Areas of Expertise
International Law, National Security Law, International Humanitarian Law, Counterterrorism, Foreign Policy
Courses
International Law, National Security Law, International Humanitarian Law Clinic
Biography
Benjamin R. Farley is a visiting professor at Emory University School of Law and the acting director of the Emory International Humanitarian Law Clinic. He is on leave from the U.S. Department of State, where he serves as deputy director of the Office of Terrorist Detentions in the Bureau of Counterterrorism. Before rejoining the State Department in August 2021, Farley represented Ammar al Baluchi, one of the five defendants facing capital charges before the 9/11 military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as a supervisory trial attorney and law-of-war counsel at the U.S. Department of Defense, Military Commissions Defense Organization. Farley originally joined the Department of State in 2012 as a Presidential Management Fellow, and, from 2013 to 2017, he served as a senior adviser to the Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure.
A term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Farley earned a JD with honors from Emory University School of Law, where he was editor-in-chief of the Emory International Law Review. He also holds an MA in international affairs from the Elliott School of International Affairs. Farley has published on topics including sovereignty, statehood, international humanitarian law, and constitutional law in various law, policy, and popular outlets such as The Atlantic, the Michigan Journal of International Law, the Fordham International Law Journal, and World Politics Review.