Sean David Murphy is an American international law scholar currently serving as the Manatt/Ahn Professor of International Law at the

George Washington University Law School The George Washington University Law School (GW Law) is the law school of George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. Established in 1865, GW Law is the oldest top law school in the national capital. GW Law offers the largest range of cou ...

in Washington, D.C., where he has been teaching since 1998. His primary areas of scholarly research are public international law, foreign affairs and the Constitution of the United States, international organizations, international dispute settlement, and law of the sea. Murphy served for ten years on the Board of Editors of the '' American Journal of International Law'' and is a former president of the American Society of International Law. In 2016, the United Nations General Assembly re-elected Murphy to serve as a Member of the U.N. International Law Commission (ILC). He was named by the ILC as Special Rapporteur for Crimes Against Humanity, a topic on which he has lectured widely. Prior to his arrival at George Washington University Law School in 1998, Murphy was a legal counselor at the

Embassy of the United States, The Hague The Embassy of the United States in The Hague ( nl, Ambassade van de Verenigde Staten van Amerika in Den Haag) is the diplomatic mission of the United States in the Netherlands. It is located at John Adams Park 1 in Wassenaar, on the municipal b ...

from 1995 to 1998; in this position, he argued several cases before the International Court of Justice and represented the U.S. government in matters before the

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal ...

. He also served as a staff attorney for the Legal Adviser of the Department of State (1987-1995). From 1985 to 1986, he was a law clerk for Senior Judge

Thomas Aquinas Flannery Thomas Aquinas Flannery (May 10, 1918 – September 20, 2007) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Education and career Born in Washington, D.C., Flannery received a Bachelor of La ...

of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. He is a member of the Maryland bar. In addition to his academic appointment, he frequently serves as counsel, expert, or arbitrator in various fora, such as in arbitral cases before the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes and the Permanent Court of Arbitration; and as ad hoc judge at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. Murphy received his S.J.D. from the

University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law or UVA Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as part of his "academical v ...

(1995; Ford Foundation Graduate Scholarship and

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, mi ...

Fellow), his

LL.M. A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

from the University of Cambridge (1987), his J.D. from Columbia Law School (1985; Editor-in-Chief of the '' Columbia Journal of Transnational Law''), and his B.A. (''

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

'' and Phi Beta Kappa) from the

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by U.S. ...

(1982). Murphy has published numerous articles and books on international law.

Selected works

* * * *

Lectures

''Crimes against Humanity''
in th

* '' ttp://legal.un.org/avl/ls/Murphy_LS.html Regime of Islands'' in th
Lecture Series of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Sean D. Living people George Washington University Law School faculty University of Virginia School of Law alumni Alumni of the University of Cambridge Columbia Law School alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Presidents of the American Society of International Law