Join the International & Graduate Program for a guest speaker series that meets on Mondays throughout the fall semester. Dates and speaker details are below.
August 30 | Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim
Working with the United Nations in conflict and post conflict environments in the field of Rule of Law
Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim is an Islamic Law Expert in Department of Peace Operations (DPO), Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions (OROLSI), Justice and Corrections Service (JCS). He also is a former presiding Judge at Cairo Court of Appeal in Egypt. He has previously worked with: (1) UNSMIS in Syria as the head of Justice and Corrections team; (2) UNMIS in Sudan and South Sudan as the chief of Justice, Corrections and SSR section, and (3) UNAMA in Afghanistan as the deputy director of the Rule of Law Section. He earned his SJD doctoral degree at Northwestern University School of Law, Chicago in 2007, in the field of International Human Rights Law. He received his LL.M Master of law in International Criminal Law from University of Notre Dame Law School, Indiana, in 1997 and earned his License en Droit (Law Degree) from Cairo University, Faculty of Law, Cairo, Egypt in 1988. He worked previously as a Legal Adviser at the Egyptian Legislation Department, the Ministry of Justice. He served as a Judge at North Cairo Court for five years, handling Tort, bankruptcy, commercial, and investment cases. Before that he spent five years in the Attorney General’s Office as a Public Prosecutor (District Attorney) at Central Cairo District, where he was involved in handling criminal cases; terrorism cases, in addition to investigating violations of human rights in terms of abuse of power, arbitrary detention and police harassment.
Watch the recording here.
September 6 | Leigha Crout
Global Lawyering in Practice Series: Human Rights work in China-The Challenges
Leigha Crout (NDLS J.D. 2016, Int’l Human Rights LL.M. 2017) is a Senior C.V. Starr Lecturer at Peking University’s School of Transnational Law in Shenzhen, China and a Research Associate with Oxford University’s China, Law and Development Project. She presently teaches a course on Transnational Legal Practice and a seminar on Comparative Constitutional Law. Her primary research interests lie in modern developments in Chinese constitutional law and correlated human rights issues. In this discussion, Leigha will share her experience living and working as an academic in the PRC and detail the unique challenges faced by domestic and foreign human rights attorneys in a high-censorship climate.
September 13 | Viviana Krsticevic
Law and Social Justice
Viviana Krsticevic is the Executive Director of the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), a civil society organization that works throughout the Americas to promote human rights through the use of international law and the Inter-American System for the Protection of Human Rights. In this capacity, Ms. Krsticevic has litigated numerous leading cases on behalf of victims of human rights violations before both the Inter-American Commission and Court of Human Rights. She has helped shape international human rights standards in key areas through her litigation, advocacy, and writing.
Ms. Krsticevic is also a founder and member of the Gqual Campaign, an initiative to promote gender parity in international representation. Additionally, together with other regional and international experts, she is currently developing a protocol on investigating threats against human rights defenders. The interdisciplinary approach of the La Esperanza Protocol seeks to ensure the safety of human rights defenders via the effective criminal investigation of the threats that impede their work.
Ms. Krsticevic received an LL.B. from the University of Buenos Aires, an M.A. in Latin American Studies from Stanford University, and an LL.M. from Harvard Law School. She has written numerous publications on human rights and international law. Ms. Krsticevic regularly teaches at American University Washington School of Law, through their Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, and participates in seminars and conferences worldwide.
Watch the recording here.
September 20 | Zachary Kaufman
Legislating Atrocity Prevention
Zachary D. Kaufman, J.D., Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Law and Political Science and Co-Director of the Criminal Justice Institute at the University of Houston Law Center (UHLC). During the Spring 2022 semester, he will be a visiting professor at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law.
Immediately before joining UHLC, Professor Kaufman was a Senior Fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and taught at Stanford Law School. Professor Kaufman received his J.D. from Yale Law School (where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Law & Policy Review), his Ph.D. in International Relations from Oxford University (where he was a Marshall Scholar), and his B.A. in Political Science from Yale University (where he was the student body president).
A Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Professor Kaufman has served in all three branches of the U.S. government. In the judicial branch, he was a U.S. Supreme Court Fellow and clerk to a judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. In the legislative branch, he was a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow in the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In the executive branch, he served at the U.S. Departments of State and Justice. He also has served at three international war crimes tribunals: the International Criminal Court (where he was the first American to serve) as well as the UN International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and for the Former Yugoslavia. In the private sector, Professor Kaufman has practiced law at O’Melveny & Myers LLP and worked at Google.
Watch the recording here.
