Education: LL.M., Columbia Law School (James Kent Scholar) LL.B., The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Law School (magna cum laude)
Awards and Scholarships: Fulbright Grant David E. Fischman Scholarship
Dissertation: Separating Law-Making from Sausage-Making - A New Model of Judicial Review of the Legislative Process Faithful, perhaps, to the old adage that "people who like sausages and respect the law should never watch either being made," the US Supreme Court has been reluctant for many years to exercise judicial review of the lawmaking process. My dissertation will challenge this approach and argue that it is time for a comprehensive theoretical and empirical study about judicial review of the legislative process in general, and its applicability to the United States in particular.
My research project has three major goals. The first is to demonstrate the practical need for judicial review of the legislative process and to establish its theoretical basis. The second goal is to examine the different academic and practical models of judicial review of the lawmaking process in the United States and in other countries. This examination will provide theoretic and empirical criteria to appraise the desirability of these models among themselves and in comparison to substantive judicial review and other possible non-judicial means for shaping lawmaking. The third goal is to construct a new model of judicial review of the legislative process. This model will provide an alternative to the traditional model of substantive judicial review, as well as to existing models of judicial review of the legislative process.
Professional Experience: Columbia Law School, Associate-in-Law, 2007-2009 The Supreme Court of Israel, Permanent Senior Law Clerk to Justice Dorit Beinisch, 2002 -2005 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Law School, Research Assistant to Professor Menahem Elon, 2001-2002 The Israel Democracy Institute, Research Assistant to Professor Mordechai Kremnitzer, 2000-2001
Education: LL.M., Columbia University School of Law (James Kent Scholar) LL.B., Hebrew University, Faculty of Law (summa cum laude) LL.B., Hebrew University, Faculty of Humanities, Humanities Interdisciplinary Program (summa cum laude)
Interpreting Precedents: Developing An Interpretative Methodology For Interpreting Judicial Decisions Judicial decisions are one of the central sources of law in common law legal systems. Like other sources of law that are expressed in the form of an authoritative text, judicial decisions often require interpretation. The need to interpret judicial decisions has significantly increased as court decisions have become longer and more complex and as decisions often include elaborate doctrines and tests. My research has two main aims: first, I intend to examine the methods of interpretation employed by lower courts interpreting higher court decisions. Second, I intend to develop a comprehensive methodology for interpreting judicial decisions comparable to methodologies developed in the fields of statutory and constitutional interpretation.
Fellowships and Appointments: Columbia University School of Law, Fulbright Scholar, 2005-present Hebrew University, Faculty of Law, 2001-2003, Teaching Instructor, Jurisprudence. Hebrew University, Faculty of Law, 1999-2001, Teaching Assistant, Contract Law and Jurisprudence. Hebrew University, Faculty of Law, 1998-2000, Research Assistant, Private Law and Constitutional Law.
Education: M.St., Oxford University (candidate) LL.M., Columbia University (James Kent Scholar) J.D., Boston University (G. Joseph Tauro Scholar) B.A., Drury College (President's Scholar)
My JSD dissertation is tentatively entitled "Self Government and Sovereignty in International Law," and examines the relationship of comparative constitutional ideas of citizen sovereignty and participatory government to the evolution and understanding of state sovereignty in international law as a means to rethink and reinforce arguments for non-state actor participation in international lawmaking. My broader research agenda relates to law and international development, with a particular focus on natural resource management, property rights, and the process of making decisions about development alternatives.
I'm working on the JSD as part of a transition to full-time teaching. I served as Director of Tulane Law School's Environmental Law and Policy Institute in New Orleans (2001-05) and as a legal advisor to the US Agency for International Development (1995-2001), and in both positions worked with a number of international agencies, government institutions, and non-governmental organizations on legal reform projects relating to law and natural resource development. I spent the early part of my career in practice in Boston and Washington, DC.
Education: LL.M., Columbia Law School (Walter Gellhorn Prize, James Kent Scholar) J.D., Boston University School of Law M.A., Harvard University B.A., Duke University
I am writing about the intersection of religion and law in a variety of contexts. My research explores the question of teaching about religion in public schools, the problem of constitutional definitions of religion, and the ongoing debate about the appropriate role of religious belief in forming political judgment.
