Dean Rusk

Georgia Law Professor Christopher Bruner publishes article in Transnational Legal Theory

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Christopher M. Bruner published “Corporate Personhood, Corporate Rights, and the Contingency of Corporate Law” in the peer-reviewed journal Transnational Legal Theory (2025). The article was initially presented as a working paper at a conference titled “Decoding the Rights of Companies in the Technocene” at Lund University in Sweden.

Below is an abstract of the article:

Corporate personhood and corporate rights are co-constitutive in nature, meaning that they are mutually constructed – there is no singular, one-way causal path between a conception of corporate personhood and a conception of corporate rights. Consequently, modes of reasoning that purport to deduce the substance and extent of corporate rights from the mere fact of corporate personhood are logically circular. Although the relationship between corporate personhood and corporate rights is real and significant, this relationship cannot, in and of itself, comprehensively specify the content of corporate rights; their substance can only be specified by reference to external normative criteria. The upshot is that corporate law inevitably remains a socially and politically contingent field. Those advancing particular conceptions of corporate personhood and corporate rights should acknowledge the contingency of corporate law and present their preferred visions by reference to external normative criteria that they are prepared to acknowledge, describe, and defend.

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. His scholarship focuses on corporate law, corporate governance, comparative law and sustainability.

American Branch of the International Law Association shares reflections of Georgia Law student Madison Graham (J.D. ’25)

University of Georgia School of Law student Madison Graham (J.D. ’25) was recently featured in the American Branch of the International Law Association‘s blog. Graham, who served as one of ABILA’s Student Ambassadors for their 2024 International Law Weekend (ILW), writes about the panel discussion, “Empowering International Law to Address Rising Tensions in Outer Space: The Woomera Manual on the International Law of Military Space Activities and Operations.”

Jack Beard, Professor and Director of the Space, Cyber & National Security Law Program at the University of Nebraska College of Law, and member of Committee on the Use of Force for the American Branch of the International Law Association (“ABILA”), served as the panel’s moderator. Panelists included Laura Grego, Senior Scientist and Research Director for the Global Security Program of the Union of Concerned Scientists; Heather Harrison Dinniss, Senior Lecturer for the Department of International and Operational Law at the Swedish Defence University; David A. Koplow, Scott K. Ginsburg Professor of Law for the Georgetown University Law Center; and Dale Stephens, Professor and Director of the Research Unit on Military Law and Ethics at the University of Adelaide, Australia.

Graham was one of five ambassadors selected nationwide to assist with the work of ABILA in the preparation of the International Law Weekend 2024 conference. She attended ABILA’s ILW along with 7 other Georgia Law students through the support of Louis B. Sohn Professional Development stipends, detailed in a prior post (here). Graham’s full blog post can be accessed here. 

Georgia Law’s Environmental Law Association hosts Fernanda Hopenhaym, member of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights

Earlier this month, the University of Georgia School of Law’s Environmental Law Association hosted Fernanda Hopenhaym, member of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, for a virtual event entitled “Corporate Environmental Responsibility: International Legal Frameworks and US Performance.” Georgia Law Professor Christopher M. Bruner, Stembler Family Distinguished Professor in Business Law & Faculty Co-Director of the Dean Rusk International Law Center, moderated the conversation.

Hopenhaym and Bruner discussed the connection between environmental sustainability and human rights, exploring key dynamics, including how communities can suffer when their rights to food, clean water, and fair working conditions are compromised and how corporations are voluntarily improving their practices, but the complexity of their structures—spanning subsidiaries and global supply chains—makes full due diligence difficult. They also talked about where the U.S. stands on corporate compliance and the challenges in providing remedies for affected communities. They concluded the event by discussing the future of corporate accountability, particularly in the context of the ongoing UN Treaty on Business and Human Rights (BHR) process.