September 27 | Shyami Puvimanasinghe
Addressing Law and Social Justice
Dr. Shyami Fernando Puvimanasinghe is a Human Rights Officer at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, Switzerland. She previously served as a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, where she taught several subjects including Environmental Law and Sustainable Development. She also worked with non-governmental organizations in Gaborone, Botswana, on ethics, law, HIV/AIDS, human rights, environment and development. Dr. Shyami Fernando Puvimanasinghe is an Attorney-at-Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka and holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Colombo; a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School, USA; a Post-Graduate Diploma in International Law and Organization for Development and a Doctor of Philosophy in Development Studies from the International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, The Netherlands. Her publications include the book ‘Foreign Investment, Human Rights and the Environment: A Perspective from South Asia on the Role of Public International Law for Development’; and several book chapters and journal articles mostly in the area of sustainable development. They include publications on Right to Development, International Solidarity and Cooperation, Foreign Investment, Human Rights, Public Interest Litigation, and Economic, Social and Environmental Justice especially with reference to South Asia.
Watch the recording here.
October 11 | Nicolas Soroschinskyy
Judiciary - Regional Courts: European Court of Human Rights
Dr. Nicolas Sorochynskyy obtained his law degree and doctorate in criminal law from Odessa National Academy of Law in 2000 and 2004. Before coming to Notre Dame he worked as an attorney at several law firms and as a senior legal advisor at Ukraine's High Council of Justice and the Central Election Commission. At Notre Dame, he obtained his LLM summa cum laude in 2006 and JSD in International Human Rights Law in 2010. He has been working at the Registry of the European Court of Human Rights since 2012 and he is currently a senior lawyer and a non-judicial rapporteur for Ukraine.
October 25 | Frederic Sourgens
Climate change, Human Rights and Due Diligence in the Energy sector
Frédéric Gilles Sourgens is the Senator Robert J. Dole Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of the Washburn Oil and Gas Law Center. He serves as Editor in Chief of Oxford University Press' InvestmentClaims reporter of international arbitral awards between states and foreign investors. His most recent books include International Petroleum Law and Transactions (2020) (with Owen Anderson, John S Dzienkowski, Keith Hall, John Lowe, Harry Sullivan & Jacqueline Weaver), Decarbonisation and the Energy Industry, Law, Policy and Regulation in Low-Carbon Energy Markets (2020) (with Tade Oyewunmi, Penelope Crossley & Kim Talus) and Evidence in International Investment Arbitration (2018) (with Kabir Duggal & Ian Laird). Professor Sourgens is currently co-authoring The Transnational Law of Renewable Energy with Teddy Baldwin and Catherine Banet (under contract, Oxford University Press). His most recent articles address salient problems arising from climate change in international law ("The Precaution Presumption" (European Journal of International Law, forthcoming 2021)), energy law ("Geo-Markets" (Virginia Environmental Law Journal, 2020)), and U.S. constitutional law ("The Paris Paradigm" (University of Illinois Law Review, 2019) and "States of Resistance" (Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy, 2019)).
Watch the recording here.
November 1 | Eka Tkeshelashvili
Impact of Corruption on Human Rights
Corruption is recognized by the United Nations. It is considered as a major obstacle to the observance and implementation of human rights. It is defined as the misuse of public funds for private benefits. Corruption affects all branches of government in both developing and developed countries. Moving from an economic and political perspective on corruption towards a human rights approach involves a shift in perception whereby corruption is viewed not as being solely a misappropriation of public power (which harms the economic and political stability of a country), but rather as a potential violation of human rights. In today’s seminar, Ms. Tkeshelashvili will discuss the impact of corruption on human rights by addressing the direct and indirect factors that promote corruption and the responsibility of public officials in the fight against corruption.
Eka Tkeshelashvili, NDLS LL.M. 2001, is the Chief of Party (COP) at Management Systems International. Prior to this, Mrs. Tkeshelashvili was the Head of Programmes at the European Anti-Corruption Initiative in Ukraine. She was the Vice Prime-Minister, State Minister for Reintegration of Georgia (2010-2012). She previously served as the National Security Adviser to the President of Georgia and as the Secretary of the National Security Council (2008-2010) heading the National Strategic Review Process. Earlier she held the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs (2008). She also worked as Prosecutor General (2008) and Minister of Justice (2007-2008) leading the criminal justice, civil and public service reforms. Mrs.Tkeshelashvili also held the position of Chairperson of Tbilisi Appeals Court and was member of the High Council of Justice of Georgia. At earlier stages she also served as the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and Deputy Minister of Justice, where she was mainly responsible for international legal relations. Before joining the government, Mrs. Tkeshelashvili was a Deputy Chief of Party at IRIS Georgia implementing USAID rule of law projects. She also worked in the ICRC and was responsible for the programs on national implementation of International Humanitarian Law. Mrs.Tkeshelashvili also worked in academia, as an Associate Professor she taught the Public International Law and Accountability for Human Rights Atrocities at various Georgian universities.
Watch the recording here.
