Harrold, one of the founders of the World Law Group, describes milestones in Atlanta’s international growth dating back to Governor George Busbee’s initiatives in the 1970s to the development of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Delta Airline’s international connectivity, and local leaders thinking globally, including Coca-Cola’s Robert Woodruff and civil rights leaders.
The interview concludes with Harrold’s belief in the importance of nurturing a future generation of globally-minded citizens:
As he looks ahead, Mr. Harrold remains confident that Atlanta and Georgia’s competitive advantages—combined with a welcoming business environment—will continue to attract foreign investment for years to come.
“At the end of the day, we need people that can communicate with workers in the workforce, and then great incentives that the state and local governments provide to new industries coming in,” Mr. Harrold said.
“We need our young people to look out and see there’s a whole other world out there. They need to travel and go see these other countries, so they can have a real appreciation for an international career—and then come back to Georgia.”
A 1969 graduate of the law school, Harrold leads Miller & Martin’s International/World Law Group practice. He has for many years worked with European and Asian companies investing in the Southeastern United States and with American companies that have been expanding around the globe. He previously served as the deputy commissioner of the Georgia Department of Revenue, and he has been instrumental in navigating significant pro-economic legislation through the Georgia General Assembly. He is a founder of the World Law Group, an international legal network with over 6o member firms with offices in 92 countries. In 2009, he was awarded the Cross of Merit of Germany by President Horst Köhler. He is presently a member of the law school’s Board of Visitors.
Today, we welcome a guest post by Elizabeth Ferguson, a member of the University of Georgia School of Law class of 2025. Ferguson participated in a semester-long international externship in spring 2025. 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. Ferguson’s post describes her experience as a legal extern with Bodenheimer, a law firm that handles disputes across jurisdictions, including cases in litigation, arbitration, and mediation and other ADR proceedings. Ferguson was based in Berlin, Germany, where she worked under Georgia Law alumnus Dr. Christof Siefarth (LL.M., ’86).
When I decided to participate in my semester-long Global Externship at Bodenheimer in Berlin, Germany I was looking for a new way to challenge myself academically. I concluded that taking myself far beyond the law school classroom I had spent two and a half years becoming familiar with would be the perfect opportunity. Although I was ready for a challenge, I didn’t anticipate how the lessons I learned in international arbitration would expand beyond its subject matter and into my professional life forever.
Bodenheimer is an international arbitration firm with a truly global scope. As a result, during my four months there, I researched many issues spanning multiple jurisdictions: I immersed myself in Chinese product quality standards, untangled questions of Indian law, and more.
When I received my first assignment, concerning a legal issue relying on law in an Asian country, the reality set in that I did not have the basic building blocks I needed to begin. When I received assignments on an unfamiliar issue while working at American law firms, I had a certain base knowledge to assist me because law school taught me the basics of the American civil and criminal systems and how to research them. However, in this situation, I quickly realized, I had none of those research tools or knowledge ready to go.
Although I conquered each task with the help of my colleagues, law school staff, and by familiarizing myself with the tools and knowledge used in international arbitration, I relived this fearful realization many times. Each time I received an assignment based in a jurisdiction I had not yet faced, I felt as though I was back at square one: navigating a new legal universe, where I didn’t speak the language, didn’t know the rules, and did not know where to begin. In American law firms, I had the comfort of a familiar legal system, a base knowledge to lean on, and research tools I used frequently. However, in Berlin, I often found myself staring at an assignment wondering, “Where do I even start?”
As a result, I began to struggle with something I’d never felt before: imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is a phenomenon where professionals experience feelings of inadequacy, despite evidence of their competence and achievements. I knew that I was given this opportunity for a reason, but nevertheless I could not shake this feeling of self-doubt and compare myself to my very impressive colleagues. Most of the attorneys in my office were fluent in at least three languages and were qualified attorneys in several countries! As someone who only spoke English and had not yet even graduated law school, I couldn’t help but compare myself to them and worry that I was simply not up to the task. As a result, my imposter syndrome began to eat away at my confidence.
But here’s the thing about throwing yourself into the deep end: you must learn to swim.
