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From the Directors
In a time of much international tumult, the faculty at McGeorge School of Law strives to engage at all levels with international law and practice, whether through thought-provoking international law scholarship or impactful participation in transnational policymaking and pedagogy.
With warm regards,
Omar M. Dajani & Jarrod Wong
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International Law Scholarship | |
 |  | Professor Omar M. Dajani’s co-edited volume, Federalism and Decentralization in the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa (Cambridge University Press 2023) (with Aslı Bâli) is the first scholarly work in the English language to offer a comparative assessment of the law and politics of decentralized governance in the MENA region. The book presents eleven case studies by experts across multiple disciplines ― constitutional law, conflict resolution, comparative politics, comparative law, political theory, economics, sociology, and urban planning ― examining the region’s experience with a synthetic conclusion by Dajani and Bâli, who offer a new typology of drivers of decentralization and explore the various novel approaches to decentralized governance. Dajani’s chapter in the volume, Stuck Together? Can a Two-State Confederation End the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict? (with Dahlia Schendlin), evaluates proposals for creating an Israeli-Palestinian confederation, exploring the process and institutional design considerations it presents as a framework for conflict resolution. Dajani and Bâli’s article, Negotiating Pluralism: Dilemmas of Decentralization in the Middle East, 74 UC Law Rev. ___ (forthcoming 2024), examines the record of decentralization as a vehicle for improving governance and managing identity conflict in the Middle East, critically assessing its performance in four countries: Tunisia, Iran, Syria, and Yemen. In addition Dajani and Bâli’s short essay, Beyond the Nation-State in the Middle East, Boston Review (Jan. 9, 2023), considers efforts by Kurdish and Israeli-Palestinian confederal movements to reimagine the nation-state. They explore similar themes in El Futuro del Estado Nación (The Future of the Nation-State), Annuario International CIDOB 218 (2023) (in Catalán). With co-author Mira Sucharov, Dajani also published a narrative essay presenting two distinct perspectives on Zionism rooted in differing personal experiences, Dear Omar, Dear Mira: Exploring Zionism Across the Ethnic Divide, 41 Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies 201 (2023).
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| |  | Professor Jarrod Wong and Abdallah Abuelfutuh Ali (McGeorge School of Law JSD graduate) offer a new typology of legislative stabilization clauses (LSCs) in The Legislative Stabilization Clause, 55 N.Y.U. J. of Int’l L. and Pol. 67 (2022), arguing that what they term a Contractual LSC best addresses the interests of both foreign investors and host states in the stabilization of foreign investments. In Best Evidence Rule, Max Planck Encyclopaedia of International Procedural Law (Oxford University Press) (2023), Wong analyzes the “best evidence rule” as interpreted and applied by international courts and tribunals. The best evidence rule provides that a party trying to prove the contents of written, recorded or photographic evidence must ordinarily introduce the original evidence. In The U.S. National Report to the 2022 International Congress of Comparative Law on the Independence and Impartiality of International Adjudicators, 70 American Journal of Comparative Law i376 (2022) as well as The Independence and Impartiality of Adjudicators in the United States of America, in Independence and Impartiality of International Adjudicators (Giuditta Cordero-Moss, ed.) (Intersentia, Cambridge) (2023), Wong considers how the independence and impartiality of adjudicators, including international arbitrators, are safeguarded in the U.S. legal system.
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Distinguished Professor Michael P. Malloy’s paper, Russia-Ukraine Economic Sanctions: Legal Responses to a Crisis, was published by the Athens Institute for Education and Research in a proceedings volume, Anthology Of Law in February 2023. It assesses the effectiveness of sanctions imposed by the United States in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In October 2022, the University of the Pacific Law Review published a symposium of papers presented during a conference hosted by McGeorge, the first ever Zoom Panel of the International Contracts Conference (KCon), including Malloy’s article, Contracts and Economic Sanctions¸which examines the effects of economic sanctions on a contract party’s rights and obligations.
West Academic has published Malloy’s new casebook, Contemporary Payment Systems (2d ed. 2023), which includes new developments in crypto-currency and transnational letter of credit transactions.
