NYU Law faculty invited to teach prestigious General Course at Hague Academy of International Law
Franco Ferrari, Clarence D. Ashley Professor of Law, and José Enrique Alvarez, Herbert and Rose Rubin Professor of Law, have been invited to teach the General Course at the esteemed Hague Academy of International Law in 2029 and 2030, respectively. The honor marks a rare instance in which faculty members from the same institution will deliver the General Course in consecutive years.
Established in 1923, the Academy serves as a preeminent venue for teaching public and private international law with the stated purpose, according to its website, of “furthering the scientific study of the legal aspects of international relations.” The Curatorium of the Academy invite prominent scholars from around the world to lecture in English or French. The Academy—which draws top international law students and practitioners—is comprised of one-week presentations, known as Special Courses, in addition to General Courses, which run for three weeks during winter and summer sessions. The lectures are published in the Collected Courses of the Hague Academy of International Law.
Ferrari, who directs NYU Law’s Center for Transnational Litigation, Arbitration, and Commercial Law and became a full-time faculty member at the law school in 2010, previously delivered a Special Course on “Forum Shopping Despite Unification of Law” at The Hague Academy in 2019. From 2002 to 2016, Ferrari was a chaired professor of international law at Verona University in Italy. He was also a chaired professor of comparative law at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, from 1995 to 1998, and at the University of Bologna in Italy from 1998 to 2002. After serving as a member of the Italian delegation to various sessions of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) from 1995 to 2000, he was legal officer at the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs, International Trade Law Branch, from 2000 to 2002, where he was responsible for numerous projects, including the preparation of the UNCITRAL digest on applications of the UN Sales Convention. Ferrari has published more than 380 law review articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries in various languages and more than 50 books in the areas of international commercial law, conflict of laws, comparative law, and international commercial arbitration.
“For scholars of private international law, this invitation stands as perhaps the most distinguished honor one can receive—a testament to decades of scholarly contribution and an opportunity to shape the discourse of our discipline for time to come,” says Franco, whose course will examine the role of national law in international commercial arbitration. “Rather that attempting a comprehensive restatement of private international law, my General Course will focus on a question of particular urgency in our globalized legal landscape—the role of national law in international commercial arbitration.”
Alvarez, faculty director of NYU’s US-Asia Law Institute, is the author of seven books and over 170 shorter works that have made substantial contributions to a wide range of topics in international law, including the law-making aspects of UN system organizations, the challenges facing international criminal tribunals, the elusive boundaries between “public” and “private,” the legitimacy deficits and reform prospects for the international investment regime, and the failings of global health law. A former president of the American Society of International Law and a former co-editor-in-chief of the American Journal of International Law, Alvarez has been a special adviser to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and an attorney-adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser of the US Department of State. Prior to coming to NYU, he was the Hamilton Fish Professor of International Law at Columbia Law School. In 2010, Alvarez delivered a Special Course lecture at the Hague Academy that was later published as his 2011 book, The Public International Law Regime Governing International Investment.
“Just like musicians hope someday to be invited to perform at Carnegie Hall, international professors from around the world hope to be invited to lecture at the Hague Academy of International Law,” says Alvarez. “Fortunately I have five years to make up my mind on whether this is a time when the sun is setting on the attempt to establish the international rule of law or a crisis giving us the opportunity to reinvent the field for a new age. I look forward to figuring that out.”
In addition to Ferrari and Alvarez, others from NYU Law who have taught courses at The Hague Academy include: Theodor Meron, Charles L. Denison Professor of Law Emeritus and Judicial Fellow; Linda Silberman, Clarence D. Ashley Professor of Law Emerita; the late Thomas Franck, Murry and Ida Becker Professor of Law Emeritus, and the late Andreas Lowenfeld, Herbert and Rose Rubin Professor of International Law Emeritus, in addition to Peter Trooboff, a former scholar-in-residence at the Center for Transnational Litigation, Arbitration, and Commercial Law.
