Georgia

Georgia Law Professor Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge and student Megan Greeley Bradford (J.D. ’26) publish article in the Daily Report

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge and student Megan Greeley Bradford (J.D. ’26) published “Case Not Quite Closed: Transnational Litigation and the Jurisdictional Limitations of Receivership” in the Daily Report earlier this month.

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).

Georgia Law Professor Christopher Bruner publishes chapter on corporate risk and sustainability

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Christopher Bruner published “Business Risk, Capital Markets, and Sustainable Companies” in The Prism of Sustainability: Multidisciplinary Profiles (Editoriale Scientifica, 2025). Edited by Alessio Bartolacelli, Associate Professor of Business Law at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, the volume brings together perspectives on sustainability from a variety of academic fields. 

Bruner’s chapter builds on ideas he presented in 2023 at a conference hosted by the University of Macerata in Italy.

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.

Georgia Law Professor Desirée LeClercq participates in UC Berkeley Law webinar on gender-based violence in the maritime industry

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Desirée LeClercq served as a panelist in the virtual discussion “Inequalities and Violence at Sea.” This panel, moderated by Furaha Joy Sekai Saungweme and Costanza Hermanin, was part of a webinar series hosted by the Gender Justice and Harassment Working Group of UC Berkeley Law’s Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law. The series was launched in recognition of the International Day for Women in Maritime, an annual observance on May 18 that highlights the contributions of women across the maritime industry.

LeClercq discussed her recent article, “Gender-Based Violence and Harassment at Sea”, which examines the Maritime Labour Convention (2006). She was joined by panelist Tim Springett, Policy Director of the United Kingdom Chamber of Shipping, as they explored the gendered dimensions of labor, safety, and inclusion in the maritime sector.

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. This semester, LeClercq is overseeing the International Law Colloquium, a for-credit course designed to introduce students to international economic law through engagement with scholars in the international legal field. 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.

Georgia Law Professor Sonja R. West presents at Oxford’s Bonavero Institute of Human Rights

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Sonja R. West participated in two events hosted by the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights at the University of Oxford in June. First, she was part of a Comparative Media Law Workshop; then, she presented as part of a panel titled “The Future of Press Freedom” at the Democracy, Law, and Independent Journalism conference.

The Bonavero Institute is dedicated to fostering world-class research and scholarship in human rights law, to promoting public engagement in and understanding of human rights issues, and to building valuable conversations and collaborations between human rights scholars and human rights practitioners.

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 Professor Diane Marie Amann presents “Child-Taking Justice and Forced Residential Schooling of Indigenous Americans” at American Society of International Law workshop

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Diane Marie Amann recently gave an online lecture entitled “Justice for Child-Taking and Other Crimes against and affecting Children” as part of “International Criminal Law, Conflict Resolution and Transitional Justice,” the week-long 24th Specialization Course in International Criminal Law for Young Penalists, held in Sicily, at the Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights, Italy.

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. Her Siracusa lecture drew upon her expertise on children, violence, conflict, and justice. Her most recent publication in this field is “Child-Taking,” 45 Michigan Journal of International Law 305 (2024); all her related publications are available here.

Georgia Law Professor Assaf Harpaz presents at the 2025 Law and Society Association Annual Meeting

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Assaf Harpaz  presented his paper, Artificial Intelligence and Taxpayer Entity, at the 2025 Law and Society Association Annual Meeting in May. This presentation was part of the Global Taxation and Policy panel. Harpaz also chaired the conference’s panel on Local Governments and Tax Benefits.

Below is an abstract of the paper:

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the world and presents numerous challenges to legal and regulatory frameworks. The evolving, complex yet still ambiguous concept demands rethinking longstanding doctrines at risk of obsoleteness. These tensions are highlighted in federal income taxation, which generally compartmentalizes taxpayers into individuals and business entities. Technological developments such as generative AI upend these conceptions given their capacity to create value and operate autonomously, interacting with the economy in ways that combine human and non-human attributes.

Under current U.S. law, even the most advanced AI models are not directly subject to the income tax regime, as they are neither individuals nor separate business entities. AI is poised to dramatically reshape the tax base by altering both the sources of income (from humans to robots) and the type of income (from labor to capital) that is subject to tax.

This article examines the intersections and frictions between AI models and federal income tax policy. It focuses on questions of taxpayer entity and ownership that arise from the widespread use of AI. The article argues that the unique and non-binary characteristics of AI challenge the principles of personhood, income, and asset character, at the foundation of the income tax system. The extent of disruption will depend on the degree to which AI displaces human labor and achieves sentience.

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 Diane Marie Amann publishes on woman acquitted at Nuremberg

“Inge Viermetz, Woman Acquitted at Nuremberg,” an essay by University of Georgia School of Law Professor Diane Marie Amann, has just been published at 19 FIU Law Review 487 (2025).

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.

Her article appears in a special issue commemorating a 2024 symposium, “Perspectives on the International Criminal Court and International Criminal Law and Procedure: A Symposium in Memory of Megan Fairlie,”  at Miami’s Florida International University College of Law. An international criminal law expert, Dr. Fairlie had taught there from 2007 – the same year she earned her Ph.D. in International Human Rights Law from the Irish Centre for Human Rights, National University of Ireland-Galway – until her death in December 2022.

Here’s the abstract for Professor Amann’s article:

“Conventional narratives tend to represent the post-World War II international criminal proceedings as a men’s project, thus obscuring the many women who participated, as lawyers, journalists, analysts, interpreters, witnesses, and defendants. Indeed, two women stood trial before Nuremberg Military Tribunals. This article examines the case of the only woman found not-guilty: Inge Viermetz, who had been an administrator at Lebensborn, the Nazi SS adoption and placement agency. The article outlines the prosecution’s child-taking case against Viermetz, as well as her successful gendered self-portrayal as a conventionally feminine caregiver. With references to Professor Megan A. Fairlie, at whose memorial symposium it was presented, the article concludes by considering contemporary implications of this acquittal at Nuremberg.”

Georgia Law Foreign and International Law Librarian Anne Burnett wins award

University of Georgia School of Law’s Foreign and International Law Librarian Anne Burnett received the 2025 Daniel L. Wade Outstanding Service Award from the American Association of Law Libraries Foreign, Comparative and International Law Special Interest Section. Established in 2006, the Award honors an FCIL-SIS (“the Section”) member who has made outstanding contributions to the Section in the areas of section activity and professional service.

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 Library Associations and the American Society of International Law.

Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law publishes Issue 1 of 53rd Volume

The University of Georgia School of Law’s Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law (GJICL) is pleased to announce the publication of Issue 1 of its 53rd Volume. 

This issue features three Articles that engage with pressing global legal developments. These include:

Four student Notes were also published on a range of timely topics, including:

The GJICL is a preeminent forum for academic discussion on current international subjects. From its inception in 1970 as a student initiative supported by former U.S. Secretary of State and Georgia Law Professor Dean Rusk, GJICL features work by legal scholars and practitioners as well as student notes written by students on GJICL’s editorial board.

Georgia Law Professor Assaf Harpaz presents at the American Society of International Law International Economic Law Biennial Conference

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Assaf Harpaz virtually presented his forthcoming paper, Global Tax Wars in the Digital Era, 75 Am. U. L. Rev., at the American Society of International Law International Economic Law Biennial Conference.

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 promotes the 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.