International publisher Wolters Kluwer has issued multiple supplements in 2022 and 2023 for Malloy’s three-volume treatise Banking Law and Regulation. Spanning hundreds of pages, the Supplement provides new and updated legislative, regulatory, and case law developments in financial services regulation. Malloy's treatise has been in print for over 30 years, and remains a key source on financial services regulation for courts, attorneys, and scholars.
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Distinguished Professor of Law, Franklin Gevurtz, provides a comprehensive and often critical examination of the approach taken in the United States to applying statutes and regulations to events outside the United States in Extraterritorial Application of Statutes and Regulations, 70 Am. J. Comp. L. i347 (2022).
Distinguished Professor of Law, Franklin Gevurtz, provides a comprehensive and often critical examination of the approach taken in the United States to applying statutes and regulations to events outside the United States in Extraterritorial Application of Statutes and Regulations, 70 Am. J. Comp. L. i347 (2022).
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Justice Anthony Kennedy Professor, Leslie Gielow Jacobs, as part of a comparative project, provides an overview of the laws that address the harmful spread of disinformation that exist within the limits imposed by the U.S. Constitution in Freedom of Speech and Regulation of Fake News, 70 Am. J. Comp. L. i278 (2022), https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcl/avac010, and in a chapter in the comparative law book Freedom of Speech and the Regulation of Fake News, O. Pollicino, ed., (Intersentia, Cambridge) (2023).
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Associate Dean of Faculty Scholarship and Distinguished Professor Michael Vitiello considers the plight of revenge porn victims in Revenge Porn and Other Crime Victims: Is It Right to Blame Them? in Criminalising Intimate Image Abuse (Gian Marco Caletti and Kolis Summerer, eds., Oxford University Press) (forthcoming 2024), a book with contributions from European and U.S. scholars analyzing intimate image abuse from a comparative perspective.
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Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Experiential Learning and Professor Mary-Beth Moylan, Professor Stephanie Thompson, and other contributing authors from the Global Lawyering Skills program published Legal Writing and Global Lawyering Skills, 3d Edition (West 2023). The book is used by all first and second year students in McGeorge’s innovative global lawyering skills courses, and includes chapters on challenging implicit bias, research, writing, and revising legal documents. | |
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Professor Jeffrey A. Michael and Professor Francis J. Mootz III were invited by a peer-reviewed Brazilian law journal to analyze the regulation of California’s gig economy in ‘Freedom’s Just Another Word for Nothing Left to Lose’: The Ongoing Struggle to Properly Regulate the Gig Economy in California, in Revista da AGU -Advocacia-Geral da União (forthcoming 2022).
By way of his book chapter, Gadamer and Jurisprudence in The Gadamerian Mind 364-75 (Theodore D. George and Gert-Jan van der Heiden, eds., Routledge Publishing) (2022), Mootz joins other international scholars in focusing on the work of German philosopher, Hans-Georg Gadamer. Not wishing other European philosophers to feel left out, has also taken on the work of the Dutch-born philosopher Professor Jan Broekman in his chapter, Jan Broekman and the Multicultural Self, a solicited contribution to a Festschrift honoring Broekman that will be published by Springer in 2023 as part of a book series devoted to Visual Jurisprudence and edited by Frank Fleerackers and Anne Wagner; and the Italian philosopher Giambattista Vico in his chapter Giambattista Vico, in a book that Mootz coedits titled Classical Rhetoric and Contemporary Law: A Critical Reader (Francis J. Mootz III, Kirsten Davis, Brian Larson, and Kristen Tiscione, eds., University of Alabama Press) (in press 2023).
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Understandably concerned that all this work and no play would make him dull, Mootz gamely responds with his book chapter At Play in the Fields of the Law, in Philosophy's Arena: Play and Players in a Gamified World (Jeremy Sampson, ed.; Vernon Press) (in pess 2023), a book that includes philosophers across the globe writing on play as being central to human understanding. Which finally leaves Mootz’s chapter, Rhetoric and Law, in The Cambridge History of Rhetoric: Volume V 1900–, (Daniel M. Gross, Steven Mailloux, LuMing Mao, eds, Cambridge University Press) (forthcoming 2024), a volume that promises to be the standard reference for the history of rhetorical studies with its lineup of international scholars from around the world.
