Symeon C. Symeonides (born 1949), Alex L. Parks Distinguished Professor of Law, Dean Emeritus, is an international law scholar and professor at the

Willamette University College of Law Willamette University College of Law is the law school of Willamette University. Located in Salem, Oregon, and founded in 1883, Willamette is the oldest law school in the Pacific Northwest. It has approximately 24 full-time law professors and en ...

in Salem, Oregon, United States. The

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

-born legal scholar is also President of the American Society of Comparative Law and former dean at Willamette.President’s Message.
American Society of Comparative Law. Retrieved on February 19, 2008. A graduate of

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

, he previously taught at Louisiana State University's

Paul M. Hebert Law Center The Paul M. Hebert Law Center, often styled "LSU Law", is a public law school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is part of the Louisiana State University System and located on the main campus of Louisiana State University. Because Louisiana is a ...

Early years and education

Symeonides was born in

Lythrodontas Lythrodontas ( gr, Λυθροδόντας) is a village located in the Nicosia District of Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anato ...

, Cyprus, in 1949.Symeon C. Symeonides.
Peace Palace Library. Retrieved on February 19, 2008. He then attended

Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki Aristotelian may refer to: * Aristotle (384–322 BCE), Greek philosopher * Aristotelianism, the philosophical tradition begun by Aristotle * Aristotelian ethics * Aristotelian logic, term logic * Aristotelian physics, the natural sciences * Aristo ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

, where he studied law. In 1972 he graduated first in his class with the highest grade point average in the history of the school.Symeon C. Symeonides.
Willamette University College of Law. Retrieved on February 19, 2008. He earned his degree in private law. The next year he received a degree in public law, graduating

summa 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 ...

.Curriculum: Symeon C. Symeonides.
Electronic Journal of Comparative Law. Retrieved on February 19, 2008. Symeonides then moved to the United States and attended

where he earned two degrees. He received an

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 ...

in 1974 and a

DJS A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile D ...

in 1980. He is married to Haroula Symeonides.

Legal career

While still finishing his legal education at Harvard Law, Symeon Symeonides began working as an assistant

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professor ...

and then associate professor at

Louisiana State University Law Center The Paul M. Hebert Law Center, often styled "LSU Law", is a public law school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is part of the Louisiana State University System and located on the main campus of Louisiana State University. Because Louisiana is a civ ...

. In 1989, he became the Judge

Albert Tate Albert A. Tate Jr. (September 23, 1920 – March 27, 1986), was a long-serving Louisiana judge. A Democrat, Tate served as a justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court in New Orleans, and as a judge of the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, ...

Professor of Law at LSU, teaching there until 1999. While a professor he served as U.S. National Reporter to the International Congress of Comparative Law in 1994, and as Rapporteur Général in 1998. During his time at LSU he also served as a vice chancellor. Symeonides has also taught at

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pu ...

Loyola University New Orleans Loyola University New Orleans is a private Jesuit university in New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,Willamette University Willamette University is a private liberal arts college with locations in Salem and Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest college in the Western United States. Originally named the Oregon Institute, the school was an unaffiliated ...

’s law school located in Salem, Oregon, and served in the position from July 1999–February 2011. He is the Alex L. Parks Distinguished Professor of Law, Dean Emeritus. In 2002, he gave the lecture for private international law at the annual meeting of

The Hague Academy of International Law The Hague Academy of International Law (french: Académie de droit international de La Haye) is a center for high-level education in both public and private international law housed in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands. Courses are taug ...

.Professor speaks at The Hague. ''

Statesman Journal The ''Statesman Journal'' is the major daily newspaper published in Salem, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1851 as the ''Oregon Statesman'', it later merged with the ''Capital Journal'' to form the current newspaper, the second-oldest in Orego ...

'', July 6, 2002. Held at the

Peace Palace , native_name_lang = , logo = , logo_size = , logo_alt = , logo_caption = , image = La haye palais paix jardin face.JPG , image_size = , image_alt = , image_caption = The Peace Palace, The Hague , map_type = , map_alt = , m ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's ad ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, he was the 18th American selected for the honor in the 78 years of the conference. In

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

he has taught at Universite Paris V and Louvain-1a-Neuve. Other legal work has included law reform for the

Oregon Law Commission Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. ...

, Louisiana State Law Institute, and Puerto Rican Academy of Legislation and Jurisprudence. In 2006, he became president of the American Society of Comparative Law, an organization where he had previously served as secretary. Symeonides is also a member of the

American Law Institute The American Law Institute (ALI) is a research and advocacy group of judges, lawyers, and legal scholars established in 1923 to promote the clarification and simplification of United States common law and its adaptation to changing social needs ...

, Bartolus Society, and

Order of the Coif The Order of the Coif is an honor society for United States law school graduates. The name is a reference to the ancient English order of advocates, the serjeants-at-law, whose courtroom attire included a coif—a white lawn or silk skullcap ...

. He has served as president of the

Association of American Law Schools The Association of American Law Schools (AALS), formed in 1900, is a non-profit organization of 176 law schools in the United States. An additional 19 schools pay a fee to receive services but are not members. AALS incorporated as a 501(c)(3) no ...

section on conflict of laws and as a member of the board of editors to the American Journal of Comparative Law. Symeonides resigned as dean at Willamette in February 2011, effective at the end of the academic year and was succeeded by Peter Letsou.

Published works

*''Cases and Materials on Conflict of Laws: American, Comparative and International''. 2nd Edition, West Group 2003.Symeon C. Symeonides.
AddALL.com. Retrieved on February 19, 2008. *''Conflict of Laws''. 4th Edition, West Group 2004. *''Law and Justices in a Multistate World: Essays in Honor of Arthur T. von Mehren''. Transnational Publishers 2002: editor.
Tarlton Law Library. Retrieved on February 19, 2008. *''Private International law at the End of the 20th Century: Progress or Regress?''. Kluwer Law International 1998: editor.

References

External links

Dean Symeon C. Symeonides
- ''Willamette Lawyer'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Symeonides, Symeon 1949 births American people of Greek Cypriot descent Living people Oregon lawyers Harvard Law School alumni Cypriot emigrants to the United States The Hague Academy of International Law people Deans of Willamette University College of Law People from Nicosia District Lawyers from Salem, Oregon International law scholars Conflict of laws scholars American academic administrators Greek academic administrators