Education
B.A., North Carolina State University
J.D., Harvard University
Bio
George E. Edwards, Esq. is the C.M. Gray Professor of Law at Indiana University McKinney School of Law, and Special Assistant to the Dean for Inter-Governmental & Non-Governmental Organizations. He is Faculty Director (Founding) of the school’s Program in International Human Rights Law, which was awarded United Nations Special Consultative Status with Accreditation to the UN Economic & Social Council (UN-ECOSOC), and which has sponsored 200+ Indiana law student internship placements at the UN and other organizations in 75+ countries on 6 continents.
Professor Edwards received his J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was an Editor of the Harvard Law Review and Associate Editor of the Harvard Journal of International Law. Before IU, he was associate director of Hong Kong University’s Centre for Comparative and Public Law and lectured at City University of Hong Kong and for the Hong Kong Law Society.
He practiced law on Wall Street with Cravath, Swaine & Moore, was law clerk to U.S. Federal District Court Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum (Southern District of New York), and has been a visiting fellow / professor at law faculties in the UK (Cambridge; University of London), Thailand (Chulalongkorn), New Zealand (Auckland University of Technology), Peru (Universidad Privada San Pedro), and the U.S. He is Life Member, Wolfson College, Cambridge University.
He received a Fulbright teaching grant (Peru) and a U.S. State Department lecture grant (Lithuania), and has taught, presented papers, and participated in conferences in dozens of countries. At U.S. Embassies and Consulates, Fulbright offices and EducationUSA Advising Centers in 3 dozen countries he has presented on international legal education, and human rights. In May 2016, he was the first professor to lecture at U.S. Embassy-- Havana, Cuba, in the 50+ years since Fidel Castro’s regime began.
In 2003, the Pentagon tapped him to examine fair trial rights of 550+ Guantanamo Bay, Cuba men and boy prisoners. He was Expert Witness in the first completed U.S. military commission since WW II, and the first U.S. expert permitted to travel to Guantanamo. He founded the Guantanamo Military Commission Monitoring Project that sends law students, faculty, staff and graduates to Guantanamo to monitor hearings, and he has made dozens of trips to Guantanamo and other U.S. military installations.
He was elected to the American Law Institute (ALI), as an American Bar Foundation (ABF) Fellow, and to the House of Representatives, Association of American Law Schools (AALS), and appointed Center for National Policy Fellow in International Human Rights (D.C.). He trained judges (Indiana & international), and hosted dozens of overseas U.S. State Department Visitors.
The NBA awarded him the Ronald H. Brown Award for International Distinction, the Sankofa Award, and the Global Advocates Award.
He represented the NBA as delegate to: UN Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the International Criminal Court (ICC) (Rome, Italy ’98), at other UN-related conferences including in Canada, South Africa (World Conference Against Racism), Chile, Switzerland, and Uganda. He represents Indiana’s human rights program at the UN.
He was Delegate to UN Treaty Bodies, the UN Human Rights Commission, and the UN Human Rights Council (where, following George Floyd’s death, he drafted the NBA’s June 2020 Submission for the UN Human Rights Council’s Urgent Debate on “racially inspired human rights violations, systematic racism, police brutality and the violence against peaceful protests” including in the U.S.A.). He led the NBA’s International Affiliates Meeting’s academic program in The Hague, The Netherlands, including lectures at the International Criminal Court (ICC) with arranged ICC speakers (ICC judge, prosecutor, chambers attorney, defense counsel (May 2022, deferred from May 2020).
He led the NBA Presidential Appointments Project during the Obama Administration and is leading the Presidential Appointments Project in the Biden Administration, for NBA members interested in serving as Presidential Appointees.
His books include LL.M. Roadmap: An International Student’s Guide to U.S. Law School Programs (2011), and The Guantanamo Bay Reader: Voices Shaping and Living the Gitmo Experience Under Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden (forthcoming). His law journal publications include at Yale, Harvard, & American.
Professor Edwards was a Presidential Elector (Joe Biden) for the State of Indiana for the Electoral College 2020.
