In celebration of Peace Corps week, Georgia Law student Sonya Edwards (J.D. ’28) reflects on her service in Colombia

Peace Corps Week, which takes place March 1-6 this year, commemorates President John F. Kennedy’s establishment of the agency on March 1, 1961. This week celebrates the work the organization and its volunteers do to make a difference at home and abroad. More than 240,000 Americans have served the United States and countries around the globe as Peace Corps volunteers, including current University of Georgia School of Law student Sonya Edwards (J.D. ’28). Sonya served in Simijaca, Cundinamarca, Colombia, as an Education Volunteer – TEFL from 2023-2025. In today’s guest post, Sonya reflects on her work abroad and the connections between that experience, what it’s like to be a law student, and how her time abroad relates to her career goals.

What initially inspired you to join the Peace Corps?

The Peace Corps had been vaguely on my mind since high school. I initially wanted to join to serve others, learn Spanish, and experience a new culture. During college, my study abroad program in Chile was canceled due to COVID, so I began looking for another way to live in Latin America. Right after I found out the program was canceled, I went on a nonprofit yoga retreat and met a retired woman who had just returned from Peace Corps. Hearing her stories during that one conversation really inspired me to look more into Peace Corps, and I decided to apply.

Understanding that there usually is no such thing as a “typical day” for a volunteer in the Peace Corps, share an overview about what life was like for you in Colombia and what type of work you engaged in.

I lived in a small town in Colombia, about three and a half hours by bus from the capital. The town had around 13,000 people, and I lived with a host family. I had my own bedroom and bathroom in the house. I was very fortunate to have a large bathroom and an electric heater in my shower, so I always felt very safe and comfortable. I shared the living room, kitchen, and patio with the family. I lived with a single mother, Marina, and her youngest son, Jeisson, who is my age. Marina had two other sons, both of whom had families of their own. Between the three sons, they had four daughters, and the youngest three would usually be brought over to the house in the afternoon to spend time with Marina and me or to join in on fiestas. My host brothers liked to tease me, especially on a couple of occasions when I may have overreacted to a mouse being in the house.

Shortly before I left, I became a godmother to the newest member of the family, Jeisson’s daughter, Leah Celeste. I still talk to my Colombian family and am going back to visit them and baptize Leah in May.

In the mornings, I walked or biked to the school, about one kilometer away from my house, where I taught English alongside co-teachers. I also went to the rural schools, where classrooms had anywhere from four to 30 children of different ages all together in one room (these were my favorite students!). Furthermore, I taught community classes in the afternoons at the town’s Casa de Cultura, which functions like a community center offering free classes of all sorts (examples: Zumba, painting, cooking, knitting) to both children and adults. I participated in many of these classes myself with some of my friends and found they were a great way to meet new people.

In my free time, I would go running or hiking around town because the weather was always perfect and the nature was stunning. Through this, I bonded with a neighbor’s dog who decided he loved me and would always accompany me (despite my promise to myself that I would not get attached to any animals there). Pretty much the entire town thought he was my dog, named “Squirrel,” “Squirrelito,” or “Ardilla.” Another funny story involving the dog, which is very Peace Corps-coded, is that one time a friend came to my community English class, and one of my younger students said, “I thought the dog was your only friend.”

Are there any projects or moments from your service that you’re particularly proud of?

I started a drowning prevention program after a local drowning incident involving two young children in my community. I was truly working at the local level with many different people and organizations to raise funds and gather support for the project. Three times per week, I went with teachers and rural elementary students to a neighboring town for swim lessons. As a former swimmer and lifeguard, I also helped teach the lessons. During this project, I faced many obstacles and roadblocks. It was both incredibly rewarding and very frustrating to make it happen!

I’m also proud of the small, everyday moments. I’ve done some very strange things (for example, sitting on a bus next to a rooster, a kitten, and a screaming child for overe eight hours) during my service that have prepared me for anything. At this point, I truly do not think anything could surprise me.

Describe the connection to and the journey between Peace Corps and law school. Did you always plan to go to law school? Was that decision impacted by your service in any way?

Law school had been on my mind even before joining the Peace Corps, and I had already started taking steps toward applying. My service gave me time to reflect on the decision and ultimately showed me that law school was the right path for me.

While in Colombia, I was exposed daily to local culture and community dynamics. One primary takeaway was understanding how essential critical thinking skills are. During my service, I participated in a gender equality initiative by creating a GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) club in my community.

My involvement with GLOW reinforced my desire to attend law school and learn how to think like an attorney so that I can apply these skills in the child welfare field. Being a GLOW leader made me very aware of the many issues young girls, especially those in rural areas, face. My work in GLOW also taught me effective strategies for working with teenagers, which I would like to use from a legal perspective to help influence legislation surrounding children’s education. This further reinforced my goal of working in child welfare.

