In Memoriam: Thomas J. Schoenbaum

The University of Georgia School of Law regrets to share the news of the passing of Thomas J. Schoenbaum on June 8, 2026, at the age of 86. He taught at Georgia Law for approximately 20 years. The holder of the Dean and Virginia Rusk Professorship of International Law, Schoenbaum served as executive director of the Dean Rusk Center for International and Comparative Law and the UGA Institute for European Studies in addition to being a professor of political science. At the time of his death, Schoenbaum was Research Professor of Law at George Washington University, Dean Rusk Professor Emeritus at the University of Georgia, member of Lincoln’s Inn of Court, London, and a Life Member of the American Law Institute. 

Schoenbaum specialized in international trade law, environmental law, and admiralty and maritime law. He was the author of the former U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk’s authorized biography, Waging Peace and War: Dean Rusk in the Truman, Kennedy and Johnson Years. His scholarship also includes more than 100 publications, including the books: The World Trade Organization: Law, Practice and Policy; Environment Policy Law (4th ed.); Admiralty and Maritime Law (3rd ed.) and Japanese International Trade and Investment Law (co-authored). 

He is survived by his sister, Dorothy Hamm; his five children, Geoffrey, Elizabeth, Lucius, Cecilia, and Kelsey; as well as by his wife, Naomi Ikezawa; her two daughters, Maya and Haruna; and several grandchildren.

Georgia Law students Caroline Schrum (J.D. ’28) and Tori Weatherley (J.D. ’28) receive UGA Asia-Georgia Internship Connection Scholarship

University of Georgia School of Law students Caroline Schrum (J.D. ’28) and Tori Weatherley (J.D. ’28) were selected to receive funding for legal externships in Japan this summer through the university’s Office of Global Engagement’s Asia-Georgia Internship Connection Scholarship.

Both students’ scholarships will support their Global Externship Overseas (GEO), administered by Georgia Law’s Dean Rusk International Law Center. Schrum and Weatherly will both participate in GEOs in Tokyo, Japan, where they will extern with Kuribayashi Sogo Law Office under the guidance of Georgia Law alumnus Tsutomu Kuribayashi (LL.M. ’97), Managing Director.

In addition to their externships, both students will engage in supervised research projects. Both Schrum and Weatherley will work with Christopher M. Bruner, Stembler Family Distinguished Professor in Business Law & Faculty Co-Director of the Dean Rusk International Law Center. Schrum will examine the semiconductor trade relationship between the United States and Japan, specifically focusing on anti-dumping measures, trade controls, WTO compliance, and the role of the national security exception in international trade law. Weatherley’s project will examine how the decline of lifetime employment and seniority-based pay in Japan is reshaping relationships between employers, employees, and enterprise unions, and whether these changes are shifting Japanese labor law toward a more individualized and management-oriented system similar to that of the United States. 

The Asia-Georgia Internship Connection Scholarship funds student pursuing credit-bearing internships in southeast Asia for a duration of at least four weeks. Preference is given to students traveling to Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Posts about past recipients of this scholarship at Georgia Law can be found here.

Georgia Law Professor Assaf Harpaz presents article at the Junior International Law Scholars Association (JILSA)

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Assaf Harpaz recently presented his article, “The New Tax Sovereignty” at the Junior International Law Scholars Association (JILSA) summer workshop as part of the international economic law group.

Below is the article abstract:

Tax sovereignty is traditionally understood to encompass a government’s right to design and enforce its tax laws without infringement. It has been frequently invoked in the context of multilateral initiatives to combat tax competition and evasion, yet the concept remains vague and underdeveloped. In recent years, international taxation has been characterized by an increase in national revenue preservation, forum-shopping, and unilateralism. This shift is reflected in the Trump administration’s rejection of the Global Tax Deal and the imposition of global tariffs, the efforts of developing countries to concentrate tax policymaking to the United Nations, and the proliferation of unilateral digital services taxes targeting Big Tech. 

