, and no family details beyond her mother's role as her teacher
- No record of bar admission, practice area or employer after the clerkship
- The youngest-graduate claim applies to that law school, not to American lawyers generally
Questions people ask about Charmaine Chien-Yu Chui
How old is Charmaine Chui?
She was 19 when she graduated from law school in May 2024, placing her birth around 2005. No date of birth is published.
What record does she hold?
She is the youngest person ever to graduate from Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law.
What did she study before law school?
Dual degrees in psychology and criminal justice at California State University, Los Angeles, completed at 16.
How was she educated?
Her mother homeschooled her from the second grade, teaching the standard subjects.
What is she doing after law school?
She began a judicial clerkship with Justice James P. Beene of the Arizona Supreme Court in the autumn of 2024.
Is she the youngest lawyer in America?
The source used here makes a narrower claim: the youngest graduate of that particular law school. No national record of lawyers' ages is cited.
Is Charmaine Chui on Wikipedia?
No Wikipedia article on her was identified in the research behind this page.
Has she been admitted to the bar?
The sources used here do not say. Graduating from law school and being licensed to practise are separate steps.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Charmaine’s story?
At what age did Charmaine Chui finish her first two degrees?
What record did she set at Arizona State University?
What did she do immediately after law school?
Sources
- 19-Year-Old Becomes Youngest Ever to Graduate from ASU Law School — AZFamily (KTVK/KPHO), 2024-05-16
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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