Learning to think through issues and problem-solve was critical for my role in GLOW and many of the other projects I did in Colombia. I loved the challenge of resolving issues as they arose. Thus, I realized that the best way for me personally to make a positive impact in the child welfare field was by going to law school to continue developing these critical thinking skills.

How does your time in the Peace Corps relate to your long-term professional goals?

I want to work in child welfare law, and Peace Corps gave me extensive experience in this area. Being on the ground and directly interacting with communities was invaluable and allowed me to identify community and individual needs at a local level.

Now that I have begun looking at child welfare from a legal perspective through applying for summer internships and through training with a Guardian ad Litem program, I have realized how much impact my time in Peace Corps has had on my understanding of child welfare and family dynamics. I have developed greater empathy for families who have had children removed from their homes. Peace Corps reinforced for me that, while of course the safety and emotional/physical/psychological well-being of the child are paramount, each child and family is unique. Peace Corps taught me that community standards and norms for raising children can vary and that there is more than one right way to raise a child.

I also became very well-read and well-traveled during my service at very little personal financial expense. This has allowed me to engage in intellectual conversations that I otherwise might not have been able to participate in.

Practically speaking, so much happened during my time in Colombia that for every interview question I have been asked this season, I have a situational example from my Peace Corps experience. If it’s a question someone can think up, it probably happened in Peace Corps.

What is a takeaway or lesson learned from your time in the Peace Corps that you want to share with the law school community?

Always bring a book (or something to do) with you. You never know when you’ll end up waiting. It can be particularly frustrating for me when I have something that needs to be done and I’m not able to do it. Given the amount of reading we have in law school, it’s never a bad idea to be prepared with work so that if something is delayed or someone is late, I have something productive to do rather than feeling stressed and allowing resentment to build. On that note, I also learned a lot about patience and the importance of letting small things go. Almost nothing is truly that serious or worth getting upset about.

Georgia Law Professor Sonja R. West presents in panel discussion hosted by the University of Sheffield

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Sonja R. West presented as part of an online panel titled “The Future of Press Freedom” at the University of Sheffield’s Centre for Freedom of the Media during January 2026.

The discussion featured panelists RonNell Andersen Jones (University of Utah College of Law) and Christina Koningisor (University of California-San Francisco School of Law). They focused on the edited volume by Jones and West, The Future of Press Freedom: Democracy, Law, and the News in Changing Time, and discussed press freedom in the United States and evolving threats to the press.

West holds the Otis Brumby Distinguished Professorship in First Amendment Law, a post shared by the law school and Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. She specializes in constitutional law, media law and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Georgia Law’s Dean Rusk International Law Center hosts online sessions of working group convened to include recruitment and use of children as standalone offense in proposed U.N. crimes against humanity treaty

We at the University of Georgia School of Law Dean Rusk International Law Center were honored to host a recent two-part workshop intended to advance consideration of harms against children in a future crimes against humanity treaty.

U.N. member states took a first step toward negotiating this treaty with the January 19-30, 2026, meeting of the Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Humanity. Subsequent PrepComm sessions are expected to develop the text of the treaty, based both on the 2019 International Law Commission Draft Articles on Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Humanity and on proposals to amend that draft.

Expanding that draft to include children’s concerns – specifically, by enumerating the recruitment and use of children as a standalone crime against humanity – was the aim of the Working Group on a Standalone Crime of Recruitment & Use of Children under the Crimes Against Humanity Treaty which our Center hosted. As explained by a briefing paper circulated before the first workshop:

Estimates indicate that a staggering 473 million children (or 18.9% of the global child population) live in conflict-affected areas and are at heightened risk of being recruited by State and non-State actors alike. The physical and developmental harms resulting from child recruitment and use can be severe and often long-lasting. Children may suffer death, physical injuries, or permanent disabilities because of combat, and many experience serious psychological trauma from being forced to commit or witness acts of violence. Even those not directly involved in combat are also at risk of attack due to their perceived association with armed actors. Recruited girls and boys are also frequently subjected to rape, sexual slavery, forced marriage, and other forms of sexual violence. For most children, recruitment also interrupts or ends their schooling, limiting future opportunities for sustainable livelihoods and civic participation. The harms experienced by recruited children are comparable in nature and gravity to other crimes against humanity enumerated in the Draft Articles.

Diane Marie Amann, who is Regents Professor Emerita, Emily & Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law, and a former Center Faculty Co-Director at Georgia Law, was a co-convenor of the Working Group, along with Zama Neff, Executive Director of the Children’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch, Laura Perez, Adjunct Professor at the Columbia University School of International & Public Affairs, and Janine Morna, Researcher on Children at the Amnesty International Crisis Response Programme.

