Monica Hakimi

Monica Hakimi

  • Professor of Law
Education

J.D., Yale Law School, 2001
B.A., Duke University, 1997

Areas of Study

Monica Hakimi’s scholarship draws on both doctrine and legal theory to understand the operation of international law. She focuses on public international law, the use of force, U.S. foreign relations law, human rights, and national security. She was recently elected co-editor in chief of the American Journal of International Law.

She was the Nathaniel Fensterstock Visiting Professor of Law at Columbia Law School during the 2022 spring semester and was appointed professor of law on July 1, 2022. She was previously the James V. Campbell Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, where she was also the associate dean for faculty and research and the associate dean for academic programming. She has held visiting appointments at Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, University of Tokyo, and Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. 

Prior to entering the academy, Monica spent four years as attorney-adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser in the U.S. Department of State; she counseled policymakers on nuclear nonproliferation, efforts to reconstruct Iraq immediately after the 2003 war, international investment disputes, and international civil aviation. Hakimi has also served as counsel before the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal and worked on cases before the International Court of Justice and U.S. federal courts and agencies. She clerked for Judge Kimba M. Wood on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Hakimi’s scholarship has appeared in publications including the American Journal of International Law, Michigan Law Review, and Yale Journal of International Law, among others.

Publications

Books

  • International Law Norms, Actors, Process: A Problem-Oriented Approach (5th ed., 2020) (with Jeffrey L. Dunoff, Steven R. Ratner, and David Wippman)

Articles, Essays, and Book Chapters 

  • “What Might (Finally) Kill the Jus ad Bellum,” 73 CURRENT LEGAL PROBLEMS 101 (2021)
  • “Arguing about the Jus ad Bellum,” in Talking International Law: Legal Argumentation Outside The Courtroom 45 (Ian Johnstone & Steven Ratner eds., 2021)
  • “The Integrative Effects of Global Legal Pluralism,” in Oxford Handbook On Global Legal Pluralism (Paul Schiff Berman ed., 2020)
  • “Making Sense of Customary International Law,” 118 MICHIGAN LAW REVIEW 1487 (2020)
  • Review Essay, “Why Should We Care about International Law?,” 118 MICHIGAN LAW REVIEW 1283 (2020)
  • “Techniques for Regulating Military Force,” in Oxford Handbook On Comparative Foreign Relations Law (Curtis Bradley ed., 2019)
  • “The Jus ad Bellum’s Regulatory Form,” 112 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 151 (2018)
  • Review Essay, “The Theory and Practice at the Intersection between Human Rights and Humanitarian Law,” 111 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 1063 (2017)
  • “Constructing an International Community,” 111 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 317 (2017)
  • “The Work of International Law,” 58 HARVARD INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL 1 (2017)
  • “The Two Codes on the Use of Force,” 27 EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 257 (2016) (with Jacob Katz Cogan)
  • “Custom’s Method and Process: Lessons from Humanitarian Law,” in Custom’s Future: International Law In A Changing World (Curtis Bradley ed., 2016)
  • “Distributing the Responsibility to Protect,” in Distribution Of Responsibilities In International Law (André Nollkaemper & Dov Jacobs eds., 2015)
  • “Defensive Force against Non-State Actors: The State of Play,” 91 INTERNATIONAL LAW STUDIES 1 (2015)
  • “Toward a Legal Theory on the Responsibility to Protect,” 39 YALE JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 247 (2014)
  • “Unfriendly Unilateralism,” 55 HARVARD INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL 105 (2014)
  • “Human Rights Obligations to the Poor,” in Poverty And The International Economic Legal System: Duties To The World’s Poor (Krista Nadakavukaren Schefer ed., 2013)
  • “A Functional Approach to Targeting and Detention,” 110 MICHIGAN LAW REVIEW 1365 (2012)
  • “State Bystander Responsibility,” 21 EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 341 (2010)
  • “Secondary Human Rights Law,” 34 YALE JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 596 (2009)
  • “International Standards for Detaining Terrorism Suspects: Moving Beyond the Armed Conflict-Criminal Divide,” 33 YALE JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 369 (2008)
  • “To Condone or Condemn? Regional Enforcement Actions in the Absence of Security Council Authorization,” 40 VANDERBILT JOURNAL OF TRANSNATIONAL LAW 643 (2007)
  • “The Media as Participants in the International Legal Process,” 16 DUKE JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE AND INTERNATIONAL LAW 1 (2006)
  • “Illusion and Reality in the Compensation of Victims of International Terrorism,” 54 ALABAMA LAW REVIEW 561 (2003) (with W. Michael Reisman)

Professional Activities and Memberships

  • Co-Editor in Chief (with Ingrid Wuerth) (2022–present); Board of Editors (2017–2022); Chair, Ad Hoc Diversity Committee (2020–2021), American Journal of International Law
  • Advisory Board, Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Law (2021–present)
  • Advisory Committee on International Law, U.S. Department of State (2021–present)
  • Advisory Board, Institute of International Peace and Security Law, University of Cologne, Germany (2015–present)
  • Academic Freedom Alliance, Member (2021–present)
  • Contributing Editor, EJIL:Talk! blog (2016–2019)
  • Executive Council (2017–2020); David Caron Prize Selection Committee (2020–2021); Nominating Committee (2018–2019, 2019–2020); Public Engagement and Technology Committee (2016–2017); Annual Meeting Program Co-chair (2015); Scholarship Committee (2012); Annual Meeting Panelist (2005, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2018, 2020); Mid-Year Meeting Panelist (2012, 2013, 2015); Member (2003–present),  American Society of International Law
  • New York Bar, admitted to practice 2001