Publications
(SSRN: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=540172)
Books and Chapters
- 1. LL.M. Roadmap: An International Student's Guide to U.S. Law School Programs. (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business Publishing Co.) (Release on Kindle, 14 march 2012) (624 pages) (ISBN: 9781454802396)
a. NEW YORK TIMES EDUCATION PAGE - FEATURE TOPICS, Wednesday, 15 February 2012 (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/e/education_and_schools/international_education/index.html)
b. Available through Amazon.com: (France, Germany, Japan, Austria, China, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom), BarnesandNoble.com, LLM-Guide.com.
c. Translation into Chinese. Negotiations underway for LL.M. Roadmap to be translated into Chinese and sold in Chinese-speaking world (China, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong)
d. Jessup Book Prize. 100 copies of LL.M. Roadmap: An International Student's Guide to U.S. Law School Programs have been donated to top student oralists of the Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. The Jessup competition has student competitors from 500 law schools in almost 100 countries around the globe. The books are being donated by Wolters Kluwer Law & Business Publishing. Professor Edwards has donated all profits from this edition of LL.M. Roadmap to the International Law Students Association (ILSA) (www.ILSA.org) which administers Jessup worldwide (Spring 2012). - LL.M. Roadmap: An International Student’s Guide to U.S. Law School Degree Programs. (Aspen / Wolter Kluwer Business Law Publishing Co.) (www.LLMRoadmap.com) (www.aspenpublishers.com/Product.asp?catalog_name=Aspen&product_id=1454802391) (Aspen link for pre-orders of LL.M. Roadmap)
Other Publications
- 1. Website for LL.M. Roadmap: An International Student's Guide to U.S. law School Programs - www.llmroadmap.com. This website has hits from more than 950 different cities, 128 countries on 6 continents and from thousands of different IP addresses.
2. Twitter: @llmroadmap. Account for LL.M. Roadmap: An International Student's Guide to U.S. Law School Programs). More than 600 Twitter followers (ongoing 2012).
3. Facebook page - LLM Roadmap, created in 2011, and is ongoing for 2012.
4. LL.M. Roadmap Book Launches, Book Launches, Book signings, debuts & other book events:
* Washington, DC book signing, feature display at AALS Law Professor conference (January 2012)
* New Orleans, La., book signing (February 2012)
* Baton Rouge, La., book signing (February 2012)
* Honolulu, Hawaii, debut & book signing (February 2012)
* Barcelona, Spain (March 2012)
* Madrid, Spain, book signing and conference presentation (March 2012)
* Costa Rica debut - San Jose (March 2012)
* Feature displays at March 2012 American Society of International Law (ASIL) Annual Meeting; Vienna, Austria, Vis International Arbitration Competition; and Hong Kong, SAR, Vis (East) International Arbitration Competition. (March 2012)
5. Cape Verde Breaches its Duty to Protect Cape Verde School Children (of Tarrafal, Island of Santiago) from Corporal Punishment, Child Sexual Exploitation, and Child Sexual Abuse, and Thus Violates Articles 2, 7 & 24 of the International Convent on Civil & Political Rights (ICCPR): Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Shadow Report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee Addressing List of Issues - Issue #2 (Availability of Remedies), Issue #10 (Corporal Punishment), Issue#19 (Sexual Exploitation), and Issue #23 (Dissemination of Information About the ICCPR). Submitted by Delta Cultura Cabo Verde (An NGO Catering to School Children in Tarrafal, Island of Santiago, Cape Verde) and the International Human Rights Law Society (A Student Organization of Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law) with the endorsement of the Program in International Human Rights Law of Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law (an organization Accredited with Special Consultative Status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council). Editor of Shadow Report and Consultant to Shadow Report Team. Faculty Director of the IU McKinney Program in International Human Rights Law with responsibility for endorsing the Shadow Report to be submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Committee for hearings at United Nations Headquarters (New York, USA, March 2012). On the United Nations website. Students traveled to the UN headquarters to present the report. The United Nations issued Concluding Observations on the Shadow Report that echoed the IU Shadow Report.
6. U.S. Law Schools for International Students - How to choose a Master of Laws (LL.M.) Degree program, The International Grad Mag: International Guide to Postgraduate Study Around the World, Issue #19, Winter 2012 (Article published in magazine which was distributed to 10,000 readers around the world. Highlights LL.M. Roadmap: An International Student's Guide to U.S. Law School Programs, www.llmroadmap.com).
7. Prof. George E. Edwards elected to 3 Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Leadership positions involving Graduate Legal Education (Master of Laws - LL.M. Programs, Jan 12, 2012). http://www.llmroadmap.com/prof-edwards-elected-3-aals-leadership-positions-association-american-law-schools
Presentations
- 1. International Law, Human Rights and the Law of Indiana: Presentation to the Indiana State Judges at Indiana Graduate Program for Judges sponsored by the Indiana Judicial Center. To be held at the Brown County Inn, Nashville, Ind., June 9, 2012.
2. The Law of War and International Human Rights Law - From Pearl Harbor to Guantanamo Bay and Beyond. Presentation in the Topics in Peace and Conflict Resolution: International Criminal Law & the Law of War class taught by Prof. Michael Dan Mori (Lt. Col., USMC) at the University of Hawaii, Feb. 23, 2012 (Honolulu, Hawaii).