Hopenhaym is Co-Executive Director at Project on Organizing, Development, Education and Research (PODER), an organization in Latin America dedicated to corporate accountability. For twenty years, Ms. Hopenhaym has worked on economic, social and gender justice. Since 2006 Ms. Hopenhaym has been working on issues related to human rights and financial institutions and in the last ten years, she has focused specifically on business and human rights, working to advance corporate accountability and strengthen respect for human rights vis-a-vis private and public investments or development projects, and private sector operations. She has been involved in processes related to the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles, as well as in other processes regarding relevant instruments, such as the Binding Treaty negotiations and due diligence laws. She has conducted research on cases related to corporate impact on human rights and the environment and worked with and accompanied local communities affected by public/private projects in their pursuit of justice and remedy. She has conducted advocacy in the LAC region and globally to advance corporate accountability and human rights as well as leading training and capacity building on business and human rights related issues. From January 2019 to December 2021, Ms. Hopenhaym was Chair of the Board of ESCRNet, the international network for economic, social and cultural rights; she has been a board member of EarthRights International since early 2021 and an adviser to the Business and Human Rights Award Foundation since early 2020.

Georgia Law’s Environmental Law Association “seek[s] to further the development and advancement of environmental law through activities designed to increase environmental awareness among members of the community at large and the student bodies of the University of Georgia and the Georgia School of Law.” This year’s ELA President, Kellianne Elliott (J.D. ’26), and Carolina Ruiz (LL.M. ’26) organized this event.

Georgia Law wins Jessup international law moot court regional

Pictured above are: (l. to r.) Dustin Batchelor, Marion Kronauge, Morgan Pfohl, Grace Johnson and Ellis Schmitt. 

Congratulations to University of Georgia School of Law students Dustin M. Batchelor (J.D. ’26), Grace K. Johnson (J.D. ’26), Marion Kronauge (J.D. ’26), Morgan Pfohl (J.D. ’26), and Ellis Schmitt (J.D. ’26) for winning the East Coast regional of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition.

During the tournament, they beat teams from Harvard University and American University and will now advance to the international tier of the competition later this month. Georgia Law students Joseph “Joe” Colley (J.D. ’25) and Brennan Rose (J.D. ’25) served as student coaches, while J. Caleb Grant (J.D. ’23) served as the alumni coach.

The Jessup competition is the world’s largest moot court tournament that typically fields teams from roughly 700 law schools in 100 countries and jurisdictions around the globe. Georgia Law’s past performances in Jessup competitions can be found here.

Georgia Law Professor Diane Marie Amann speaks at Oxford Union on international law and head of state immunities

From left, Israr Khan, Professor Diane Marie Amann, and Professor Linos-Alexandre Sicilianos

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Diane Marie Amann spoke last Friday in the United Kingdom, on an Oxford Union panel entitled “Crimes of the Powerful: Should Head of State Immunity Be Abolished under International Law?”

Her co-panelist was Linos-Alexandre Sicilianos, who is Professor of Law at the University of Athens, Greece, and the former President of the European Court of Human Rights. Moderating was Israr Khan, President of the Oxford Union, a 200-year-old debating society which draws much of its membership from the University of Oxford.

Amann is Regents’ Professor of International Law, Emily & Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law, and a Faculty Co-Director of our Dean Rusk International Law Center here at Georgia Law.

Temple Law professor J. Benton Heath presents working paper at Georgia Law’s International Law Colloquium

The University of Georgia School of Law’s spring 2025 International Law Colloquium welcomed Temple University, Beasley School of Law Professor J. Benton Heath, who presented his working paper, “Sanctions and Sanctuary: Refuge, Violence, and the Legal Ordering of (Economic) Warfare.” Laura Phillips-Sawyer, Jane W. Wilson Associate Professor in Business Law at Georgia Law, served as Heath’s faculty discussant.

Heath’s primary research interests include international trade, investment law, dispute resolution, global health, administrative law, public international law, and the national security dimensions of trade and investment. He teaches Civil Procedure and International Arbitration.

