Episode 1: Part 2—International Law Today



Is the post-World War II international order being dismantled? Are we witnessing an unprecedented assault on the international order, or are current events just part of a natural ebb and flow of history?

In the inaugural episode, we sat down with top experts in international law for their assessments on the current historical moment, how we got here, and the future of the international order. In Part 2, guests José Alvarez and Jack Goldsmith assess and question the actual impact and role of the Trump Administration in the current challenges to the international order.

Guests: José Alvarez, Professor of International Law at New York University School of Law and former president of ASIL; Jack Goldsmith, Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and former U.S. Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, and Special Counsel to the General Counsel to the U.S. Department of Defense.



About the Podcast

The Society's podcast International Law Behind the Headlines, hosted by Catherine Amirfar and Kal Raustiala, tackles, through interviews with today's top legal experts, the international legal issues dominating today's headlines. All episodes are available via iTunes, SoundCloud, and here.

Catherine Amirfar is a litigation partner at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, Co-Chair of the firm's Public International Law Group and a member of the Management Committee. Her practice focuses on international commercial and treaty arbitration, international and complex commercial litigation, and public international law. Prior to rejoining Debevoise in 2016, Ms. Amirfar spent two years as the Counselor on International Law to the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State and received the State Department's Superior Honor Award in recognition of her contributions to the Department. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Law Institute, and the U.S. State Department Advisory Council on International Law (ACIL). In 2020 Ms. Amirfar was elected President of the Society, having previously served as Vice President from 2016 to 2018.

Kal Raustiala is professor at UCLA School of Law and the UCLA International Institute. Since 2007 he has served as director of the UCLA Ronald W. Burkle Center for International Relations, and from 2012-2015 as UCLA's Associate Vice Provost for International Studies. A graduate of Duke University, Professor Raustiala holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, San Diego. He has been a visiting professor at Harvard, Chicago, Columbia, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, National University of Singapore, and Princeton. A life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a former member of the editorial board of the American Journal of International Law, from 2016-2018 he served as Vice President of the American Society of International Law.