Professor Laurie Blank

Laurie R. Blank is 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 directly 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. Blank is the co-author of International Law and Armed Conflict: Fundamental Principles and Contemporary Challenges in the Law of War, a casebook on the law of war (with G. Noone, Aspen Publishing 2013; Concise Edition 2016).  She is also the co-director of a multi-year project on military training programs in the law of war and the co-author of Law of War Training: Resources for Military and Civilian Leaders. Blank is a core expert on the Woomera Manual on International Law Applicable to Conflict in Outer Space and a member of the Air and Missile Project on Legal Education. In addition, she is the chair of the American Society of International Law Lieber Prize Committee and the series editor of the ICRC’s teaching supplements on IHL, and was a term member of the American Bar Association’s Advisory Committee to the Standing Committee on Law and National Security (2011-2014), a member of the Homeland Security Academic Advisory Council Subcommittee on Countering Violent Extremism, and a member of the Public Interest Law and Policy Group’s High Level Working Group on Piracy.

She is the author of numerous articles and opinion pieces on topics in the law of armed conflict, including targeted killing and drone strikes, the classification of armed conflict, implementation of the law of armed conflict during military operations, cyber war, and law and legitimacy in armed conflict.  Before coming to Emory, Blank was a program officer in the Rule of Law Program at the United States Institute of Peace. At USIP, she directed the Experts’ Working Group on International Humanitarian Law, in particular a multi-year project focusing on New Actors in the Implementation and Enforcement of International Humanitarian Law.

Education: JD, New York University School of Law (Henry L. Boudin Fellow for Human Rights, 1996–1998) (cum laude); MA, International Relations, The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University (with distinction); AB, Political Science, Princeton University (cum laude)