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Global Impact
Carol Olson Endowed Professor of International Law Stephen McCaffrey represented the Republic of Chile in hearings before the International Court of Justice in Chile's case against Bolivia concerning the Silala River. McCaffrey also delivered a series of five 50-minute virtual lectures entitled, “The Evolution of the Law of International Watercourses” for The Hague Academy of International Law that has been published in 426 RECUEIL DES COURS 241 (2022).These Hague Lectures, which trace the development of the law in the field from the first recorded treaty on any subject ― concluded in ca. 3100 BC between two Mesopotamian city-states ― to the present in covering both navigational and non-navigational uses.
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Three McGeorge professors served as U.S. National Rapporteurs in the XXI Congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law, which was held in October 2022 in Asunción (Paraguay). Franklin Gevurtz’s report on extraterritorial application of statutes and regulations, Leslie Gielow Jacobs’ report on freedom of speech and “fake news,” and Jarrod Wong’s report on the independence and impartiality of international adjudicators have been published in a special online issue (70 Supp.) of the American Journal of Comparative Law on the Oxford University Press website. Wong also spoke on the panel on the independence and impartiality of international adjudicators, which was the opening substantive session at the Congress.
As the world’s attention has turned again to Israel-Palestine, Professor Omar M. Dajani has been a prominent voice in legal and policy discussions about the horrific developments in the region, the circumstances that produced them, and possible directions for the future. Formerly a legal advisor to the Palestinian negotiating team in peace talks with Israel, Dajani offered an assessment of the Middle East peace process in remarks at the Middle East Institute’s symposium, Oslo at 30: Legacies, Hard Realities and Alternatives for Israel Palestine, as well as in a conversation hosted by the New York Times Magazine and in hour-long radio interviews on KQED and WBUR. Dajani participated in a roundtable discussion convened by the American Society of International Law on the humanitarian law implications of Hamas’ October 7 attacks and Israel’s military assault on the Gaza Strip, and his policy analysis has been published in The New York Times and Foreign Policy. In addition, Dajani and political scientist Mira Sucharov, with whom he is working on a book and podcast, have led discussions about how to talk about Israel-Palestine on a number of university campuses, including Dartmouth, Rutgers, and Pittsbugh. Finally, Dajani was elected to serve on the board of A Land for All, an Israeli-Palestinian movement for peace, equality and mutual self-determination, and is actively engaged in developing the movement’s policy agenda.
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Professor Emerita Linda Carter served as a consultant to the defense team for Dominic Ongwen at the International Criminal Court through the appellate brief and argument, which occurred in February 2022; Carter assisted with issues of first impression for the Court on multiple convictions and burdens of proof. Carter also served as co-leader of an International Bar Association initiative in 2023 to provide advice at the request of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine on international criminal law and family law theories to compel the Russian Federation to return the Ukrainian children who have been taken into Russia and not yet returned.
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Professional Leadership
Jarrod Wong serves as the American Society of International Law observer delegate to the United Nations Commission of International Trade Law, Working Group III, on Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) reform. With state and observer delegates across the world, the Group is embarked on a historic multi-year project to address procedural and structural concerns with ISDS, including inconsistent arbitral outcomes, capacity-building of host state governments, and third-party funding. Wong has also been elected to the Steering Committee of the Academic Forum on ISDS, which was established to reflect on and contribute to the work of UNCITRAL on ISDS. Additionally, Wong serves on the Academic Council of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration, an international educational forum in the field of transnational arbitration that counts among its members many of the leading arbitrators and arbitration counsel in the world.
