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Laurie Blank to lead Center for International and Comparative Law

Emory University School of Law |
Laurie Blank
Blank to lead CICL
Blank will succeed Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im as director of CICL.

Laurie Blank, clinical professor of law and director of the International Humanitarian Law Clinic, has been tapped to lead Emory Law’s Center for International and Comparative Law.

Blank replaces Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im, who has directed the center since its founding in 2008. An-Na’im is an internationally recognized scholar of Islam and human rights, human rights and comparative constitutional law, law and religion, and international law. He has decided to return full-time to his scholarly interests and will move to the Center for the Study of Law and Religion to continue his scholarship as Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law.

 “The Center for International and Comparative Law has thrived under Professor An-Na’im’s leadership, welcoming scholars from around the world and coordinating public lectures, seminars, and academic events on a broad range of topics. Abduh has traveled extensively to speak at a range of international conferences and symposia, to share his expertise with the global law community. We are grateful for his able stewardship of the center,” said Interim Dean James Hughes.

On her new appointment, Blank says, “I look forward to building on Professor An-Na’im’s outstanding and meaningful work leading the Center for International and Comparative Law over the past decade and am excited to work with students, faculty, and partners across the University and beyond to enhance Emory’s engagement in the dynamic and challenging international legal issues we face today and in the future.”

Blank is a clinical professor of law and the director of the International Humanitarian Law Clinic at Emory University School of Law, where she teaches the law of armed conflict and works with students to provide assistance to international tribunals, non-governmental organizations, and militaries around the world on cutting edge issues in humanitarian law and human rights.  

The Center for International and Comparative Law seeks to advance the international and comparative dimensions of legal education and scholarship.  In addition to working with scholars and coordinating public lectures, seminars, and academic events on a broad range of global legal topics, the center administrates the David J. Bederman fellowships to the International Law Academy at The Hague. Additionally, the center has invited prominent scholars and practitioners – President Jimmy Carter, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Fatou Bensouda, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay, Judge Rosemary Barkett of the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal, Ambassador Pierre-Richard Prosper, and Professor Ruti Teitel, to name a few – to deliver the Bederman Lecture and other major lectures at Emory Law.


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