International Legal Studies Program

ILSP Spotlight: Leah Field ’24 (BA’20)

May. 17, 2023—Double Dore explains how International Legal Studies Program helped her act on her interests in human rights and international law

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Elodie Currier ’23 wins ABA’s Harvey Saferstein Consumer Protection Prize for article on data privacy

May. 1, 2023—Currier’s article on the pitfalls of data anonymization is forthcoming in the New Mexico Law Review. 

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Key takeaways from Yesha Yadav’s testimony before the Senate Banking Committee on the cryptocurrency meltdown

Feb. 14, 2023—Yadav was one of three financial regulation experts who testified before the full committee in the aftermath of the crypto crash on why financial safeguards are needed for digital assets.

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Ingrid Wuerth featured in Jan. 18 Lawfare podcast: “Halkbank Hits the Supreme Court”

Jan. 19, 2023—Wuerth is one of two sovereign immunity experts interviewed by Lawfare senior editor Scott R. Anderson in a discussion of U.S. v. Halkbank, a Supreme Court case that addresses criminal charges brought by the U.S. government against a Turkish state-owned bank.

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Yesha Yadav discusses the arrest of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried in CNN International interview

Dec. 16, 2022—Financial regulation expert Yadav discusses the federal charges against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who faces an eight-count criminal indictment that includes charges of fraud and conspiracy and violating campaign finance laws in the wake of the collapse of his cryptocurrency empire, with CNN International news anchor Rosemary Church.

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Human rights expert Pramila Patten delivered Vanderbilt’s 2022 Charney Distinguished Lecture in International Law

Nov. 11, 2022—Patten is the United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict and Under-secretary General of the United Nations. She delivered her lecture, titled "Evolution and Impact of the Mandate on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence," in Flynn Auditorium Nov. 10.

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New Transnational Litigation Blog Post from Ingrid Brunk: Foreign Data Protection Laws: Greater Impact on U.S. Discovery than Foreign Blocking Statutes

Oct. 25, 2022—Ingrid (Wuerth) Brunk writes that litigants are increasingly using foreign data protection laws-especially new laws in China and the EU-to resist discovery requests from U.S. courts.

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Technology and the Future of War: Niloofar Razi Howe in conversation with Ganesh Sitaraman Nov. 7

Oct. 25, 2022—Howe is an expert on cybersecurity and other tools of modern warfare. Her conversation with Ganesh Sitaraman will begin at 12:30 p.m. in the Moore Room.

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Michael Newton quoted in Associate Press coverage of possible Russian war crimes.

Aug. 31, 2022—More than 50 people, including children, were killed in a Russian attack on a train station in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, in April. Even if members of the military were among the dead, Newton said the attack could still violate the laws of war if it disproportionately harmed civilians. “If you’re going to kill a small number of troops as opposed to a large number of civilians, that’s a war crime,” he said.

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International Legal Studies Program


Why designating Russia a state sponsor of terrorism is a bad idea: Washington Post Opinion by Ingrid Wuerth

Aug. 1, 2022—Wuerth is a foreign policy expert and holds the Helen Strong Curry Chair in International Law. "The state sponsor of terrorism designation is not a symbolic act to chastise states that behave badly," she writes. "It is a legal trigger embedded in an extremely complex statutory and regulatory framework. The effects of pulling that...trigger are not easy to identify and untangle."

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Mike Newton presents USAID report on adjudicating war crimes cases in Ukraine July 22

Jul. 22, 2022—The report is entitled "Ensuring Fair and Effective Justice in Adjudicating War Crimes Cases in Ukraine."

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International Legal Studies Program


Ingrid Wuerth discusses downsides to designating Russia a State Sponsor of Terrorism in Foreign Policy

Jul. 20, 2022—Wuerth, an expert in foreign affairs, is quoted extensively in "Is Russia a Terrorist State?", a July 18 article discussing calls for the Biden administration to label Russia as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, a designation meant to further isolate Russia diplomatically and cut off its economy from the global financial system.

