The Washington Foreign Law Society presents

Law and Diplomacy: Legal Advisors and the Lawyer-Diplomat

Tuesday, March 21, 5:30 pm- 6:30 pm

Diplomacy and law are interactive and interdependent. Both aim at the effective management of international relations, the peaceful resolution of international disputes, the avoidance of armed conflict. Diplomacy and law support mechanisms that promote economic growth and stability and the protection of human rights. The Research Handbook on Law and Diplomacy (Elgar 2022, Stewart & McGuinness eds,.) explored this topic through an examination of contemporary practice across a variety of settings, including within state legal advisory offices, international organizations, international courts and treaty bodies, and civil society.

Drawing from contributions to and central findings of the book, the panelists will examine the interdependency of law and diplomacy and the role of legal advisors, diplomats, and lawyer- diplomats in international law and governance. The panelists will address the role of law and legal advisors within a variety of diplomatic settings, and address questions including:

· What is the appropriate role of legal advisors within political and policy making settings? Does that role changes during times of crisis?

· Does international law create separate ethical duties for lawyers that are different from duties to their principals (states, IOs, other clients)?

· What roles does domestic law (constitutional, statutory) play in facilitating or constraining legal advisors?

Registration for the event entitles registrants to a 35% discount on the purchase of the book at the Elgar Elgar website.

Panelists:

Miguel de Serpa Soares, United Nations Under Secretary General for Legal Affairs

Mr. Serpa Soares has extensive experience of legal and international affairs, having represented his country in various bilateral and multilateral international forums, including the Sixth Committee of the United Nations General Assembly, the Committee of Public International Law Advisers of the Council of Europe and the International Criminal Court’s Assembly of State Parties.

Before taking up his current position, Mr. Serpa Soares was Director General of the Department of Legal Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Portugal from 2008. Earlier in his career, he acted as Legal Adviser to the Permanent Representation of Portugal to the European Union, Brussels (1999-2008) and as Chef-de-Cabinet of the Deputy Minister for Infrastructure and Territorial Administration. He is a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

Mr. Serpa Soares has a degree in Law from the University of Lisbon and a degree in European Law from the College of Europe, Bruges, Belgium. He is a member of a number of entities in the field of International Law and has given lectures on topics of International Law in different Universities worldwide.

Mary De Rosa, Georgetown University Law Center

Mary B. DeRosa, Georgetown Law Center, served as Deputy Assistant and Deputy Counsel to the President, and as National Security Council Legal Adviser in the Obama Administration. After leaving the White House in the Summer of 2011, she served as Alternate Representative of the United States to the 66th Session of the UN General Assembly, an Ambassador-level position with the US Mission to the United Nations. Prior to joining the Obama Administration in 2009, Ms. DeRosa was Chief Counsel for National Security for the Senate Judiciary Committee, working for the Chairman, Senator Patrick Leahy. She has also been a Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, served on the staff of the Clinton Administration National Security Council as Legal Adviser and Deputy Legal Adviser, and was Special Counsel to the General Counsel at the Department of Defense. Before joining the government, Ms. DeRosa was in private practice at Arnold & Porter. She served as a law clerk to the Honorable Richard Cardamone, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Ms. DeRosa currently serves as the Chair of the Advisory Committee to the ABA Standing Committee on Law and National Security. She has been a Member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB), Chair of the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) Legal Advisory Board, and a Member of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) Legal Advisory Board. She has received multiple awards and honors, including the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service, the Joint Medal for Distinguished Civilian Service, from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the National Intelligence Superior Service Medal from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Agency Seal Medal from the CIA, the State Department Superior Honor Award, the Department of Defense Exceptional Civilian Service Award, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense Award for Excellence.

Edward Chukwuemeke Okeke, Lead Counsel, World Bank

Edward Chukwuemeke Okeke, an international law scholar and practitioner, has over three decades of experience in the United Nations, UNESCO and the World Bank where he is presently Lead Counsel, Global Knowledge and Research. He is a globally acclaimed expert on the privileges and immunities of international organizations. He is also an award-winning writer and has been published in Arbitration International amongst other law reviews and journals. He is the author of Jurisdictional Immunities of States and International Organizations (Oxford University Press 2018). Furthermore, he contributed two chapters in The Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations and its Specialized Agencies: A Commentary, Edited by August Reinisch (Oxford University Press 2016). He serves on the editorial board of the International Organizations Law Review.

Moderator: Peggy McGuinness, St. John’s University School of Law

Margaret E. (Peggy) McGuinness, St. John’s University School of Law, teaches and in the areas of international law and international human rights law. Her current research examines U.S. diplomacy and its influence on international human rights governance. She is active in many professional organizations including the Council on International Affairs of the New York City Bar, the Executive Committee of the International Section of the New York State Bar Association, the American Society of the International Law, and the International Law Association and its American Branch. She is a graduate of Stanford Law School, following which she clerked for Judge Colleen McMahon in the Southern District of New York and worked as a litigator at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. Her career in the law follows an early career as a Foreign Service Officer with the State Department, which included service in Germany, Pakistan and Canada, and as a Special Assistant to Secretary of State Warren Christopher.

Introduction: David P. Stewart, Georgetown University Law Center

David P. Stewart, Georgetown University Law Center, teaches in the area of International and Transnational Law and co-directs the Global Law Scholars program and the Center for Transnational Business and the Law. He joined the faculty in 2008 following a career in the Office of the Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State. He is past President and Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Branch of the International Law Association, and served as a Co-Reporter for the ALI’s Restatement (Fourth), Foreign Relations Law of the United States (2018). He is a member of the Board of Editors of the American Journal of International Law and the Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on Private International Law.