Heath previously practiced international law and arbitration at the U.S. State Department, and at Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle. He has represented governments and state-owned enterprises before the International Court of Justice, the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, other international arbitral tribunals, and the federal courts. His work at the State Department also included bilateral claims negotiations with the Republic of Cuba, matters relating to embargoes and economic sanctions, and U.S. court cases brought against foreign governments by victims of terrorism. He also served as a clerk to Judge Robert D. Sack of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Below is the introduction to the working paper Heath presented:

This project is about the relationship of concepts of sanctuary and violence to economic warfare. I am interested in what I think of as “spaces of sanctuary” (or refuge) that provide a break from conflict and place spatial boundaries on the exercise of violence and coercion. My argument, for now, is that the concept of sanctuary is a critical tool for structuring a legal regime of controlled violence, and that this applies also to economic warfare. A key point of departure here is that sanctuary is not simply the negation of violence. Rather, sanctuary spaces control the flow of violence, displacing it where it “doesn’t belong” and channeling violence to spaces where the use of force or coercion is naturalized or even deemed legitimate. By setting the criteria for who can access sanctuary and under what conditions, the law further establishes a normative and spatial order for the continuation of violence at a level, and in a direction, that the law deems tolerable. Sanctuary is thus intertwined with, rather than apart from, violence. Nevertheless, if we are interested in fundamentally reconsidering who has access to safety and security and under what conditions, we should want to think carefully about how to reconstruct spaces of sanctuary—either real or virtual—to resist the totalizing world of economic warfare in which we currently find ourselves.

This year, Georgia Law Professor Desirée LeClercq is overseeing the international law colloquium, which is designed to introduce students to features of international economic law through engagement with scholars in the international legal field. To view the full list of International Law Colloquium speakers, visit our website.

Haidy Ahmed, Diplomat with the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, speaks at Georgia Law

Haidy Ahmed, Diplomat with the Permanent Mission of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, delivered a talk in February at the University of Georgia School of Law entitled: “Careers in International Law and Diplomacy.”

Ahmed discussed her role as part of Egypt’s legal team before the International Court of Justice in the advisory opinions related to climate change, law of the sea, and other international issues. She answered questions from students about her educational and professional background and provided insight regarding the pursuit of careers in public international law and diplomacy.

In her current position, Ahmed has been in charge of thematic issues such as women, peace, and security at the Peace & Security Council of the African Union. She is an alternate member of the Committee to facilitate implementation and promote compliance under the Paris Agreement (PAICC). She served as Egypt’s representative at the fifth resumed session of the Intergovernmental Conference on an international legally binding instrument under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (the BBNJ). Before joining Egypt’s foreign service, Ahmed worked as a Trainee at Simmons & Simmons in Paris and a Junior Associate at Shalakany in Cairo, Egypt. She received her LL.B. from Cairo University in Egypt and her Master of Laws from Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne University, Paris, France.

This event was part of the Dean Rusk International Law Center’s ongoing Consular Series, which presents students, staff, and faculty with global perspectives on international trade, cooperation, development, and policy.

Schulich School of Law professor Olabisi D. Akinkugbe presents working paper at Georgia Law’s International Law Colloquium

The University of Georgia School of Law’s spring 2025 International Law Colloquium welcomed Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University Professor Olabisi D. Akinkugbe, who presented his working paper, “Trade and Development in an Era of Geopolitics: A Third  World  View.” Tim Samples, Associate Professor of Legal Studies in the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia, served as Akinkugbe’s faculty discussant.

Akinkugbe is the Purdy Crawford Chair in Business Law and Associate Professor at the Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University. His research covers several topics on issues in and at the intersection of public international law, international economic law, human rights, law and development, international courts, and regional economic integration in Africa. He explores these issues from the national, regional, and international contexts. Akinkugbe’s research draws on critical traditions such as Socio-legal approaches to law, Post-colonialism, and Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) among others.