Other experts in the Working Group included: Kelly Adams, Legal Action Worldwide; Cécile Aptel and Miles Hastie; Jo Becker and Katherine La Puente, Human Rights Watch; Alec Wargo and Claire Bertouille, Office of the Special Representative to the Secretary-General for Children in Armed Conflict; Michelle Jarvis, International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism; Christopher Lentz, University of Chicago; Mikiko Otani, Child Rights Connect; and Rachel Sloth-Nielsen, University of Oxford. (Affiliations for identifying purposes only.)

Once published, the proposed text for the crime of recruitment and use will join other proposals related to children and the crimes against humanity treaty. These include two to which various Working Group members also contributed: “Justice for Children in the Future Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Humanity,” launched at a May 2025 conference at Columbia University; and “Children,” published in January 2026 by the American Branch of the International Law Association Study Group on Crimes Against Humanity.

Georgia Law Professor Diane Marie Amann discusses nonpeaceful dispute settlement at University College London-National University of Singapore conference on “The Future of International Law”

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Emerita Diane Marie Amann recently took part in a panel entitled “(non-)peacefulness of the settlement of international disputes” at “The Future of International Law: Reflections on Challenges New and Old” conference at University College London Faculty of Laws. Cosponsoring along with UCL Laws was the National University of Singapore Centre for International Law.

Also on the panel were King’s College London Law Professor Christian J. Tams, International Law Commission  member Vilawan Mangklatanakul, University of Geneva Law Professor Makane Moïse Mbengue, and University of Reading Law Professor Marko Milanovic. Together they explored current developments in relation to legal norms on the use of force, territorial conquest, decolonization, and economic coercion.

Organizers of the daylong conference with UCL Laws Professor Martins Paparinskis and NUS Law Senior Fellow Nilufer Oral.

Amann, who is Regents’ Professor Emerita and Emily & Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law Emerita at Georgia Law, served for many years as a Faculty Co-Director of our Dean Rusk International Law Center. At present she is an Academic Affiliate at University College London Faculty of Laws.

Georgia Law Professor Desirée LeClercq presents on international law at AALS Annual Meeting

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Desirée LeClercq presented as part of the panel “The Trump Administration and International Law 2.0” at the Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting in New Orleans during January.

The panel focused on concerns about the second Trump administration’s impact on the international legal order, including U.S. engagement with international bodies and the potential effects on areas such as international criminal law and human rights law.

LeClercq also moderated the panel “Teaching Human Rights: From Specialized Courses to Doctrinal Integration”, which explored innovative approaches to teaching human rights, including strategies for standalone courses and ways to integrate human rights perspectives into first-year doctrinal courses and other core parts of the law school curriculum.

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 and the Labor and Employment Student Association. 

Georgia Law Professor Diane Marie Amann presents on Nuremberg trial at Mexico City museum conference

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Emerita Diane Marie Amann recently presented “Impressions of Nuremberg 80 Years On – Impresiones de Núremberg 80 años después” as part of “De Núremberg a Buenos Aires: Legados de la justicia penal internacional y el futuro de la rendición de cuentas transnacional,” an international conference at Museo Memoria y Tolerancia in Mexico City, Mexico.

Amann examined legacies of the year-long war crimes trial which took place soon after World War II in Nuremberg, Germany, before an International Military Tribunal established by Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States. After discussing some lesser known aspects, such as the roles of persons not affiliated with one of those four Allied states, Amann considered contemporary legacies of the landmark trial.

The University of Texas at Dallas joined the Museo Memoria y Tolerancia in cosponsoring the two-day conference.

Amann, who is Regents’ Professor Emerita and Emily & Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law Emerita at Georgia Law, served for many years as a Faculty Co-Director of our Dean Rusk International Law Center. At present she is an Academic Affiliate at University College London Faculty of Laws.

Georgia Law Professor Walter Hellerstein presents at OECD Global Forum in Paris

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Emeritus Walter Hellerstein presented at the Sixth Meeting of the OECD Global Forum on VAT in Paris, France in January. The Global Forum gathered government officials, international organizations, and business stakeholders to share approaches to building effective VAT systems. 

Hellerstein is the Distinguished Research Professor & Francis Shackelford Distinguished Professor in Taxation Law Emeritus. He is a recipient of the National Tax Association’s Daniel M. Holland Medal for outstanding lifetime contributions to the study and practice of public finance, is widely regarded as the nation’s leading academician on state and local taxation. He has authored numerous books, textbooks, and law review articles, and has practiced extensively in the field. Hellerstein is currently a Visiting Professor at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, and he remains actively involved in his scholarship, consulting, and, in particular, his work as an academic advisor to the OECD.