Over time, as I completed challenging assignments and learned from my helpful and knowledgeable colleagues, I developed strategies to identify, build, and promote my value as a young attorney in this unfamiliar environment which helped me combat my imposter syndrome. For example, one attorney frequently asked me to edit English language documents and made the observation that I was the only native English speaker in the office. At this moment, I realized that I was too busy comparing myself to my colleagues, who could all speak three to five languages, to recognize that my native English skills were a unique asset in my office when my colleagues needed someone to edit or translate documents into English. By the end of the semester, I was able to recognize my value in many ways and recognize the meaningful contributions I made through my work product.
Working at Bodenheimer taught me more than just the inner workings of international arbitration: it taught me how to quiet the inner critic, embrace uncertainty, and how to identify and promote my value, rather than focus on perceived shortcomings.
Berlin will always hold a special place in my heart, not just for its beautiful cathedral, the delicious Franzbrötchen, and the amazing colleagues I met, but for the reminder that growth often comes disguised as discomfort.
As I head into my next professional chapter, I’ll carry with me the lesson that the doubts you feel today will become issues you will conquer tomorrow.
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Applications are open for spring 2026 semester-long Global Externships Overseas (GEOs). All current 2Ls and 3Ls are invited to submit an application by September 15. For more information and the application, please email: ruskintlaw@uga.edu
Defining the scope of the Constitution’s application outside U.S. territory is more important than ever. In February, the Supreme Court heard oral argument about whether the Constitution applies when a U.S. officer shoots a Mexican teenager across the border. At the same time, federal courts across the country scrambled to evaluate the constitutionality of an Executive Order that, among other things, deprived immigrants of their right to reenter the United States. Yet the extraterritorial reach of the Due Process Clause—the broadest constitutional limit on the government’s authority to deprive persons of “life, liberty, or property”—remains obscure.
Up to now, scholars have uniformly concluded that the founding generation did not understand due process to apply abroad, at least not to aliens. This Article challenges that consensus. Based on the historical background, constitutional structure, and the early practice of federal law enforcement on the high seas, this Article argues that the founding generation understood due process to apply to any exercise of federal law enforcement, criminal or civil, against any person anywhere in the world. Outside the context of war, no one believed that a federal officer could deprive a suspect of life, liberty, or property without due process of law— even if the capture occurred abroad or the suspect was a noncitizen.
This history supports generally extending due process to federal criminal and civil law enforcement, regardless of the suspect’s location or citizenship. This principle has immediate implications for cross-border shootings, officially sponsored kidnappings and detentions abroad, the suspension of immigration benefits, and the acquisition of foreign evidence for criminal defendants.
Chapman currently serves as the law school’s associate dean for faculty development and holds the Cleveland Distinguished Chair of Law. He writes and teaches about constitutional law, especially constitutional rights, and law and religion. Most recently, he is the author, with Michael W. McConnell, of Agreeing to Disagree: How the Establishment Clause Promotes Religious Pluralism and Protects Freedom of Conscience (OUP, 2023).
University of Georgia School of Law Professor Desirée LeClercq recently organized and funded (through a grant won at Cornell University) a transnational conference of U.S., Mexican, and Canadian labor unions and leaders at Flacso Mexico in Mexico City. Patricia Campos-Medina (WI-ILR Cornell University), Alex Covarrubias (El Colegio de Sonora), and Cirila Quintero (El Colegio de la Frontera Norte) served as conference co-organizers.
This one-day transnational labor conference solicited the views of labor unions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), organizers, and workers on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)’s Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) in light of current geopolitical dynamics. Participants identified current challenges in filing petitions under the RRM, aligned strategic approaches to the 2026 re-negotiation of the USMCA, and discussed ways to work together notwithstanding current tensions in politics and trade. The conference was structured to first discuss the RRM on a technical level before broadening to account for political tensions and joint transnational strategies. It concluded with ways participants could remain organized and collaborate in the future.
LeClercq joined the University of Georgia School of Law in 2024 as an assistant professor. She teaches International Trade and Workers Rights, International Labor Law, International Law and U.S. Labor 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.
University of Georgia School of Law’s Foreign and International Law Librarian Anne Burnett presented “Legal Research Reimagined: AI, Exams, and the Global Legal Mindset” for the Jacksonville Urban League Center for Advocacy and Social Justice on July 14, 2025. She discussed the rapidly-evolving impact of artificial intelligence on legal research and legal education as well as providing an introduction to the variety of paths and opportunities for international lawyers.