In 2022, Michael P. Malloy participated in planning sessions of the Real Estate Markets Advisory Group of the Committee on Urban Development, Housing and Land Management, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, that considered proposals for innovative financing and for sustainable housing, which was the theme of the Policy Framework for Sustainable Real Estate Markets (UNECE, rev. 2019) for which Dr. Malloy was a contributor. Malloy was also a principal speaker at its 83rd session, which was convened in San Marino in October 2022. For a panel on The Impact of Energy Prices on Housing, Land Management and Real Estate Markets, Dr. Malloy discussed – virtually - the impact of energy prices on finance and bank regulation, arguing that risk assessment tended to focus on transaction-related risks but was less effective in addressing systemic risks such as the energy crisis, the pandemic, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Malloy also served on the organizing committee and as co-host for the 19th and 20th Annual International Conference on Law in Athens, Greece, sponsored by the Athens Institute for Education and Research in July 2022 and July 2023 respectively; Malloy’s presentation at the July 2022 conference, Russia-Ukraine Economic Sanctions: Legal Responses to a Crisis, assessed the effectiveness of sanctions imposed by the United States in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Additionally, Malloy served on the organizing committee and as co-host for the 9th and 10th Annual International Conference on Business, Law, and Economics, sponsored by the Athens Institute for Education and Research, in 2022 and 2023 respectively.
Franklin Gevurtz served as the primary Editor for the special issue of the American Journal of Comparative Law devoted to the U.S. National Reports to the 2022 International Congress of Comparative Law.
Linda Carter serves as a trustee of the International Bar Foundation, which is a support organization for rule of law projects through the International Bar Association. As a panelist in a program in 2022 on international criminal law for Ukrainian lawyers co-sponsored by the International Bar Association and the Ukrainian Bar Association, Carter spoke about theories of liability ― including command responsibility, joint criminal enterprise, and co-perpetration ― that are crucial for holding responsible high-level military and political leaders.
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2022 Annual Global Center Symposium
The Global Center’s 2022 Annual Symposium, Israel, Palestine, and the First Amendment, explored a set of questions that have grown even more urgent in recent months, as the compounding recent tragedies in the Middle East have produced unprecedented polarization inside and outside the academy. The symposium examined several contexts in which the boundaries of freedom of speech are being tested by the regulation of expression implicating the State of Israel and advocacy for Palestinian rights.
We discussed the constitutionality — and propriety — of federal and state legislation prohibiting boycotts of Israel, of efforts by universities to manage the sometimes clamorous debate about Israel-Palestine on their campuses, and of policies and processes adopted by digital platforms to moderate content pertaining to one of the most hotly contested places on the planet. The symposium, papers from which have been published in Volume 54 of the University of the Pacific Law Review, brought together an uncommon array of experts, diverse, in perspective, experience, and discipline, including: Lindsey Andersen (BSR), Aslı Bâli (Yale), Peter Beinart (Jewish Currents), Susan Benesch (Harvard), Marwa Fatafta (Access Now), Brian Hauss (ACLU), Lara Friedman (Foundation for Middle East Peace), Ethan Katz (Berkeley), Dima Khalidi (Palestine Legal), Zoha Khalili (Palestine Legal), Yehuda Kurtzer (Shalom Hartman Institute), Maha Nassar (Arizona), Mira Sucharov (Carleton), Kenneth Stern (Bard), and Eugene Volokh (UCLA).
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List of JSD graduates in 2022 and 2023 | |
McGeorge School of Law is among a small number of law schools in the United States that offer a JSD program in international law. Here are our recent proud JSD graduates and the titles of their respective dissertations: | |
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Essa Al-Ali
Evaluate the Value-Added Tax Policy in the United Arab Emirates
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Omar Alatawi
The Role of Decentralization in Combatting Corruption in Saudi Arabia
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Sultan Albedwawi
Timeshare Law in the United Arab Emirates (A Comparative Study)
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Dimitrios Dimitrakos
Land-Based Sources of Marine Pollution: An Analysis of Articles 207, 213 And Other Selected Provisions of The United Nations Convention on the Law of The Sea 1982 From A Dynamic Interpretation Point of View, and A Critical Analysis and Assessment of The Global and Regional Regulatory Framework, With Emphasis on the Regional Seas Programme
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Ahmad Falamarzi
The Conflict of Federal Legal Principles Caused by a Plurality of Supreme Courts in the UAE
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Abdullatif Alhammad
Mergers and Acquisitions by Saudi Close Corporations: An Analysis of Minority Shareholder Protection in the Controlling-Shareholder Transactions
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Abdallah Ali
Stabilization and Renegotiation Clauses in International Investment Law: A Critical Assessment
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