Christie S. Warren
Professor of the Practice of International and Comparative Law and Director, Center for Comparative Legal Studies and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding
Email: [[cswarr]]
Office phone: (757) 221-7852
Office location: Room 229A
Areas of Specialization
Comparative Constitutional Law; Comparative Law--Constitutional Law; Comparative Law--Islamic Law; Comparative Law--Latin American Law; Comparative Law--Middle Eastern Law; Comparative and Foreign Law; International Human Rights Law; Public International Law; Post-Conflict Justice; Transitional Justice
Teaching Interests
Comparative Law; Comparative Constitutional Systems; Islamic Law and Middle Eastern Law; International Human Rights Law; Public International Law; Post-Conflict Reconstruction; Transitional Justice; Legal System Reform; Advanced Applied International Research.
Representative Professional Activities and Achievements
During the 2024 – 2025 academic year, Christie S. Warren will serve as the Fulbright-Lund Distinguished Chair in Public International Law.
Christie S. Warren holds a BA with Distinction from the University of California at Berkeley, a JD from the University of California at Davis and a Certificate in Mediation from the Harvard Mediation Program. Her areas of specialization include Comparative Law, Comparative Constitutional Law, Post-Conflict Justice and the Rule of Law, Transitional Justice, Islamic Law, Public International Law and International Human Rights Law.
Professor Warren served for sixteen years as a criminal defense trial lawyer in California, specializing in the defense of death penalty cases, before turning to international legal development work in conflict and post-conflict contexts. She has designed, implemented and assessed constitutional, judicial, legal and academic programs in more than 58 countries throughout Africa, Central and East Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Russia and the Newly Independent States, the Balkans and East Timor. She was appointed Supreme Court Fellow at the Supreme Court of the United States and served as the Senior Expert in Constitutional Issues on the United Nations Department of Political Affairs Mediation Support Unit Standby Team. She has advised on constitutional issues and processes in Haiti, Iraq, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Somalia, Sudan and Ukraine and served as a Legal Advisor during the Darfur Peace Talks.
Professor Warren was named the 2016 – 2017 Fulbright Schuman Distinguished Chair at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy and has served as Visiting Professor of Constitutional Law at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and Visiting Professor of International Law at Sapienza University in Rome. Under appointment by the Chief Justice of the United States, she served as Supreme Court Fellows Commissioner from 2012 to 2018 and is the recipient of the Administration of Justice Award, awarded by the Supreme Court Fellows Alumni Association, "In Recognition of Significant Contributions to the International Administration of Justice and the Rule of Law."
Scholarly Publications
Books
- International Legal Aid & Defender System Development Manual (Christie S. Warren et al. eds., Nat'l Legal Aid & Defender Ass'n 2010) (Project Director and Editor-in-Chief). Online.
Articles and Book Chapters
- The Constitutional Court of Indonesia as a Post-Conflict Institution, in Courts and Diversity: Twenty Years of the Constitutional Court of Indonesia (Bertus de Villiers, Saldi Isra, and Pan Mohamad Faiz, eds. Brill, 2024). Online.
- Conflict as Catalyst: The Role of Conflict in Creating Political Space for Women, in Women's Human Rights Under European and International Law (with Iulia Motoc, Ivana Jelic, Elena Brodeala and Silvia Șuteu eds. 2021). SSRN.
- A Brief Overview of Anti-Terrorism Legislation in the United States: Federal, State and Policy Considerations, in Seguridad y Libertad En El Sistema Democrático 379 (José Julio Fernández Rodríguez ed., 2020).
- Toolkit or Tinderbox? When Legal Systems Interface Conflict, 53 Cornell Int’l L.J. 297 (2020). Online.
- Institutionalizing Ethical Practices, in International Legal Aid & Defender System Development Manual (Christie S. Warren et al. eds., National Legal Aid & Defender Ass'n Press 2010).
- Lifting the Veil: Women and Islamic Law, 15 Cardozo J.L. & Gender 33 (2008). Online.
- Quitando el Velo: Mujeres y Derecho Islamico, 9 Complutense Anuario de Derechos Humanos 621 (2008). Online.
- Introduction to Special Collection: Seminar Papers on Women and Islamic Law, 11 Wm. & Mary J. Women & L. 505 (2005). Online.
- Court Administration as a Tool for Judicial Reform: An International Perspective, National Center for State Courts (2001). Online.
- The Cambodia Court Training Project, Sacremento County, B.J. (1995).
Other
- Comparative Legal Systems: Juries and Triers of Fact in Various Contexts, Oxford Constitutional Law (2020). SSRN.
- Jury, in Max Planck Encyclopedia of Comparative Constitutional Law (Oxford University Press 2020). Online.
- Revisiting Individual Rights and Personal Responsibilities Amid COVID-19, Diplomatic Courier, Aug. 27, 2020. Online.
- Constitutions and Islamic Law, in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion (2017). Online.
- State of the European Union, Fulbright Schuman Program, 2017 . Online.
- Watching European Democracy in Action, Medium, 2017. Online.
- The Hanafi School, in Oxford Bibliogs (Tamara Sonn ed., Oxford U. Press 2013). Online.
- Constitutions, Constitutionalism and the Role of Post-Conflict Constitution Building, International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (2011).
- Islamic Criminal Law, in Oxford Bibliogs (Oxford U. Press 2010). Online.
- Islamic Commercial Law, in 1 Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World 469 (Oxford U. Press 2009). Online.
- Istislah, in 3 Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World 213 (Oxford U. Press 2009). Online.
- Polygyny, in 4 Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World 384 (Oxford U. Press 2009). Online.
- Constitution Guarantees Rights to All of Kosovo's Citizens, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Apr. 7, 2008 (op-ed).
- Introduction to the Major Legal Systems of the World, United States Institute of Peace (2006).
- Notes from Cambodia, Defender Magazine: 1995, 1996, 1997.