This Article proposes a doctrinal account of tax sovereignty for an international tax order in which cooperation and standardization are progressively eroded. The Article argues that tax sovereignty should operate as a doctrine with well-defined parameters and limiting principles, rather than an unrestricted claim of taxing power. It draws on tax and international law theory to distinguish between external sovereignty, which includes the state’s authority to freely participate in cooperative forums, and internal sovereignty, which refers to the right to independently draft tax legislation. In doing so, the Article provides a framework for evaluating competing claims of tax sovereignty and assessing the legitimacy of tax policies with cross-border implications.

Harpaz joined the University of Georgia School of Law as an assistant professor in summer 2024 and teaches classes in federal income tax and business taxation. Harpaz’s scholarly focus lies in international taxation, with an emphasis on the intersection of taxation and digitalization. He explores the tax challenges of the digital economy and the ways to adapt 20th-century tax laws to modern business practices.

Georgia Law Professor Desirée LeClercq featured by CNBC

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Desirée LeClercq was featured by CNBC regarding international trade and labor law. The article titled “Trump’s trade war has a new target: forced labor. The case behind it is far from simple” was written by Paxton Honerkamp and published 6/9/26.

LeClercq joined the University of Georgia School of Law in 2024. She teaches Contracts, International Trade and Workers Rights, International Labor Law, U.S. Labor Law, and Public International Law. She also serves as a faculty co-director of the Dean Rusk International Law Center and as the faculty adviser for the Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law, the Labor and Employment Student Association, and the International Law Students Association. 

Rusk Center’s Lindsay Weinmann attends Inaugural Korea-Georgia Dialogue

Lindsay Weinmann, Administrative Specialist of the University of Georgia School of Law’s Dean Rusk International Law Center, attended the Korea-Georgia Dialogue in May. The inaugural event was hosted by Columbus State University’s Korea-Institute (KICS), directed by Dr. Daewoo Lee, at the Cunningham Center.

Columbus State University’s website describes the event as follows:

The Korea–Georgia Dialogue is the premier signature forum hosted by Columbus State University to strengthen strategic, economic and cultural connections between the Republic of Korea and the State of Georgia. As Georgia becomes a key hub for Korean investment from companies like Hyundai and SK, this event serves as a vital statewide convener for government, industry and academic stakeholders. Through expert panels and keynotes, it will foster cross-sector collaboration and durable international partnerships, while providing exclusive access to senior government, industry, diplomatic and thought leaders who are at the forefront of strategic, economic, and cultural relations between Georgia and South Korea.

The event is anchored by the Korean Institute at Columbus State (KICS), a vibrant center for research and diplomacy that supports Georgia’s growing global engagement. KICS leverages the university’s strategic location near a large Korean community and U.S. Army Fort Benning’s ROK Army detachment to lead workforce development and applied research efforts. By participating, stakeholders and influencers can engage directly with the expertise fueling the state’s economic growth and the U.S.-Korea alliance.

Weinmann joined the Rusk Center in 2026. Her primary responsibilities include overseeing the Center’s daily operations, coordinating event programming, and serving as a faculty assistant while supervising student workers. Weinmann graduated summa cum laude from the University of Georgia in 2025 with a double major in international affairs and Asian languages and literature, along with a minor in general business. Her academic focus included international security and Korean studies. As a fellow in the 2024–25 Richard B. Russell Security Leadership Program at the UGA Center for International Trade and Security, she conducted research on the security dilemma posed by rogue states, using North Korea as a case study to examine implications for foreign policy. 

Georgia Law Professor Assaf Harpaz presents article at the Annual Junior Tax Scholars Workshop

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Assaf Harpaz recently presented his article, “Toward a Theory of Tax Sovereignty,” at the Annual Junior Tax Scholars Workshop hosted by the Seattle University School of Law. While there, Harpaz also commented on Professor Jeesoo Nam’s (USC Law) article “Better to Let 10 Guilty Persons Escape Taxation than that 1 Innocent Suffer Taxation: Why Doesn’t Blackstone’s Principle Apply to Tax Law?”

