People
Furman Scholars and Fellows in International Law
Furman Scholars
Modeled on graduate-level programs in the arts and sciences, Furman Academic Scholarships are awarded to a select group of students who have a special interest in becoming legal academics, and who show particular promise in achieving this goal. For more information, visit the NYU School of Law Admissions website. A few of the Furman Scholars with particular international law interrests are listed here.
Alexis Blane
A 2002 graduate of Duke University, Alexis has spent the past three years studying at Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship. She received a Masters of Philosophy from Oxford in 2004 for work that focused on the interrelation of liberalism and conceptions of empire in British travel writing from the 1930s. As an undergraduate, a summer spent working in Kosovo on refugee management and social therapy programs kindled her interest in the intersections of national and international law. While at NYU she hopes to focus on human rights in an international context and the conflicts that arise as international laws and legal practices operate alongside the legal systems of individual countries.
Chris Bradley
With expertise in medieval English theology and church organization, Chris came to NYU from the doctoral program in English at Oxford University. He has built on this expertise in Law School, including a paper on relations between British international law doctrine and the beliefs and practices of missionaries in Victorian Britain. In 2006-07 he was Editor-in-Chief of the NYU Journal of International Law and Politics.
Catherine Sweetser
Catherine Sweetser graduated magna cum laude from Yale College in 2005 with a double major in Political Science and International Studies. Her senior essays focused on peacekeeping in Burundi and the repurcussions of politics in the AU, as well as the formulation of a statistical variable for international interest in a conflict. She is interested in the legal theory behind the current formation of global institutions. In summer 2006, after her 1L year, she worked as an intern on death penalty issues wih the Innocence Project, and also worked with Professor Benedict Kingsbury on accountability for abuses by UN or other peacekeepers. A member of the NYU Law Review, she also joined the Furman Program in Fall 2006. In summer 2005, before coming to Law School, Catherine taught English at the Center for Exchange and Solidarity in San Salvador, El Salvador. In 2004, she interned at Bet Tzedek Legal Services in Los Angeles, conducting client interviews and research for tenant law, social security, and Holocaust reparations cases. In 2003, she researched prison privatization by multinationals and other aspects of prison policy for the Center for Reform in London, England.
Furman Fellow
The Furman Fellowship enables NYU Law graduates to return to the Law School for one or two years, in preparation for the academic job market.
Margaret K. Lewis
Maggie Lewis, a Furman Fellow at NYU Law School, focuses on criminal justice issues in China. She previously worked as a research fellow at NYU’s U.S.-Asia Law Institute. Prior to joining NYU in September 2005, Maggie served as a law clerk for Judge M. Margaret McKeown on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She received her J.D. from NYU School of Law in 2003. While at NYU, Maggie spent a semester at Bucerius Law School in Hamburg, Germany. Following graduation, she worked at the law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in New York City. Maggie received her B.A. from Columbia University and also studied at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies in Nanjing, China.
Former Furman Fellow
Harlan Cohen
Harlan Cohen, Furman Fellow 2005-07, JD '03, came to NYU after completing a Masters degree in History at Yale. While completing his JD he published a prize-winning article on the American tradition in international law, in the Yale Journal of International Law, as well as a Note in the NYU Law Review. He has more recently published comment on recent US Supreme Court decisions relating to international law in the Berkeley Journal of International Law . His current project develops a new theory of opinio juris in relation to treaties. He is an Assistant Professor in the University of Georgia School of Law.
