The George Washington International Law Review 2022 Symposium: The State of the Nation-State in International Law

Professor Brandon Jackson is an attorney with the Department of Defense. In addition to his legal service, he has served as a Special Agent and in a variety of technical roles related to national security and cybersecurity. Prior to his government service, Professor Jackson performed transactional and litigation work as an associate attorney in the private sector. Professor Jackson received his Master of Laws in National Security and Cybersecurity Law from The George Washington University Law School and his Juris Doctor from the University of Baltimore School of Law. He has also completed advanced technical studies in cybersecurity at the Naval Postgraduate School and holds several technical certifications. He is a member of the bars of Maryland and the District of Columbia, as well as the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Professor Francesca Bignami’s research focuses on comparative public law and the law of the European Union. She has published widely on privacy in transatlantic perspective, comparative rulemaking, rights and accountability in global governance, and the convergence of European regulatory systems. Her work has been supported by the German Marshall Fund, the Fulbright Program, and a number of other organizations. Before coming to GW Law, Professor Bignami was Professor of Law at Duke Law School, where she taught from 2000 to 2008, and where she also served as the Director of the Duke University Center for European Studies. In 2006, she was a Visiting Professor and John Harvey Gregory Lecturer on World Organization at Harvard Law School. After graduating from Yale Law School, she clerked on the D.C. Circuit and then served as a stagiaire for Advocate General Philippe Léger of the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

Professor Lydia Payne-Johnson is the Director of IT Security, Identity Management and Risk at The George Washington University.  In this role, she is responsible for leading her teams’ service delivery, including alignment with the university’s digital transformation strategy. In addition, she is leading the development of GW IT’s cybersecurity risk-management program. An effective leader, Professor Payne-Johnson has been a Chief Privacy Officer and successfully led teams at Freddie Mac, Morgan Stanley, PwC, Verispan and CIT Group. She designed and led implementation of privacy and cybersecurity policies, standards, risk and controls frameworks, and data classification schema, risk monitoring measures, data loss prevention, incident response, as well as privacy impact and third-party assessments. Professor Payne-Johnson has a J.D. from New York Law School, where she is an Adjunct Professor and teaches Information Privacy Law.  She is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP), certified in GIAC Law of Data Security & Investigations (GLEG) and a Certified Change Practitioner.

At GW Law, Professor Hdeel Abdelhady teaches Regulation of Foreign Access to U.S. Technology and Transactional Islamic Law. In private practice, Professor Abdelhady works at the intersection of law, business, and policy. She is Principal of MassPoint Legal and Strategy Advisory PLLC and handles transactional, regulatory, and governance and ethics matters on behalf of U.S. and foreign companies, banks, and sovereign-affiliated entities and nonprofit organizations. Professor Abdelhady's experience includes finance and investment transactions; international trade matters; sanctions, anti-money laundering, and anti-corruption compliance; and, governance and business ethics. Prior to starting her own practice, Ms. Abdelhady practiced law in Washington, D.C., with two of the largest international law firms, handling matters in and involving Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. She also practiced for a few years in the Dubai office of her former firm.

Ambassador Buchwald is a distinguished scholar, lecturer, and professor of international law. He previously served as the U.S. Ambassador at Large for Global Criminal Justice with a focus on accountability for atrocities. This followed an acclaimed legal career with over 30 years in government and private practice, including as Director of the State Department’s legal office for United Nations Affairs and as an Attorney in the Office of White House Counsel.

Professor Dan E. Stigall is an attorney with the National Security Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).  From 2017–19, Professor Stigall served as a Director for Counterterrorism with the National Security Council, where he focused on detainee policy and served as lead author and interagency coordinator for the U.S. National Strategy for Counterterrorism. Professor Stigall has served in multiple roles in DOJ as both a policy advisor and trial attorney, including several years in DOJ’s Office of International Affairs. He served on active duty as a U.S. Army Judge Advocate (“JAG”) from 2001–09, with assignments in Europe, the Middle East, and the United States. Professor Stigall researches and writes on issues related to international law, comparative law, and national security. His scholarly work has appeared in the Harvard National Security Journal, the Military Law Review, the George Washington International Law Review, and numerous other publications. His books include The Santillana Codes (2017) and Counterterrorism and Investigative Detention: International and Comparative Legal Evolution (2021). 

Mr. Mandel-Anthony is a Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Global Criminal Justice at the U.S. Department of State, advising the Ambassador-at-large for War Crimes Issues since March 2012 on the formulation and implementation of U.S. foreign policy for the prevention and response to mass atrocities. David’s focus areas include Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guatemala, Ukraine, the Atrocity Prevention Board, the UN Human Rights Council, international criminal tribunals, transitional justice, post-conflict rule-of-law building, and sexual violence in conflict. Prior to joining the State Department, David worked for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Humanity in Action, the Open Society Justice Initiative, Human Rights Watch, the Public International Law and Policy Group, and the International Center for Transitional Justice. He is a Fellow with the Truman National Security Project and a Senior Fellow with Humanity in Action.

Yasmine Chubin is the Legal Advocacy Director for the Foundation’s Docket initiative. She is also a Harvard Law School Wasserstein Public Interest Fellow. Previously, Ms. Chubin was a Trial Lawyer in the Office of the Prosecutor of both the International Criminal Court and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and a Legal Officer to the International Co-Investigating Judge of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. She has also consulted as an independent human rights lawyer for a number of organizations, including The Sentry, a CFJ strategic partner, the International Development Law Organization, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the International Commission of Jurists, the Syria Justice and Accountability Centre, Diakonia, the OSACO Group, and Rwanda’s National Public Prosecution Authority. Ms. Chubin also served as a UN Expert in prosecutions and investigations for the Special Criminal Court in the Central African Republic. She started her legal career as an Associate at Shearman & Sterling LLP and holds degrees from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs and from the University of Michigan Law School, where she served as the Managing Editor of the Michigan Law Review. She is fluent in English, French, and Farsi.

