Jefferson LECTURE SERIES

Transnational Legal Process after September 11

Harold Hongju Koh, Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law, Yale Law School

October 02, 2003 — 4:10 PM
UC Berkeley Campus

How has September 11 transformed the global legal landscape? Professor Harold Hongju Koh of Yale Law School, and a leader in the field of international law, argues that common themes unite many seemingly disparate events, and signal the need for the United States to resume its leadership in international law.

About Harold Hongju Koh

A distinguished and highly renowned scholar, Harold Hongju Koh is a recognized leader in the field of international law. Koh is the Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law at Yale Law School, where he has taught law since 1993. Central to his views is his stated goal that we teach others about cultural understanding, tolerance, how to develop self-sustaining social, political, and economic institutions, and the acceptance of human dignity and human rights as genuinely universal values. In his role as Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor in the United States Department of State from 1998 to 2001, Koh advised Secretary Albright on U.S. policy on democracy, human rights, labor, rule of the law, and religious freedom. During this time he also served as Commissioner for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Since 1988, Koh has presented testimony to Congress on the topics of human rights in other countries and the U.S. policies towards those countries. Koh received his A.B. summa cum laude in 1975 and his J.D. cum laude in 1980 from Harvard University. In 1977 he received his B.A. with first class honors, and in 1996 his M.A., from Oxford University. Koh is the author of several books and numerous articles, including "Deliberative Democracy and Human Rights" (with Ronald C. Slye) (1999), and is editor of "Justice Harry A. Blackmun Supreme Court Oral History Project" (1996), which is due for public release in 2004. He has received various honorary degrees, awards, and honors, including the Villanova Medal (2000), the Arthur J. Goldberg Award (2000), and the John Quincy Adams Freedom Award (2002).

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