Below is the article abstract:

Tax sovereignty is traditionally understood to encompass a government’s right to decide what to tax, at what rates, from whom, and without external interference. Tax sovereignty has been frequently invoked in the context of multilateral initiatives to combat tax competition and evasion, yet the concept remains vague and underdeveloped. In recent years, international taxation has been characterized by an increase in national revenue preservation, forum-shopping, and unilateralism. These dynamics are reflected in the Trump administration’s rejection of the Global Tax Deal and the imposition of global tariffs, the efforts of developing countries to shift tax policymaking to the United Nations, and the proliferation of unilateral digital services taxes targeting Big Tech. 

This Article proposes a doctrinal account of tax sovereignty for an international tax order in which cooperation and standardization are progressively contested. The Article argues that tax sovereignty should operate as a doctrine with well-defined parameters and limiting principles, rather than an unrestricted claim of taxing power. It draws on tax and international law theory to distinguish between procedural sovereignty, which includes the state’s authority to freely participate in cooperative forums, and substantive sovereignty, which refers to the right to independently draft tax legislation. In doing so, the Article provides a framework for evaluating competing claims of tax sovereignty and assessing the legitimacy of tax policies with cross-border implications.

Harpaz joined the University of Georgia School of Law as an assistant professor in summer 2024 and teaches classes in federal income tax and business taxation. Harpaz’s scholarly focus lies in international taxation, with an emphasis on the intersection of taxation and digitalization. He explores the tax challenges of the digital economy and the ways to adapt 20th-century tax laws to modern business practices.

Georgia Law Professor Desirée LeClercq featured in Economic Policy Institute article

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Desirée LeClercq was recently featured in an article published by the Economic Policy Institute. The article, entitled “U.S. Customs blocks about $0.8 billion worth of goods a year on suspicion of forced labor,” was written by Ed Gresser on April 8, 2026.

LeClercq joined the University of Georgia School of Law in 2024 as an assistant professor. She teaches Contracts, International Trade and Workers Rights, International Labor Law, U.S. Labor Law, and Public International Law. She also serves as a faculty co-director of the Dean Rusk International Law Center and as the faculty adviser for the Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law, the Labor and Employment Student Association, and the International Law Students Association. 

Georgia Law Professor Jason Cade’s Yale Law Journal Forum article featured in MinnPost

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Jason A. Cade and his Yale Law Journal Forum article regarding the Board of Immigration Appeals were featured by MinnPost. The article titled “Asylum approvals plummet at Fort Snelling immigration court as case numbers soar” was written by Shadi Bushra and published 5/26/26.

The abstract of Cade’s March 2026 article entitled “Welcome to the Trump Administration’s Board of Immigration Appeals. The Immigrant Always Loses” can be found below:

The first 100 opinions in Volume 29 of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ precedential decisions—issued at more than three times the historical pace—constitute a project. The Trump administration has used the Attorney General’s self-referral power and a reconstituted, ideologically aligned Board to engineer a body of precedents that reliably produces one result: removal. This Essay organizes these decisions, catalogued in a full Appendix, into five main categories: (1) narrowing relief for noncitizens alleging persecution; (2) expanding mandatory detention while narrowing discretionary release; (3) maximizing the immigration consequences of criminal history and related grounds while foreclosing the relief mechanisms Congress created to mitigate them; (4) tightening the exceptional and extremely unusual hardship standard governing non-LPR cancellation of removal, including by converting the Board’s own institutional delay into a legal basis for denying relief already granted; and (5) tightening the procedural rules governing immigration court proceedings, including the mechanisms through which noncitizens can preserve congressionally-created pathways to status. A parallel set of rule changes, partially vacated by a federal court but now being reissued through notice-and-comment rulemaking, seeks to insulate most deportation orders from meaningful appellate review. The Essay identifies three implications for federal courts. First, Loper Bright’s elimination of Chevron deference, combined with the Board’s institutional redesign and the uniformity of its outcomes, undermines any claim to persuasive weight, and many decisions should not survive de novo review, provided courts do not find reasons to dilute scrutiny of agency action in the immigration context. Second, the exhaustion doctrine’s justifications collapse when the administrative body to be exhausted has been rebuilt to foreordain a result. Third, the Board’s selective deployment of the civil/criminal distinction, invoked to deny protections when it benefits the government and to exclude favorable criminal-law developments when it benefits the noncitizen, is a doctrinal choice that post-Loper Bright courts should examine without deference.