Prior to enrolling in the J.S.D. program, I was a law clerk for Judge Jerome Farris, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and for Judge William E. Smith, U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island. I also worked in private practice as an Associate in the litigation department of Sullivan & Worcester, LLP in Boston. I'm presently working part time as an Assistant District Attorney in the Appellate Division in Middlesex County, Massachusetts.
Publications: "Recoiling From Religion," 43 San Diego Law Review (forthcoming 2006) "The New Religious Prisons and Their Retributivist Commitments," 59 Arkansas Law Review 1 (2006) "Congressional Threats of Removal Against Federal Judges," 10 Texas Journal on Civil Liberties & Civil Rights 111 (2005)
Education:
LL.M., Columbia University (James Kent Scholar)
LL.M., The Judge Advocate General’s School, U.S. Army
J.D. (with highest honors), The University of Oklahoma
B.S., United States Military Academy
J.S.D. Research:
Tentative Title: The Laws of War, the Rule of Law, and Civil-Military Relations in Times of Armed Conflict
This dissertation will examine the legal framework governing U.S. civil-military relations in times of armed conflict. It will carefully address the obligations of members of the armed forces both to their civilian leaders and to the rule of law. It will also establish the status and effect of international laws governing armed conflict, known as international humanitarian law or the laws of war, in the U.S. legal system.
The project will proceed in several parts, some of which will be submitted for independent publication. The first examines the relative powers of the executive and legislative branches in regulating the nation’s conduct in war. This research, entitled “The Commander-in-Chief and the Necessities of War: A Conceptual Framework,” was completed as part of Columbia’s LL.M. program. The second will establish the conflict of laws framework followed during armed conflict, as reflected in Supreme Court precedent. The third will explain possible sources of accountability in U.S. law for law of war violations. The fourth will examine the proper influence of these laws on civil-military relations, particularly in light of the prospect of individual responsibility under international law.
The importance of this project to the U.S. and its armed forces was very clear during my involvement in the investigation and prosecution of detainee abuse and deaths in Afghanistan. Highly questionable legal analysis and advice at many levels demonstrated a complete absence of a historical or theoretical understanding of the laws of war and their relationship to U.S. law, as well as the separation of war powers.
Areas of Research:
International Humanitarian Law
U.S. Foreign Relations & National Security Law
International Human Rights Law
Civil-Military Relations
Professional Experience:
2006-present: Assistant Professor, United States Military Academy
1998-2006: Judge Advocate, U.S. Army
1990-1995: Commissioned Officer, U.S. Army
Education: Visiting Scholar, Columbia Law School LL.M., Columbia Law School M.A.L.D., Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University LL.B., Yonsei University (Korea) B.A. (Economics), Yonsei University (Korea)
Fields of Research: Corporate Governance Corporate Law / Securities and Capital Markets Economic Analysis of Corporate Law
Before I studied law, I worked as a fund manager in an asset management firm. Since then, I have been very interested in corporate governance, which is my main field of research in the J.S.D. Program at Columbia. The following is a brief description of my dissertation.
In developing countries, it is quite common that a certain group of “families” run their business conglomerates as controlling shareholders. In these jurisdictions, minority shareholders are poorly protected within formal structures, such as corporate and securities laws and judicial systems. In theory, there should not be so many minority shareholders in these “bad-law countries” since laws insufficiently protect minority shareholders. In reality, however, a significant number of minority shareholders have participated within many bad-law countries, while some countries are exemplary in terms of their economic development. The purpose of my current research is to offer potential answers to this conundrum, which has not been comprehensively charted as of yet. In order to explain this anomaly, I believe that we should rely on other frameworks, such as informal institutions and the hidden incentives of each party in corporations, as commentators have not yet paid this topic adequate attention. Since I firmly believe that current corporate governance issues are complex reflections of politics, history, finance, and the psyches of interested parties as well as law, my research will rely heavily on interdisciplinary work – many theories of political science, economics and legal doctrines will be re-interpreted in the context of corporate governance of controlling ownership.
