The University of Georgia School of Law recently hosted Leanne Webster, the Director of The Carter Center‘s Rule of Law Program. Webster’s presentation was part of the law school’s Public Interest Week, organized in partnership with the Career Development Office, which provides students with perspectives from the diverse field of public interest work.
Webster began with an introductory video of The Carter Center (“TCC”), an Atlanta-based nongovernmental organization founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter. She then situated her Program’s work within the organization’s pillars of global health and peace initiatives, defined the rule of law, and provided students with a number of initiatives overseen in her unit, ranging from access to information for women and marginalized communities in Bangladesh to strengthening civil society to counter authoritarian slide in the United States. Webster shared several datasets explaining why the rule of law needs robust support globally and provided specific examples of how lawyers can contribute to upholding it. She concluded her talk with an open Q&A with the audience.
After receiving her law degree and practicing litigation for several years, Webster joined the international development community in 2010 as a democracy and governance officer with the United States Agency for International Development. Her first overseas assignment with USAID was in El Salvador. She was subsequently posted in Afghanistan and Paraguay. Since then, Webster has worked on U.S. government-funded projects globally with implementing partners, supporting efforts to consolidate the rule of law, strengthen civil society organizations, broaden opportunity for marginalized youth, and fortify respect for human rights. Her roles have included senior leadership responsibilities in both overseas and U.S. positions. Webster received her Juris Doctor from the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah and her Master of Public Administration from the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University.
The Captain George N. and Norma D. Larocque Endowment was created through a partnership between the George N. Larocque Revocable Trust and the University of Georgia Foundation.
The lead endowment gift of $1 million was made in memory of Capt. George and Norma Larocque, who proudly served and represented their country at home and abroad for approximately 30 years, according to Grady H. Williams Jr.
A 1982 UGA Law grad, Williams served as the trustee of Capt. Larocque’s estate and studied foreign affairs and international law under then-UGA Law faculty members Dean Rusk, who was a former U.S. Secretary of State, and Louis B. Sohn, who helped draft the charter of the United Nations.
“I believe George and Norma would be delighted to be furthering the education, development and experience of UGA Law students internationally,” Williams said. “While they did not leave a family of descendants, they did leave a legacy of volunteerism, caring and giving to their community and beyond.”
Dean Usha R. Rodrigues said: “This philanthropic partnership, coming as we prepare to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Dean Rusk International Law Center, will significantly expand international opportunities for our law students and strengthen our tradition of excellence in international law. In our increasingly interconnected world, it is more important than ever for our students to have opportunities to learn about – and immerse themselves in – different countries, cultures and legal systems.”
“This new endowment will enable more students to participate in the Rusk Center’s international initiatives, including studying abroad in Belgium and the Netherlands at the Global Governance Summer School, gaining hands-on learning experience across the world through Global Externships Overseas and learning at law schools worldwide through bilateral exchanges.
“The funding this endowment provides will be transformative because it lessens one of the greatest barriers for our students in pursuing global opportunities: cost,” Rodrigues said.
After customary investment, the first monetary awards should be available to students for the 2028-29 academic year.
“I am profoundly grateful to the Larocques, to Grady Williams and to the UGA Foundation, which provided $1 million in match funding, for their support of student international experiences. Here at the School of Law, we recognize that an appreciation of the law’s international reach is essential to a well-rounded graduate, ” she continued.
“I cannot wait to see all of the places our law students will go thanks to this investment in their legal education – and to hear about their experiences when they return, bringing new insights from the wider world back home to Athens,” Rodrigues said.
Capt. George Larocque was designated as a naval flight officer in 1953 and was presented with the inaugural Gray Owl Award by Grumman Aerospace in 1979 for being the longest-tenured NFO on continuous active duty. His other honors include the National Order of Merit (Grade of Commander French) and Order of Orange-Nassau (Grade of Knight Commander Dutch). Prior to his retirement from active duty in 1982, he served as a naval attaché in The Hague. He passed away in 2025 at the age of 96.
