Keynote Speaker

Jose Alvarez

Professor Jose Alvarez is the Herbert and Rose Rubin Professor of International Law at New York University Law School. Formerly he was the Hamilton Fish Professor of International Law and Diplomacy and the executive director of the Center on Global Legal Problems at Columbia Law School, a professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School, an associate professor at the George Washington University's National Law Center, and an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law Center. At NYU he teaches courses on international law, foreign investment, and international organizations. He is the immediate past president of the American Society of International Law (2006-2008) and is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations.

Professor Alvarez recently concluded a series of lectures at The Hague Academy of International Law, expected to be published in book form in 2010. 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.

Prior to entering academia in 1989, 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 the late Judge Thomas Gibbs Gee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and has also worked in private practice in Washington, D.C.