Anna Gawel is Editor-at-Large of The Washington Diplomat, an independent monthly newspaper that has been the flagship publication of the diplomatic community in Washington, D.C. for more than 25 years. She previously served as the publication’s longtime managing editor, spearheading its in-depth coverage of U.S. foreign policy and international affairs. Mrs. Gawel is also a broadcast producer and digital editor/reporter for WTOP News in Washington, D.C., and host and creator of the Global 360 podcast, which examines the nexus between U.S. politics and international affairs. She has had several hundred articles published on world affairs, politics, security, trade, travel, arts and culture, including profiles of foreign ambassadors and U.S. policymakers. In addition, Mrs. Gawel has been a commentator for outlets such as SiriusXM’s POTUS Channel and PRI’s The World, a panelist at events organized by groups such as the German Marshall Fund and World Affairs Council, and a moderator for dozens of discussions with top-ranking government officials. Mrs. Gawel holds a degree in journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park, and speaks Polish and French.

Sue Biniaz is back at the State Department working for Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry as Deputy Special Presidential Envoy for Climate. For more than 25 years, Ms. Biniaz served as the lead climate lawyer for the U.S. Government. In that capacity, she played a central role in all major international climate negotiations, including the Paris Agreement. During her tenure as a Deputy Legal Adviser at the Department, she supervised the Treaty Office and issues related to the environment, law of the sea, East Asian Affairs, Western Hemisphere Affairs, human rights and refugees, law enforcement, and private international law. Prior to that, she led the Department’s legal office for Oceans, Environment, and Science, as well as the legal office for European and Canadian Affairs. Between 2017 and 2020, Ms. Biniaz taught at Yale University, Columbia University, and the University of Chicago, and was a Senior Fellow at the UN Foundation. She continues to be a Senior Fellow and Lecturer at Yale’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs.

Rosa Celorio is the Burnett Family Associate Dean and Professorial Lecturer for International and Comparative Legal Studies. In this capacity, she directs the International and Comparative Law program at GW Law School, and teaches International Human Rights of Women, Regional Protection of Human Rights, and Fundamental Issues in U.S. Law. Previously, she worked for more than a decade as Senior Attorney for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). She is also acting as the International Human Rights Dispute Resolution Authority between the Maya Indigenous Peoples and the government of Belize, reporting before the Caribbean Court of Justice. She is a Senior Advisor to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) in the drafting of its new General Recommendation on Indigenous Women and Girls. In addition, she joined the OAS electoral mission to Costa Rica to observe the 2020 elections as a senior gender expert, and was an invited professor at the Masters of Human Rights Law of the University of Diego Portales in Santiago, Chile, in 2020. Dean Celorio is the author of Women and International Human Rights in Modern Times: A Contemporary Casebook, to be published by Edward Elgar Publishing. She has received a number of awards for her work in the field of human rights, including the Personality of the Future Fellowship by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France, and the Amnesty International Patrick Stewart Scholarship. 

Professor Sterio is The Charles R. Emrick Jr. - Calfee Halter & Griswold Professor of Law at the Cleveland-Marshall College of law. She specializes in International Law, International Criminal Law, Human Rights and Transitional Justice.  She has also worked on law of the sea and maritime piracy issues.  Professor Sterio is the author of seven books and numerous law review articles.  In her capacity as expert on maritime piracy issues, she has participated in the meetings of the United Nations Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, and in the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Forum.  She is a permanent editor of the prestigious Intlawgrrls blog, a member of the Executive Council at the American Society of International Law, Co-Chair of the Transitional Justice and Rule of Law Interest Group at the American Society of International Law, past Chair of the International Law, International Human Rights, and National Security Law sections at the Association of American Law Schools, and past Chair of International Law Weekend.  Professor Sterio also serves as Managing Director at the Public International Law and Policy Group, a Nobel Peace Prize-nominated NGO, where she has worked on transitional justice issues in Sudan and in South Sudan, as well as on human rights documentation in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.  In 2013, Professor Sterio was a Fulbright Scholar in Baku, Azerbaijan, at Baku State University.

Marcella Celorio is the Consul General of Mexico in Los Angeles. Born in Mexico City, she holds a J.D. from the Escuela Libre de Derecho and has two master´s degrees, one in diplomatic studies from the Instituto Matias Romero (IMR) and the second, in defense and national security from the Colegio de la Defensa Nacional at the Secretary of National Defense (SEDENA). She continued her academic training at the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). In addition, she was the first Mexican Foreign Service diplomat to complete the Diplomat in Residency Program at the American University (AU), in Washington, D.C, 2005. In the academic field, Consul General Celorio has taught Public International Law at the Universidad Iberoamericana (UIA 2000- 2001). Over the years, she has also conducted research and written about topics related to dual nationality and citizenship, national security and the integration of North America, intercultural understanding and cross-border diplomacy. On March 6, 2020, she participated as a judge in the prestigious Philip C. Jessup Law Court Competition´s national finals alongside the former Judge of the International Court of Justice, the Mexican diplomat Bernardo Sepulveda. She joined the Mexican Foreign Service in 1999 and ascended through every diplomatic rank until her designation as an Ambassador of Mexico. She speaks fluent English and has knowledge of French, Italian and Hebrew.

Ryan Migeed serves as Symposium Editor of the George Washington International Law Review. His note, Avast, Ye Botnets: Applying Lessons from the Law of Piracy to the Problem of Botnets, will be published in the Symposium Issue of the International Law Review.