Georgia Law Professor Desirée LeClercq delivers keynote on supply chain management and forced labor bans in Taiwan

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Desirée LeClercq delivered a keynote address at the International Conference on Corporate Sustainability Regulations and Governance on Labor Rights in Global Supply Chains, held in Douliu, Taiwan, on 19 December 2025.

Her keynote, “Supply Chain Management under the Trump Administration: from Trade Agreements to Forced Labor Bans,” examined how shifting U.S. trade policy and enforcement tools shape corporate supply chain strategy, with a focus on labor rights compliance and emerging forced labor restrictions. A short video from her time in Taiwan was shared in an Instagram reel.

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 and the Labor and Employment Student Association. 

Georgia Law Professor Desirée LeClercq featured in the Financial Times

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Desirée LeClercq‘s research on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) was highlighted in the Financial Times Trade Secrets newsletter, written by Alan Beattie and published 15 December 2025.

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 and the Labor and Employment Student Association. 

Halle Foundation grant recipient Eleanor Cox (J.D. ’26) reflects on semester-long Global Externship Overseas in Germany

Today, we welcome a guest post by Eleanor Cox, a member of the University of Georgia School of Law class of 2026. Cox is the eleventh Georgia Law student to participate in a semester-long international externship and the third recipient of a grant from the Halle Foundation to support her externship in Germany. The semester-long externships overseas initiative is an extension of the Center’s existing Global Externships Overseas and is offered jointly between the Center and the law school’s Clinical and Experiential Program. Cox’s post describes her experience as a legal extern with Bodenheimer, a German law firm specializing in international arbitration. Cox was based in Bodenheimer’s Berlin office, where she worked under Georgia Law alumnus Dr. Christof Siefarth (LL.M., ’86). Dr. Siefarth, who is also a member of the Dean Rusk International Law Center’s Advisory Council, is a Partner at Bodenheimer.

“Do it afraid.” That simple reminder became my mantra during my semester abroad. It is an acknowledgement that discovery rarely feels comfortable at the start. Stepping into a new country, a new legal system, and a new professional culture required me to move forward even when I felt unsteady. But the very discomfort I feared became the gateway to the most meaningful growth I have experienced. During the fall 2025 semester, I externed at BODENHEIMER Law Firm in Berlin—a firm specializing in international dispute resolution with offices also in Cologne.

Living in Berlin

Berlin is a place that refuses to simplify itself. Its history is felt in every neighborhood, yet its present is defined by internationalism and constant reinvention. I met a woman who was nine years old when the wall fell, and she learned that the world had changed only when her family from the East knocked on her family’s front door for the first time. I also met a Syrian student working to adjust to the new language, culture, and that in-between feeling of starting over. Encounters like these reminded me that, as the most populated city in the European Union, Berlin cannot be described as one thing. It is one place that is also all places.

What I will miss most is the sense of community Berliners create without even trying: my morning conversations with a bakery owner on the way to the S-Bahn station, watching the city rush outside the second the sun appears, my favorite neighborhood dog Leo religiously greeting me at a local coffee shop, and never knowing whether a parade would materialize around the corner. It is both unpredictable and deeply human. One of my favorite things about Berlin is living in a city that constantly asks you to discover yourself and expand. It stretches you in small ways, like in the languages you hear, the people you meet, and the art tucked in quiet corners of the city.

Substantive Work and Office Culture

At BODENHEIMER, I worked on cross-border legal matters ranging from construction to inheritance. The international nature of the work required me to expand both my legal thinking and cultural awareness. I worked on matters involving different jurisdictions, which meant relying on machine-translated documents and learning the procedural rules of various arbitral institutions. Unsure of how much work would be available due to my limited German-language skills, I was surprised by how much opportunity being a native English speaker provided. I was able to assist in the drafting of statements of claim, attend case management conferences, and research cross-border enforcement.

With colleagues from four different continents, some of the most valuable learning happened outside of my actual assignments. Long lunches turned into lively conversations about world politics, personal histories, cultural differences, and the small absurdities that make international work so rich. These moments helped me understand the human side of international practice and reminded me how central curiosity is to this area.

Lessons to Carry Forward

The most challenging part of the placement was the constant unfamiliarity. But that challenge became the most rewarding part, too. Every day, I proved to myself, in small ways, that I could adapt and grow through trial and error. I learned to celebrate being unfamiliar rather than feel embarrassed by it. That shift in mindset is something I will carry with me.

Looking back, my semester in Berlin helped me see myself differently, personally and professionally. I became more confident, more flexible, and more willing to step into the unknown. What first felt foreign and intimidating slowly became more familiar. Living and working abroad showed me that the moments that feel uncomfortable are often the ones that push us forward the most. And for me, that made this experience not just educational, but truly transformative.