Burnett has been the foreign and international law librarian at the University of Georgia School of Law Alexander Campbell King Law Library since 1996. Burnett serves as the primary provider of reference services for the international, foreign and comparative law collections and is a member of the library’s research team. Burnett also teaches courses in international legal research, advanced legal research and the LL.M. Legal System of the United States course.
Burnett’s previous law library experience includes the Legislative Reference Library in Austin, TX, and the Young Law Library at the University of Arkansas School of Law. Her other professional legal experience includes working as deputy legislative counsel at the Legislative Counsel Bureau for the Nevada Legislature in Carson City, NV. She also worked as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Deborah A. Agosti, Second Judicial District Court, State of Nevada. Burnett is a member of the state bars of California and Nevada. She is active in the American Association of Law Libraries, the International Federation of
University of Georgia School of Law Professor Nathan S. Chapman gave two presentations at the University of Queensland Law School in Brisbane, Australia this summer. He presented “Natural Law and Religious Liberty” at a faculty and student seminar, and “Fair Notice and Qualified Immunity” was presented at a faculty workshop.
Chapman received financial support to travel to the University of Queensland 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.
Chapman currently serves as the law school’s associate dean for faculty development and holds the A. Gus Cleveland Distinguished Chair of Law. He writes and teaches about constitutional law, especially constitutional rights, and law and religion. Most recently, Chapman is the author, with Michael W. McConnell, of Agreeing to Disagree: How the Establishment Clause Promotes Religious Pluralism and Protects Freedom of Conscience (OUP, 2023).
University of Georgia School of Law Professor Desirée LeClercq recently delivered a presentation on the future of multilateralism, trade, and worker rights to World Trade Organization officials and researchers in Geneva, Switzerland.
LeClercq received financial support to attend this workshop 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.
LeClercq joined the University of Georgia School of Law in 2024 as an assistant professor. She teaches International Trade and Workers Rights, International Labor Law, International Law and U.S. Labor 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.
This article explores regulatory mismatches, differences in regulations between different states, in the United States and the European Union, focusing on their differing approaches to market integration and regulatory diversity. The US emphasizes state autonomy, allowing regulatory pluralism to foster local experimentation and reflect diverse democratic preferences.
The Supreme Court’s handling of mismatches through balancing tests in decisions like Pike v. Bruce Church (1970), is limited and inconsistent, with a preference for leaving unresolved issues to Congress. In contrast, the EU prioritizes legislative and, to a lesser extent, judicial, harmonization and mutual recognition, with the Court of Justice rigorously reviewing member-state regulations for necessity, proportionality, and compatibility with fundamental market freedoms. Recent trends toward subsidiarity, however, signal a growing respect for national diversity. Both unions weigh state and market interests, but the United States tends to see regulatory diversity as a federalism benefit, whereas the EU views harmonization as essential to its integration goals.
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.
University of Georgia School of Law Professor Laura Phillips-Sawyer participated in the Business History Conference in Atlanta, Georgia earlier this year. She was one of several speakers in the Harvard Business School Workshop entitled “Globalization, Multinationals, and Institutions.” Additionally, she chaired the panel “Trust and Antitrust: Standard Oil and the Creation of the Global Economy.”
Phillips-Sawyer is an expert in U.S. antitrust law and policy. Broadly, she is interested in questions of economic regulation, which intersect with legal history, economic thought, business strategy and structure, and political organization. She currently holds the Jane W. Wilson Associate Professorship in Business Law at the University of Georgia School of Law.
Foohey joined Georgia Law faculty as a full professor in 2024. She currently holds the Allen Post Professorship and teaches Bankruptcy, Secured Transactions and a Bankruptcy Practice Seminar. Specializing in bankruptcy, commercial law, consumer finance and business law, Foohey’s scholarship primarily involves empirical studies of bankruptcy and related parts of the legal system. She presently is a co-investigator on the Consumer Bankruptcy Project, a long-term research project studying persons who file bankruptcy. Data from this project serve as the basis of her co-authored book Debt’s Grip: Risk and Consumer Bankruptcy, University of California Press (Aug. 5, 2025). Her work in business bankruptcy focuses on nonprofit entities, with a particular emphasis on how religious organizations use bankruptcy. Data from this project are included in her in-progress book Forgive Us Our Debts: How Black Churches Use Bankruptcy to Survive, forthcoming with the University of Chicago Press.
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