Below is an abstract of the working paper Akinkugbe presented:

This chapter examines the relationship between trade and development. Centering the heterogeneity of developing states within the World Trade Organization (WTO), the chapter briefly analyses some of the trade law interests that are most important to these different types of developing countries. It then turns to the question: how has international trade law accommodated the needs of different types of developing countries through special and differential treatment? The Chapter contends that the structure of the rules of the global economic order and the WTO in relation to trade were developed and are being implemented in the shadow of a fiercely contested geopolitical and power struggle. Despite the flexibilities in the WTO, developing and small island developing states’ trade interests are significantly marginalized in their implementation. Given the rise of conflicts in geopolitics and trade interests within the power WTO Member States, the Chapter contends that without fundamentally centering and reimagining the inequities in our international trade regime, mere “window dressing” or adoption of new rules of trade would only further marginalize the trade interests of the developing countries and SIDS in a non-inclusive way.

This year, Professor Desirée LeClercq is overseeing the international law colloquium, which is designed to introduce students to features of international economic law through engagement with scholars in the international legal field. To view the full list of International Law Colloquium speakers, visit our website.

This program is made possible through the Kirbo Trust Endowed Faculty Enhancement Fund and the Talmadge Law Faculty Fund.

Georgia Law Professor Diane Marie Amann presents “Child-Taking Justice and Forced Residential Schooling of Indigenous Americans” at Washington University School of Law

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Diane Marie Amann recently spoke on “Child-Taking Justice and Forced Residential Schooling of Indigenous Americans” at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis.

Her presentation was part of a spring semester WashU Law International Law Colloquium organized by Professor MJ Durkee, who is the William Gardiner Hammond Professor of Law and Director of the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute. Durkee joined that faculty in 2023, after serving as an Allen Post Professor, Associate Dean for International Programs, and Director of the Dean Rusk International Law Center here at Georgia Law.

The discussant for Amann’s paper was Lecturer Steve Alagna, who is an enrolled citizen of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, and whose WashU Law Appellate Clinic just filed an amicus brief in federal appellate litigation which seeks redress, under the United States’  Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, for survivors of Indigenous children who died and were buried at a former residential school site.

Amann is Regents’ Professor of International Law, Emily & Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law, and a Faculty Co-Director of our Dean Rusk International Law Center here at Georgia Law. The paper she presented at WashU builds upon research that she published as “Child-Taking,” 45 Michigan Journal of International Law 305 (2024).

Georgia Law Professor Assaf Harpaz presents at Columbia Law’s Davis Polk & Wardwell Tax Policy Colloquium

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Assaf Harpaz presented his draft paper “Global Tax Wars in the Digital Era” at Columbia Law School’s Davis Polk & Wardell Tax Policy Colloquium earlier this month.

Below is an abstract of the paper:

The digital economy fundamentally disrupts traditional international tax principles that rely on physical presence. When a business earns income abroad, the country of residence (where the taxpayer resides) and the country of source (where income is generated) both have legitimate, competing claims to tax that income. The international tax system favors residence-based taxation. The source country has the right to tax business profits only if the enterprise carries on a permanent establishment within its borders, which typically requires a physical presence. The permanent establishment standard becomes flawed in a digital economy where profit shifting practices are abundant and businesses no longer need a physical presence in the location of their online consumer markets.

An upcoming United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation recognizes these challenges and is overwhelmingly supported by Global South economies. However, the Global North has historically dominated the international tax regime through the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), informally known as the “World Tax Organization.” A UN framework convention creates potential conflict in international tax policymaking and would need to bridge the underlying North-South divide.

This article explores the “tax wars” surrounding the leadership for global tax governance, contrasting the taxing powers and interests of the OECD-led Global North with those of the UN-backed Global South. It argues for a shift toward source-based taxation by revisiting the permanent establishment standard. To achieve this, the article introduces a significant economic presence doctrine that would expand the permanent establishment criteria to include online businesses. This proposal addresses longstanding inequities and is increasingly warranted in a digital economy that does not depend on physical presence.

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.