Education:
LL.M., Columbia Law School (Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar)
LL.B. (Law and Middle Eastern Studies), The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Law School (magna cum laude)
Awards and Scholarships:
Norman E. Alexander Scholarship 2008-2009 (Columbia Law School)
Kripps Award for Outstanding Student Specializing in Human Rights, 2006 (Hebrew University)
Bernson Award for Excelling in Social Responsibility, 2006 (Hebrew University)
Dissertation: Intervention in Civil Wars in the Human Rights Era
Traditional international law, perhaps enshrining the concept of state sovereignty, has treated internal armed conflicts as beyond its reach; accordingly, a party's capacity to invite a third party to intervene in an internal armed conflict on its behalf, was contingent – mostly – upon the inviting party's effective control over a part of the territory of the war-torn state. In the era of the U.N. Charter, the relevance of this doctrine has been left unclear; some evidence exist that preference, in this context, is given nowadays to governments over rebel groups. My hypothesis is that modern international law – mainly through the vast expansion of human rights law – gives us various tools for the substantive evaluation of parties and their capacities to invite third parties to intervene, thereby freeing us from the confines of rigid effective-control tests, or other formalistic standards.
Professional Experience:
The Supreme Court of Israel,Law Clerk to (acting) Justice David Cheshin, 2006 -2007
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Law School, Clinical Legal Center, Co-director of the Clinic for Legal Aid in Conflict Areas; Co-director of the Human Rights Externship Program and the Street Law project (2005–2008)
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Law School, Teaching Assistant in Constitutional Law and Jurisprudence (2005–2007)
Publications:
The Status of Mercenaries in International Armed Conflict as a Case of Politicization of International Humanitarian Law, BUCERIUS LAW JOURNAL (Upcoming 2009)
Education:
Ph.D. candidate, University of São Paulo, Faculty of Law
LL.M., Columbia Law School (Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar)
M.A., University of São Paulo, Faculty of Law (honors)
B.A., University of São Paulo, Faculty of Law (honors)
Awards, Fellowships and Scholarships:
Heffernan Fellow, Columbia Law School
Ford Foundation – IDCID Scholarship, University of São Paulo
FAPESP Scholarship, University of São Paulo
Interests:
Securities and financial regulation
Law and economics of capital markets
Corporate finance and market microstructure
Industrial organization of financial markets
International trade in financial services
Financial services negotiations, GATS and WTO
International financial architecture, IMF reform
J.S.D. Research Project:
Tentative Title: Innovation, Disruption, Virtualization: The New Transformation of Wall Street
My research seeks to provide an improved understanding of the changes that have been shaking up the world of trade in securities. In a brief period of less than a decade the securities industry has been transformed. The largest exchanges around the world have demutualized; consolidation is on the rise, and mega-mergers and international alliances are taking place in increasing numbers. However, the big exchanges are still looking for their safe spot. Trade increasingly occurs in virtual platforms, innovation in trading systems is booming, and the diversity of business models and alternative trade systems assert new challenges to the leadership of the so-called “national” or “regulated” markets. Alternative trading systems (ATS), electronic communications networks (ECNs), crossing networks and “dark pools” are draining liquidity from traditional exchanges.
The project has two main objectives. First, it aims to explain what has caused this new transformation of Wall Street. Some studies mention technology and competition as its main determinants. Legal factors have a marginal or secondary role. This project will advocate a more strategic role for the law and work with different hypotheses. It will claim that (a) governance is an endogenous choice, and getting it right has been making all the difference for the current winners of the process. Moreover, (b) regulations such as RegNMS and MiFID have been central, not only to increase competition, but also to change the very nature of the trade in securities business. The game is no longer about dealers competing for quotes and information, and exchanges competing for listings; the new rules mean the game is about technological platforms competing for trade flow. As a corollary, technology is not an exogenous factor as claimed by some scholars: technological incorporation in the securities trade business should be treated as an endogenous variable, a function of the regulatory regime.
The second objective of the project is to discuss policy orientations flowing from the findings of the first part of the research. Until now trading rules such as NMS and MiFID have focused on domestic exchanges and dealers in order to create a national (single) market system and avoid fragmentation. If the hypotheses above are confirmed, these findings may do much to demonstrate that the current orientation is out of touch with the reality. This would be the case for two primary reasons. Firstly, in the new virtual Wall Street, it is no longer the asymmetric competition between the domestic exchanges and dealers that threatens to fragment the market. Instead, the modern threat is competition at the global level between trade platforms. In this new world, dealers have a progressively smaller role to play, exchanges are no longer the single most important trade venues to be watched, and technical aspects connectivity and interoperability will make room to concerns with standards neutrality and switching costs. Secondly, and most importantly, since platforms allow traders to operate across and off the borders of countries, fragmentation can now migrate to transnational and global levels. National regulations would run the risk of losing effectiveness and find themselves circumvented. If such events come to pass, the aspiration to create “national” or “single” market systems will have lost some of its meaning.
