The UN and NYU

At the United Nations, a bit over two miles from the Law School’s campus, world leaders and diplomats from nearly 200 nations convened for this year’s session of the General Assembly. While they had plenty on their agenda, it has become common during these annual gatherings for high-level UN visitors to also drop by Washington Square to engage with NYU Law faculty and students. In the fall of 2015, NYU Law received two heads of state: President Michael Higgins of Ireland, who presented the 11th annual Emile Noël Lecture on the State of the (European) Union on September 28, and President Horacio Cartes of Paraguay, who gave an address the following day on recent reforms implemented in his country.

This year, the UN is also holding a series of events to mark its 70th anniversary, including a conference on November 1 at NYU Law. The Law School is a fitting host for these speakers and events, given its deep and broad-based ties to, and focus on, the UN. Evidence of this exists both in the classroom and in the involvement of faculty and students in varied aspects of the organization’s mission.

Curriculum for JD and LLM students. The Law School offers more than 50 courses in international, comparative, and foreign law, with a number focusing in part on the UN. Examples include the International Organizations class taught by José Alvarez, Herbert and Rose Rubin Professor of International Law, and the International Organizations Clinic, co-taught by Gráinne de Búrca, Florence Ellinwood Allen Professor of Law, and Adjunct Professor Angelina Fisher LLM ’04. The Law School also offers an LLM degree in international law.

Faculty involvement in the UN. Philip Alston, John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law, is currently the UN’s special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, and presented his just-published report on the World Bank and human rights to the General Assembly in October. He was previously the special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions. Judge Theodor Meron, Charles L. Denison Professor of Law Emeritus and Judicial Fellow, is president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, both UN-established courts, while Adjunct Professor Santiago Martin Villalpando is chief of the UN Treaty Section.

Student opportunities. Students in the International Organizations Clinic often handle assignments for UN-affiliated organizations. Each year, as many as 10 NYU Law students work for the UN International Law Commission, and a Law School graduate clerks for the International Court of Justice.

Instruction for diplomats. This year Alvarez led the teaching of Law and Practice of the United Nations: An Advanced Course for Diplomats, the first offering from the Law School’s new Institute for Executive Education. The course stemmed from an initial request by Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh, the United Arab Emirates’ permanent representative to the UN, that Alvarez give the diplomats at her mission a one-day crash course in UN legal work. It was so successful that Nusseibeh requested a more extensive course, and 29 UN diplomats from 17 countries took the seven-session class on the internal law of the UN.

The November 1 anniversary conference, titled “The Pre and Post UN Charter Order,” will feature opening remarks by Miguel Soares, the UN’s under-secretary-general for legal affairs and UN legal counsel, as well as presentations by numerous other prominent figures. The UN, says Alvarez, is inviting the top lawyers from foreign ministries around the world—“the legal advisers of the planet,” as he puts it.

Posted September 28, 2015
Updated and reposted October 30, 2015