I am currently an assistant professor at the University of Georgia School of Law. Before coming to Georgia, I practiced law in the Office of the Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State. I received my Ph.D. in Jurisprudence and Social Policy in 2008, and my J.D. in 2006, from the University of California, Berkeley. My research interests center on questions of institutional design in both public and private international law. My current research examines the fragmentation of international energy governance and the relationship between international energy institutions and climate change institutions; why states choose to codify customary international law; and why states create non-binding "soft law" obligations, rather than binding treaty obligations.
Articles
Epistemic Institutions and Epistemic Cooperation in International Environmental Governance, Transnational Environmental Law (2013)
Much recent scholarship in international law on the relationship between science and policy argues that...
Codifying Custom, University of Pennsylvania Law Review (2012)
Codifying decentralized forms of law, such as the common law and customary law, has been...
Global Public Goods, Governance Risk, and International Energy, Duke Journal of Comparative and International Law (2012)
Scholars and commentators have long argued that issue linkages provide a way to increase cooperation...
Power, Exit Costs, and Renegotiation in International Law, Harvard International Law Journal (2010)
Scholars have long understood that the instability of power has ramifications for compliance with international...
International Soft Law (with Andrew T. Guzman), Journal of Legal Analysis (2010)
Although the concept of soft law has existed for years, scholars have not reached consensus...
Book Chapters
Customary International Law in the 21st Century (with Andrew T. Guzman), Progress in International Law (Rebecca Bratspies and Russell Miller, eds., Martinus Nijhoff Publishing) (2008)
This chapter considers the role of customary international law (CIL) in a world in which...
Essays
The Architecture of International Energy Governance, American Society of International Law Proceedings (2013)
Despite the centrality of energy to global and national politics, international energy governance remains one...
Book Review: International Organizations: Politics, Law, Practice by Ian Hurd, American Journal of International Law (2012)
This essay reviews Ian Hurd’s International Organizations: Politics, Law, Practice. International law and international relations...
Towards a Communicative Theory of International Law, Melbourne Journal of International Law (2012)
Does international law's effectiveness require a clear distinction between law and non-law? This essay, which...