Cade is J. Alton Hosch Professor of Law and served as associate dean for clinical programs and experiential learning from 2020 to 2025. Cade teaches immigration law courses and directs the school’s Community Health Law Partnership (Community HeLP), an intensive clinic in which law students undertake an interdisciplinary approach to immigrants’ rights through individual client representation, litigation, and project-based advocacy before administrative agencies and federal courts. His research examines how nonfederal actors and institutions shape the modern immigration system, the intersections of immigration enforcement and criminal law, questions of legitimacy and proportionality within immigration adjudication, and the legal frameworks governing immigration policy protest.

Dean Rusk International Law Center welcomes new Administrative Specialist, Lindsay Weinmann

Lindsay Weinmann joined the University of Georgia School of Law’s Dean Rusk International Law Center as Administrative Specialist in May 2026.

In this role, she assists with the Center’s daily operations, coordinates Center events, supervises the Center’s student workers, and serves as a faculty assistant to the Center’s Faculty Co-Directors, Christopher Bruner and Desirée LeClercq.

Weinmann graduated summa cum laude from the University of Georgia in 2025 with a double major in international affairs and Asian languages and literature, along with a minor in general business. Her academic focus included international security and Korean studies. As a fellow in the 2024–25 Richard B. Russell Security Leadership Program at the UGA Center for International Trade and Security, she conducted research on the security dilemma posed by rogue states, using North Korea as a case study to examine implications for foreign policy.

Her leadership and international experiences include serving as the American chair for the 16th Korea‑America Student Conference, along with studying abroad at Yonsei University and teaching English in South Korea. At UGA, she served as president of the Korean Culture and Language Society. Weinmann has also volunteered as an English as a Second Language conversation partner with the Athens‑Clarke County Library since 2023.  

Prior to joining the School of Law, she worked as a K–12 substitute teacher in Athens‑Clarke County through Educational Staffing Solutions.

Georgia Law Professor Assaf Harpaz presents article at the Law and Society Annual Meeting

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Assaf Harpaz recently presented his article, “Toward a Theory of Tax Sovereignty,” at the Law and Society Annual Meeting in San Francisco. His presentation was part of the panel on Tax Sovereignty, History, and Constitutional Structure.

Below is the article abstract:

Tax sovereignty is traditionally understood to encompass a government’s right to design and enforce its tax laws without infringement. The principle has been frequently invoked in the context of multilateral initiatives to combat tax competition and evasion, yet it remains vague and underdeveloped. In recent years, international taxation has been characterized by an increase in national revenue preservation, forum-shopping, and unilateralism. These dynamics are reflected in the Trump administration’s rejection of the Global Tax Deal, the efforts of developing countries to shift tax policymaking to the United Nations, and the proliferation of unilateral digital services taxes. 

This Article proposes a doctrinal account of tax sovereignty for an international tax order in which cooperation and standardization are progressively contested. It draws on tax and international law scholarship to distinguish between procedural sovereignty, which includes the state’s authority to freely participate in cooperative forums, and substantive sovereignty, which refers to the right to independently draft tax legislation. The Article ultimately argues that tax sovereignty should operate as a doctrine with well-defined parameters rather than an unrestricted claim of fiscal autonomy. In doing so, it provides a framework for evaluating competing claims of tax sovereignty and assessing the legitimacy of tax policies with cross-border implications.

Harpaz joined the University of Georgia School of Law as an assistant professor in summer 2024 and teaches classes in federal income tax and business taxation. Harpaz’s scholarly focus lies in international taxation, with an emphasis on the intersection of taxation and digitalization. He explores the tax challenges of the digital economy and the ways to adapt 20th-century tax laws to modern business practices.