Education: LL.M., Columbia Law School M.A., Tel Aviv School of History LL.B., Tel Aviv Law School
My dissertation consists of three articles. The first article, entitled "Disposable Mothers," focuses on paid in-home caretakers and explores the intricate interactions between changes in the structures of the American family, the shifting demands of US labor market and global trends of worker migration.
Fields of Research: Family Law Law and Society Citizenship Law
Additional Research Interests: Feminist Legal Theory Immigration Law
Recent Appointments & Awards: ISERP Graduate Fellow, Columbia University, 2006-2007 Harlan Fiske Scholar, Columbia Law School, 2005 Columbia Law School, Research Assistant to Prof. Cynthia Estlund, 2005 Academic Distinction Scholarship, Tel Aviv School of History, 2003 Kurt Lion Foundation Fellowship, University of Constance, Germany, 2002-2003 Publications
Publications: "Look Back at Anger: The Politics of Emotions in the Middle Ages," 87 Zmanim 22 (in Hebrew).
Education: LL.M., Columbia Law School M.E.S., Karl-Franzes University of Graz, Austria M.A.L.D., The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University LL.B., Faculty of Law, University of Tirana, Albania.
J.S.D. Research Project: Tentative Title: “Designing a Legal Framework for Democratic Change”
The theme of this research project is the power of democracy-promoting legal order (law) in shaping the formation of democratic institutions and social transformations designed to achieve democratic change.
My principal aim is to link the development of a legal framework with the notion of deliberative democracy in order to create the necessary preconditions for a successful democratization and a well-functioning democratic order.
The research project seeks to examine the legal mechanisms and various ways in which law and institutions interact with social and political forces in the process of building relationships that feature “broad, equal, protected and mutually binding consultation” in the context of democratizing societies. In particular, the dissertation will discuss and formulate specific prescriptions for the project of constitutionalism, the electoral system, the use of judicial power, and the law-making process as superior mechanisms for bringing about deliberative democracy and desired legal change.
Fields of Research: Rule of Law Legislation International Law European Union Integration.
Professional Experience: 2006-2007, Diplomatic Advisor to the Government of Albania, Cabinet of the Prime Minister 2004-2005, Capacity Building Facility Advisor to the Government of Kosovo, Office of the Prime Minister 2000-2001, Assistant Programme Coordinator, Royal Danish Embassy in Tirana, Albania
Education: Utrecht University, Anthropology 2004 Master Thesis: Puzzle of Violence. A discourse analysis after the legitimization of violence in the Mapuche conflict in Chile Utrecht University, Law 2004 Master Thesis: The Challenge of the Monopoly of Force
Fields of Research: Legal and Political Philosophy Conflict Studies Criminal Justice System
Additional Research Interests: Legitimization of Violence Discourse Analysis Critical Criminology
The working title of my research is: Prosecution on the Edge of Escalation: "Which Story Do You Tell Mr. Prosecutor?" That is the question I will ask in several situations of violent political conflict with regards to the prosecutors engaged in criminal proceedings against rebels, activists or ‘terrorists.' An actual risk of prosecution of crime in conflict might be that it does indeed stop the criminal acts in the short run, but radicalizes the conflict in the long run. My starting point is that the escalation process depends not so much on whether there is a criminal intervention, but more on the manner in which the prosecution is performed. Contrary to regular criminal prosecutions, in a situation of violent political conflict the legitimacy of the government and its monopoly of force are threatened. The criminal intervention in that case also serves to regain legitimacy.
Since my childhood I have been fascinated by violence and the most effective ways to deal with it. This research combines my specialization in conflict studies at the Center for Conflict Studies in Utrecht, Netherlands and my choice to focus on criminal law and criminology at the Utrecht Law School.
After graduation I taught at the Center for Conflict Studies and the International School for Humanities and Social Sciences. In addition I founded "Stichting StadsSpelen", a civil society association organizing Urban Olympic Games in Amsterdam. Furthermore I worked as an intern in a criminal law firm and at the International Criminal Court.