November 8 | Bernard Duhaime, Tae-Ung Baik and Juan Pablo Albán Alancastro
Enforced Disappearances
Professor Albán Alencastro presented several milestones of the Committee's work in its first 10 years of existence and the future challenges it faces both within the United Nations System of treaty bodies and in its supervision of state obligations and accompaniment of victims. Juan Pablo is a full-time Professor at Universidad San Francisco de Quito (Ecuador) in the areas of Human Rights and Criminal Law, as well as Director of the Clinical Legal Education System. He is also a Graduate Programs Professor at various Ecuadorian Universities and Universidad Nacional de San Martín (Argentina). He is one of twelve Foreign Experts of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace in Colombia and a member of the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (2021-2025). Juan Pablo is also an alumno of the International Human Rights Law LLM Program ('03) and a JSD candidate.
Professor Duhaime discussed the development of international human rights law related to enforced disappearances, addressing in particular the recent history of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, its doctrinal contributions as well as the impact that it has had on both international and domestic law and institutions. He will also analyze current obstacles and challenges in this field. Bernard Duhaime is a full professor of law at the University of Quebec in Montreal and a former member of the UN WGEID (2014-2021). He is currently Fellow at the Pierre-Elliott Foundation and the Geneva Academy, a visiting professor at Paris II University, and avocat émérite (senior counsel) at the Quebec Bar in Canada. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame’s LL.M. program in 2002.
Professor Tae-Ung Baik discussed UN's efforts to eradicate enforced disappearances by introducing the activities of the UN WGEID such as sessional meetings, case procedures, and country visits. Tae-Ung Baik is a professor of law and Director of the SJD Program at the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He is also the Director of Center for Korean Studies of the University. He has been a member of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) since 2015. He received his first law degree from the Seoul National University College of Law and earned his master (LL.M.) and doctoral (J.S.D.) degrees on international human rights law from Notre Dame Law School. He was admitted to the Bar as an attorney-at-law in the State of New York and had been a visiting scholar at the East Asian Legal Studies Program, Harvard University Law School and at Seoul National University.
Watch the recording here.
November 15 | Effi Vandevoorde
Global Lawyering in Practice Series: Corporate Counsel
November 22 | Vinodh Jaichand
The Right to Land
November 29 | Roger Alford
Government Lawyering
Roger P. Alford joined the Notre Dame Law faculty in January 2012. Alford teaches and writes in a wide range of subject-matter areas, including international trade, international arbitration, international antitrust, and comparative law.
Alford earned his B.A. with Honors from Baylor in 1985, his J.D. with Honors from New York University, and his LL.M. from Edinburgh University. Before entering the legal academy, he served as a law clerk to Judge James Buckley of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and Judge Richard Allison of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands. He practiced law with Hogan & Hartson (now Hogan Lovells) in Washington, D.C., and was also a senior legal advisor to the Claims Resolution Tribunal for Dormant Activities in Zurich, Switzerland.
In addition to publishing widely in leading law reviews and journals, Alford is the general editor of Kluwer Arbitration Blog and on the Executive Committee of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration.
He is Concurrent Professor at the Keough School of Global Affairs, a Faculty Fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, and a Faculty Fellow at the Nanovic Institute for European Studies. He was the Academic Director of the London Global Gateway from 2016-2017 and Associate Dean for Graduate and International Programs from 2013-2017.
He served as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for International Affairs with the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice from 2017-2019.
December 6 | Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim
Opportunities and challenges to join the United Nations as a human rights defender and lawyer
Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim is an Islamic Law Expert in Department of Peace Operations (DPO), Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions (OROLSI), Justice and Corrections Service (JCS). He also is a former presiding Judge at Cairo Court of Appeal in Egypt. He has previously worked with: (1) UNSMIS in Syria as the head of Justice and Corrections team; (2) UNMIS in Sudan and South Sudan as the chief of Justice, Corrections and SSR section, and (3) UNAMA in Afghanistan as the deputy director of the Rule of Law Section. He earned his SJD doctoral degree at Northwestern University School of Law, Chicago in 2007, in the field of International Human Rights Law. He received his LL.M Master of law in International Criminal Law from University of Notre Dame Law School, Indiana, in 1997 and earned his License en Droit (Law Degree) from Cairo University, Faculty of Law, Cairo, Egypt in 1988. He worked previously as a Legal Adviser at the Egyptian Legislation Department, the Ministry of Justice. He served as a Judge at North Cairo Court for five years, handling Tort, bankruptcy, commercial, and investment cases. Before that he spent five years in the Attorney General’s Office as a Public Prosecutor (District Attorney) at Central Cairo District, where he was involved in handling criminal cases; terrorism cases, in addition to investigating violations of human rights in terms of abuse of power, arbitrary detention and police harassment.
Originally published by at law.nd.edu on October 14, 2021.