Each year the Center for International and Comparative Law at the University of Baltimore
School of Law welcomes a prominent international lawyer to participate in our John
Sumner Stead Annual Lecture on International and Comparative Law. This platform enables
a highly distinguished international legal professional to share their expertise
and experience in advancing international law and provides a unique opportunity for
scholars, students, and legal professionals at UBalt to engage in dialogue and foster
a deeper understanding of the major challenges and triumphs associated with the international
legal system.
2025 Beth Van Schaack
Distinguished Fellow, Stanford University, Center for Human Rights and International
Justice
“The Future of International Justice”
2024 Martti Koskenniemi
Professor Emeritas, University of Helsinki
“Sovereign Statehood and the Limits of Legal Imagination”
2023 Professor Gregory Shaffer Scott K. Ginsburg Professor of International Law, Georgetown University "The Rule of Law Under Challenge: The National and International Levels"
2022 Professor Helene Ruiz Fabri Executive Director, Max Planck Institute Luxembourg "Women in International Law: Why We Need More Seats at the Table"
2021 Professor Quentin Skinner Co-director, Centre for the Study of the History of Political Thought, Queen Mary
University of London "Republican Liberty and Fundamental Rights"
2020 Professor Gay McDougall Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence, Fordham University Law School “Cries of BLM Reverberate Worldwide: Even the U.N. Quakes”
2019 Professor Monica Pinto President, Administrative Tribunals of the World Bank "Women's Rights Standards in the Inter-American System"
2018 Ambassador Richard Verma Vice Chairman and Partner, The Asia Group "International Law in Practice: A Diplomat's Journey"
2017 Professor Vivian Curran University of Pittsburgh "Genocide and the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act"
2016 Professor Sean D. Murphy George Washington University "International Adjudication"
2015 Senator Benjamin Cardin United States Senate "Human Rights Across the Globe"
2014 Professor Yuval Shany Hebrew University of Jerusalem "The Relationship Between Legitimacy and Effectiveness"
2013 Professor Anne Peters University of Basel "The Role of Transparency in Public International Law"
2012 Scott Shane The New York Times "Drones, Kill Lists, and American Values"
2011 Professor Antony Anghie University of Utah "Third World Approaches to International Law"
2010 Juan E. Méndez United Nations "Justice, Peace and Prevention"
2009 Professor Edith Brown Weiss Georgetown University "International Law in a Kaleidoscopic World"
2008 Professor Jan Klabbers University of Helsinki "International Law in the European Court of Justice"
2007 Dr. Bisera Turkovic Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina "Human Rights in Multi-ethnic Societies"
2006 Professor David Kennedy Harvard University "Modern War and Modern Law"
2005 Professor Mark Tushnet Georgetown University "The Supreme Court and Non-U.S. Law"
2004 Dean Anne-Marie Slaughter Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University "A New World Order"
2003 Judge Thomas Buergenthal International Court of Justice "The Renaissance of International Legal Institutions"
2002 Dr. Lael Brainard Brookings Institution "Smoothing the Rough Edges of Globalization"
2001 Judge S. Sandile Ngcobo South African Supreme Court "Truth, Justice and Amnesty in South Africa"
2000 Judge Stephen M. Schwebel International Court of Justice "International Courts and Tribunals in the Next Century"
1999 Professor Richard Falk Princeton University "Humanitarian Intervention after Kosovo"
1998 Professor Lori Fisler Damrosch Columbia University "Economic Sanctions to Enforce International Law"
1997 Senator Paul Sarbanes United States Senate "Law and Justice in International Relations"
1996 Conrad Harper United States Department of State "Law of Nations and Nation of Laws"
