International law scholar Ryan Goodman will join NYU Law this fall

Professor Ryan Goodman, the Rita E. Hauser Professor of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law and director of the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School, will join NYU Law as a permanent member of the faculty this fall. He will also be an associated member of the department of sociology and an affiliated member of the department of politics at NYU. 

“Ryan is a leading academic in the areas of international human rights law, public international law, and international relations,” said Dean and Lawrence King Professor of Law Richard Revesz. “He utilizes his theoretical depth in the social sciences to yield important insights for the design of international law and institutions.”

A productive and multi-faceted scholar, Professor Goodman has published many articles including “Humanitarian Intervention and Pretexts for War” (American Journal of International Law, 2006) and “How to Influence States: Socialization and International Human Rights Law” (Duke Law Journal, 2004) (with Derek Jinks). He has also co-authored several books, two of which are forthcoming: Socializing States: Promoting Human Rights through International Law (Oxford University Press) (with Derek Jinks) and International Humanitarian Law (Oxford University Press) (with Derek Jinks and Michael Schmitt). His work makes significant contributions to the evaluation of human rights treaties, and to thinking about international law more generally.

Prior to joining the Harvard Law School faculty, Professor Goodman clerked for Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He has worked at the U.S. Department of State, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and nongovernmental organizations in India, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand, and the United States. He is also a member of the Board of Editors of the American Journal of International Law.

Professor Goodman received his B.A. in government and philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin. He earned his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he served as an articles editor of the Yale Law Journal, and a Ph.D. in Sociology from Yale University.