Jose Alvarez, leading international law scholar, to join NYU Law faculty

Professor José Alvarez, Hamilton Fish Professor of International Law and Diplomacy and the executive director of the Center on Global Legal Problems at Columbia Law School, will join NYU Law as a permanent member of the faculty in the fall.

“I am so delighted to announce the exciting news that José Alvarez has accepted our tenured offer and will join us as a permanent member of our faculty in Fall 2009,” said Dean and Lawrence King Professor of Law Richard Revesz. “José is a prolific scholar of remarkable interdisciplinary breadth, and is regarded as one of the leading academics in international law.” Alvarez was a visiting professor at the Law School last fall.

Benedict Kinsgbury, Murry and Ida Becker Professor of Law and director of the Law School's Institute for International Law and Justice, added,  “José Alvarez’s outstanding scholarship in international institutions spans the UN Security Council, international criminal tribunals, and international economic governance. His robust analysis is increasingly influential as the possibilities and limits of such institutions have become again an issue of major importance to the United States and the world. An impressive and outspoken leader, a superb teacher, and a rigorous lawyer, Professor Alvarez’s appointment continues the long tradition of strong international law scholarship at NYU.”

Professor Alvarez was president of the American Society of International Law from 2006-08 and is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations. His recent book, International Organizations as Law-Makers (Oxford, 2005), analyzes the law-generating role of international organizations and has made a substantial contribution to the field. He has served on the National Advisory Committee of the U.N. Financing Global Policy Project, and on the editorial or advisory boards of the American Journal of International Law, Journal of International Criminal Justice, Global Governance, and the Journal of International Law and International Relations.

He was formerly a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, an associate professor at the George Washington University Law School, and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center. At Columbia, he teaches courses on international law, foreign investment, international legal theory, and global governance.

Professor Alvarez was an attorney adviser with the Office of the Legal Adviser of the U.S. Department of State where he worked on cases before the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal, served on the negotiation teams for bilateral investment treaties and the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, and was legal adviser to the administration of justice program in Latin America coordinated by the Agency of International Development.

Alvarez received a B.A. from Harvard in 1977 (summa cum laude in social studies), a B.A., First Class (highest honors) from Magdalen College of Oxford University in 1979, and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1981 (cum laude), where he was topics editor of the Harvard International Law Journal. He clerked for Judge Thomas Gibbs Gee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and worked in private practice in Washington, D.C.