Norma Larocque, whose maiden name was Duckworth, was one of the first students to graduate from the University of Rhode Island with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She was a golfer and a collector of Hummel figurines and volunteered her time and services to various local entities over the years. She died in 2009.
Rutledge holds the Talmadge Chair of Law. From 2015 through 2024, he served as dean of Georgia Law. Prior to his appointment as dean, Rutledge served as the associate dean for faculty development working closely with the law school’s faculty, especially its untenured professors, to expand and promote scholarly and research activities.
He is the author of the book Arbitration and the Constitution and co-author with Gary Born of the book International Civil Litigation in United States Courts. His works have been published by the Yale University Press, the Oxford University Press and the Cambridge University Press, and his articles have appeared in a diverse array of journals such as The University of Chicago Law Review, the Vanderbilt Law Review and the Journal of International Arbitration. He also regularly advises parties on matters of international dispute resolution (litigation and arbitration).
University of Georgia School of Law Professor Patrick D. Conner recently traveled to Europe as part of the Crisis Communication Think Tank. Conner received financial support for his travel from the Dean Rusk International Law Center as a Rusk Scholar-in-Residence, an initiative promoting international opportunities for Georgia Law faculty that advance the mission of the Center.
Conner participated in a Q&A panel discussion on issues of organizational alignment at the 2026 European Public Relations Education and Research Association Annual Congress at the University of Málaga in Málaga, Spain. His co-authors from the University of Georgia, Ghent University in Belgium, and Boston University were invited to submit their paper (Alignment: A Core Concept for Organizational Connectivity and Elasticity in Crisis Management) for publication in the EUPRERA 2026 special issue of the Journal of Communication Management. EUPRERA has over 550 members across fifty countries with the goal of advancing research and knowledge in public relations and strategic communication. It organizes an annual conference each year for its membership in coordination with a prestigious European university.
Conner’s contribution to the paper addresses the difficulties in maintaining organizational alignment during a crisis involving internal wrongdoing, which can lead to conflicts of interest and confusion as to who is authorized to speak for an organization. This risk is particularly acute during internal investigations when a company is facing allegations that its senior leaders are involved in wrongdoing.
Conner also presented as part of the “Information Governance” panel at the Crisis Communication Think Tank’s Annual International Symposium hosted at the University of Amsterdam. Alongside co-presenters from the University of Oslo and Aarhus University in Denmark, Conner’s panel addressed information governance and the litigation risks that poorly managed communications can create for companies during a crisis.
Conner joined the University of Georgia School of Law in 2014, and he leads courses with a concentration in drafting for litigation, internal investigations and contracts. He was recognized with the school’s inaugural Carol A. Watson Award for Outstanding Legal Research or Writing Instructor in 2020 and then received the award again in 2021 and 2024. He is also a member of UGA’s Crisis Communication Coalition within the Crisis Communication Think Tank, which collaborates globally on advancing crisis communication leadership.
Tax sovereignty traditionally refers to a government’s authority to design and enforce its tax laws without external interference. Most legal scholars have examined the concept in the context of coordinated efforts to address harmful tax competition and tax evasion, focusing on the sovereignty concessions those efforts may require. However, recent assertions of tax sovereignty are arising in an increasingly fragmented international tax order marked by unilateralism and forum-shifting. That tension is demonstrated by the Trump administration’s withdrawal from international tax agreements, the proliferation of digital services taxes in Europe, and an emerging United Nations tax convention that incorporates a tax sovereignty principle. Nevertheless, tax sovereignty remains notoriously amorphous, and scholars have viewed it with skepticism because it is prone to manipulation and misuse.
This Article develops a relational theory of tax sovereignty. It argues that tax sovereignty should be understood as a principle of bounded autonomy, shaped and constrained by overlapping legal commitments and relationships of power. This theory operates across multiple axes. It applies to relations among states and between states and intergovernmental organizations, intra-state relations between national and subnational governments (e.g., U.S. states), and relations between governments and powerful institutional actors, like large corporations capable of shaping tax policy. The framework advanced in this Article ultimately rejects absolute claims of tax sovereignty, even by the world’s most powerful states. Effectively taxing offshore income demands cross-border cooperation and a willingness to accept reciprocal limits on tax sovereignty.
