Leila Nadya Sadat
Henry H. Oberschelp Professor of Law
Director, Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute
Washington University School of Law
Professor Sadat is the Henry H. Oberschelp Professor of Law at the Washington University School of Law and the Director of the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute. She is an internationally-recognized authority in international criminal law and human rights and a prolific scholar, publishing in leading journals in the United States and abroad. Trained in both the French and American legal systems, Sadat brings a cosmopolitan perspective to her work. Sadat is particularly well-known for her expertise on the International Criminal Court, and was a delegate to the U.N. Preparatory Committee and to the 1998 diplomatic conference in Rome at which the Court was established. She has published a series of articles on the Court and an award-winning monograph, “The International Criminal Court and the Transformation of International Law” which was supported by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Peace. She has written extensively on the question of amnesties for atrocity crimes as part of the Princeton Project on Universal Jurisdiction, and authored several follow up pieces including Exile, Amnesty and International Law, which appeared in volume 81 of the Notre Dame Law Review in 2006 and won the “article of the year award” from the International Association of Penal Law. Sadat has published several commentaries on U.S. foreign policy following the September 11th attacks including Terrorism and the Rule of Law, Do All Arabs Really Look Alike? and most recently Nightmares from the War on Terror, which appeared in volume 75 of the George Washington Law Review.
From May 2001 until September 2003, Sadat served on the nine-member U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom. Professor Sadat is often heard on national and international media, and has an active speaking schedule. She currently serves as Secretary of the American Society of Comparative Law, Vice-President of the International Law Association (American Branch) and the International Association of Penal Law (AIDP), and is a member of the American Law Institute and the Société de Législation comparée as well as the International Academy of Comparative Law. Sadat has also served as a member of the Executive Council, Executive Committee and Awards Committee for the American Society of International Law.