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International Legal Studies Program


Russia should not be designated a state sponsor of terrorism: Opinion by Ingrid Wuerth

Jul. 20, 2022—Wuerth's column, published in Just Security and in the Transnational Litigation blog, suggests the designation would be largely symbolic and could ultimately harm the interests of the Ukrainian government and the people of Ukraine.

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Leah Kehoe ’23 discusses her work on State Department grants in the International Law Practice Lab

Jul. 7, 2022—"The International Law Practice Lab provided a unique opportunity to develop my technical understanding of international legal frameworks concerning counterterrorism policy while obtaining practical experience researching, analyzing and writing in a professional environment," Kehoe said.

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Mike Newton discusses the role of international and hybrid courts in bringing justice in Ukraine on June 24 panel

Jun. 24, 2022—Newton presented portions of his USAID report for Ukraine at a June 24 conference, "Responsibility for War Crimes and Other Violations of IHL: What Are Possible Models for Adjudicating in Such Cases for Ukraine?", cosponsored by USAID and EU Project Pravo-Justice. The conference schedule appears here.

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International Legal Studies Program


Mike Newton quoted in discussion of death sentences handed down by Russian-backed court

Jun. 15, 2022—Newton is quoted in Politico coverage of a "show trial" against three foreign nationals fighting with the Ukraine army against Russian troops. "There is no legal basis for the trial," Newton said, addng that "The Russians have the obligation to accord prisoner-of-war status to all persons who come into their custody" under the Geneva Convention. Newton has served in the State Department as the senior adviser to the ambassador-at-large for War Crimes Issues.

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International Legal Studies Program



Newton discusses ICC’s role in holding Russia accountable for its acts in Ukraine in panel sponsored by the EUCTER-Jean Monnet Network on EU Counter-Terrorism

Jun. 8, 2022—The panel, "Russia's Acts in Ukraine: Terrorism, War Crimes or Genocide?", also featured experts in war crimes, state-sponsored terrorism and genocide from the University of Birmingham, Bryant University and the Geneva Graduate Institute.

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International Legal Studies Program


Mikkaela Salamatin ’21 receives Honorable Distinction for Governance Insight Award from Investments & Wealth Institute

Jun. 3, 2022—Salamartin accepted the award at the institute’s 2022 ACE conference for her article, “Balancing Innovation and Protection: Understanding the Landscape of DeFi Regulation,” which she wrote as a VLS student with support from Professor Michael A. Newton. Salamatin is an associate at Norton Rose Fulbright in New York.

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Alumni Career Services International Legal Studies Program


Gautam Rana ’97 nominated to serve as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Slovak Republic

May. 26, 2022—Rana is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service and currently serves as Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Algeria.

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Chris Giancarlo ’84 named Chevalier in the National Order of Merit by French government

May. 19, 2022—J. Christopher Giancarlo, Class of 1984, former chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has been awarded the rank of Chevalier in the French National Order of Merit by President Emmanuel Macron. Giancarlo is a Wall Street lawyer and business figure renowned in the financial world for his expertise in cryptocurrency. The award will be presented to him...

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Ingrid Wuerth cited in Lawfare discussion of legislative proposals to allow the seizure of frozen Russian assets

Apr. 28, 2022—Wuerth's March 7 Lawfare blog post, "Does Foreign Immunity Apply to Sanctions on Central Banks?", and her Fordham Law Review article, "The Due Process and Other Constitutional Rights of Foreign Nations," are both cited extensively in UVA Law Professor Paul Stephan's April 26 Lawfare blog post, "Giving Russian Assets to Ukraine—Freezing Is Not Seizing."

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Samantha Smith ‘22 selected for the Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics law program

Apr. 21, 2022—Smith is one of 14 law students selected for the program, through which they visit Germany and Poland and examine the conduct of lawyers in Nazi-occupied Europe.

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Mike Newton discusses the challenges of investigating war crimes when the conflict is ongoing with journalist Natasha Fatah

Apr. 7, 2022—Newton has been a senior adviser to the Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues in the U.S. State Department. In this interview with Natasha Fatah of CBS News, he talks about how the International Criminal Court will investigate possible war crimes by Russia while the war is ongoing.

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