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.
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.
The day-long conference invited speakers representing a diverse range of doctrinal, institutional, and jurisdictional perspectives to the Georgia Law campus on Friday, September 18 to discuss how modern conflict is reshaping the relationships among state power, technological systems, and legal accountability. Across international law, technology law, and criminal law, the panels considered how contemporary conflicts expose pressure points in the rules-based international order, the governance of digital platforms and algorithmic systems, and the mechanisms available when states or individual actors violate legal norms.
GJICL Editor-in-Chief, William Stowers (J.D. ’27) and Executive Conference Editor Samantha Northenor (J.D. ’27) worked with Georgia Criminal Law Review Editor in Chief Eli Werbel (J.D. ’27) and Georgia Journal of Law & Technology Editor in Chief Cat Wood (J.D. ’27); Professor Joseph S. Miller, Ernest P. Rogers Chair of Intellectual Property and Unfair Competition Law; Center staff Sarah Quinn, Director; Taher S. Benany, Center Associate Director; and Lindsay Weinmann, Center Administrative Specialist; and with the GJICL’s Faculty Advisor, Professor Desirée LeClercq, who is Associate Professor of Law & Faculty Co-Director of the Dean Rusk International Law Center.
After opening remarks from Usha Rodrigues, Dean, University Professor & M.E. Kilpatrick Chair of Corporate Finance and Securities Law, the panels proceeded as follows:
Panel 1: War Crimes: Accountability for Violations of International Law
Michael Newton, Professor of the Practice of Law & Director, International Legal Studies Program, Vanderbilt University Law School
Rebecca Crootof, Nancy Litchfield Hicks Professor of Law, University of Richmond School of Law
Moderator: Jason A. Cade, J. Alton Hosch Professor of Law & Community Health Law Partnership Clinic Director, University of Georgia School of Law
This panel examined what accountability means when states, armed groups, or individuals violate the laws governing armed conflict. Rather than addressing accountability in the abstract, the panel focused on the legal and practical mechanisms available when actors disregard established rules on war crimes, civilian protection, cyber operations, or other atrocity-related conduct. The discussion considered ways criminal law can respond to actors who exploit gaps in current legal international frameworks. It also assessed whether existing mechanisms are sufficient to hold nations accountable, and, if not, what reforms are needed to strengthen international accountability.
Panel 2: Sovereignty in the Cloud: Data Jurisdiction, Commercialized Reconnaissance, and Critical Infrastructure
Peter Swire, J.Z. Liang Chair, Professor, School of Cybersecurity and Privacy, College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology
David Sella-Villa, Assistant Professor of Law, University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law
Moderator: María P. Angel, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Georgia School of Law
This panel examined the legal, jurisdictional, and national security crises that emerge when data capable of compromising critical infrastructure or exposing civilian populations is hosted on private cloud servers or sold on the open market. This panel explored how hostile foreign actors can exploit regulatory blind spots to buy or freely harvest operational data, facility layouts, and network vulnerabilities, alongside the consumer metadata and location histories of citizens. Finally, panelists addressed the limits of state sovereignty, individual digital privacy, and corporate liability when private data brokers and transnational cloud hosts inadvertently fuel the cyber reconnaissance phase of modern hybrid warfare.
Panel 3: The Rules-Based Order Under Fire: Sovereignty, Force, and Adaptability from Ukraine, Gaza, and Taiwan
Charles Trumbull, Assistant Professor of Law, University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law
Christopher J. Borgen, Professor of Law and Co-Director, Center for International and Comparative Law, St. John’s University School of Law
Mikulas Fabry, Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Georgia Institute of Technology
Moderator:Mateusz “Matt” Blaszczyk, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Georgia School of Law
This panel examined how contemporary conflicts test the core commitments and flexibility of the international legal order, including sovereignty, territorial integrity, the prohibition on force, civilian protection, humanitarian access, and current international frameworks. Using conflicts such as Russia-Ukraine, Israel-Palestine/Gaza, and Taiwan/South China Sea as reference points, the panel asked whether international law is failing, adapting, or being selectively invoked in ways that reveal both its continuing force and its institutional fragility. The panel also considered the limits of the existing international order, assessing its capacity to respond effectively to evolving geopolitical challenges and exploring the implications for future development and enforcement of international law.
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The conference concluded with remarks from William Stowers (J.D. ’27), Editor-in-Chief of the Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law.
This week, the University of Georgia School of Law hosted a delegation of lawyers and judges from Central and South American countries through the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP). The morning visit to Athens was part of a three-week regional project entitled “The U.S. Judicial System: A Regional Project for the Western Hemisphere.” Seven individuals representing seven countries participated and learned about principles of the U.S. judicial and legal systems while deepening their understanding of federal and state judicial systems during their time in the U.S.
Professor Thomas “TJ” Striepe, Director of the Law Library, and Professor Brandy Ellis, Research Services Librarian, presented on practical applications of generative Artificial Intelligence (“genAI”) in U.S. legal education and in the legal system. They gave an overview of the law school’s approach to genAI instruction and use, as well as examples of how genAI has been used in courts and law firms in the U.S. recently. Professor María P. Angel, an expert in AI law and policy, contributed to the dialogue and provided specific examples of Georgia Law’s thought process behind the development and implementation of a new AI policy. The session concluded with a discussion of professional responsibility as it pertains to genAI usage in law school, academia, and the larger legal profession.
Launched in 1940, the IVLP deepens ties between the United States and other nations through carefully designed professional visits to the United States based on U.S. foreign policy goals for current and emerging foreign leaders. Each year, approximately 4,000 IVLP participants from around the world are selected by U.S. embassies to engage professional counterparts across the United States. Through these encounters, they develop a deeper understanding of the political, economic, and cultural influences within U.S. society. IVLP participants also gain a firsthand experience of the United States, its people, and its culture. Current and emerging leaders represent government, politics, the media, education, nongovernmental organizations, the arts, public health, international security, business and trade, and other fields. Over 500 current and former heads of government and state, 1,600 cabinet officials, 1,000 Members of Parliament, 12 Nobel Laureates, and many other distinguished world leaders in the public and private sectors have participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program.
Special thanks to Hannah Kim, Program Coordinator – Georgia Council for International Visitors (GCIV), and Lindsay Weinmann, Administrative Specialist to the Dean Rusk International Law Center, for their logistical support of this visit.
University of Georgia School of Law Professor Christopher Bruner presented a keynote address for a conference titled “Sustainability Law: Law’s Response to the Convergence of Crises” at the University of Oslo (Norway) in September. Bruner’s keynote was titled “Navigating Sustainability Backlash: Advancing Reform in Turbulent Times” and the conference was organized by the Sustainability Law research group and the Centre for Global Sustainability at the University of Oslo.
Bruner is the Stembler Family Distinguished Professor in Business Law at the University of Georgia School of Law and serves as a faculty co-director of the Dean Rusk International Law Center.
After being introduced by Georgia Law student and Federalist Society President Lucy Stallworth (J.D. ’28), Newton spoke with a group of students about the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction, its relationship with sovereign states, and the recent U.S. sanctions against ICC officials. The conversation examined the legal foundations and limits of the Court’s authority under the Rome Statute, including questions of treaty jurisdiction, domestic investigations, and the proper role of the ICC in international criminal law.
Newton is an expert on terrorism, accountability, transnational justice and conduct of hostilities issues. Over the course of his career, he has published more than 100 books, articles, op-eds, and book chapters. He has been an expert witness in terrorism related trials both in domestic courts and at the International Court of Justice. Newton is admitted to the Counsel List of the International Criminal Court, where he helped prepare the appeal of Jean-Pierre Bemba and has participated in oral arguments at the Appeals Chamber in other cases. Read his full bio here.