3. Law Study in a Foreign Country, Experiential Legal Education, and Promoting Diplomacy, Peace, Security & Human RIghts; The Program in International Human Rights Law; and LL.M. Roadmap: An International Student's Guide to U.S. Law School Programs. Presented at Faculty Seminar, IU Robert H. McKinney School of Law (April 12, 2012).
4. “QUIERES ESTUDIAR LEY EN LOS EE.UU.? ¿POR QUÉ? ¿CÓMO?:AROADMAP TO MASTER OF LAWS (LL.M.) & OTHER U.S. LAW DEGREES” Presentation at Comisión de Intercambio - Programa
Fulbright EducationUSA (U.S.. Department of State) (Madrid, Spain), March 8, 2012.
5. “PORQUE ESTUDIAR EN LOS EE.UU.? NAVIGATING U.S. HIGHER EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES”. Presentation at Cultural Costarricense-Norteamericano, EducationUSA / Fulbright (U.S. Department of State Affiliate) (San Jose, Costa Rica), March 15, 2012.
6. “QUIERES ESTUDIAR LEY EN LOS EE.UU.? ¿POR QUÉ? ¿CÓMO?:AROADMAP TO MASTER OF LAWS (LL.M.) & OTHER U.S. LAW DEGREES”. Presentation at Cultural Costarricense-Norteamericano, EducationUSA / Fulbright (U.S. Department of State Affiliate) (San Jose, Costa Rica), March 15, 2012.
7. TALK BY 2011 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE LAUREATE LEYMAH ROBERTA GBOWEE, OF LIBERIA, TITLED WOMEN,PEACE AND RECONCILIATION IN WEST AFRICA. Intervention Facilitator; Event Financial CoSponsor (in personal capacity); and Presenter of LL.M. Roadmap Gift to Nobel Laureate Leymah Gbowee. (Event conducted at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law). Feb. 16, 2012.
8. “AN INTRODUCTION TO U.S.LEGAL EDUCATION FOR COSTA RICAN LAW STUDENTS: U.S.MASTER OF LAWS (LL.M.), JURIS DOCTOR (J.D.) AND DOCTOR OF JURIDICAL SCIENCES (S.J.D.)PROGRAMS FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS”. Presented at the Global Legal Skills Conference VII, held in San Jose, Costa Rica, on 12 – 14 March 2012. Discussing, inter alia, LL.M. Roadmap book and www.LLMRoadMap.com. March 13, 2012
9. International Tribunals, Experiential Education, and International Students in U.S. Law Schools: Promotion of Diplomacy, Peace, Security & Human Rights". Panel Presenter at the Global Legal Skills Conference VII, held in San Jose, Costa Rica, on March 12-14, 2012. Discussing, inter alia, student clinical work for the International Criminal Court, the ICTY & ICTR, other international criminal tribunals, and student clinical work for non-criminal international bodies such as the Inter-American Court for Human Rights and the Treaty Bodies of the United nations. With panelists Dinorah Cantu (Facultad Libre de Derecho de Monterrey, Mexico); Jane E. Cross (Nova Southeastern Univeristy Shepard Broad Law Center); and Shahram Dana (The John Marshall Law School), March 14, 2012, at Gran Hotel Costa Rica, San Jose, Costa Rica.
- International Prosecution of War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, and Genocide. Presented at Indiana Supreme Court Legal History Lecture Series (supported by Indiana Commission for Continuing Legal Education). Presented alongside Judge Nancy Vaidik, Indiana Court of Appeals. (Indiana Supreme Court Chambers)
- “International Law, Military Commissions, and U.S. Foreign Policy: Guantanamo Bay Through Speckled Lenses”. Video-linked presentation between Indiana and the University of Tehran (Tehran, Iran) 26 February 2008.
- “International Law, Torture, and Rights: Ticking Bombs”. University of Kuwait Faculty of Law presenttion in the International Criminal Law class of Dr. Mohammed Buzubar, 28 March 2008. (Kuwait City, Kuwait)
- “Experiences de Litigo en Derechos Humanos – Experiences in Litigating Human Rights”. Presentation at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Juridicas & Sociales, Institute of Human Rights, 18 December 2007. (La Plata, Argentina)
- "The Right to a Fair Trial—Creating and Controlling the Adversarial Courtroom: A Training Program". Presentations in three People’s Republic of China cities -- Beijing, Dalian, & Yanji (Yanbian). Sponsored by China Trial Advocacy Institute, a venture of Renmin University of China School of Law (Beijing) & Indiana University School of Law at Indianapolis (June 2007).
- U.S.A. v. David Hicks, the U.S. Military Commissions at Guantanamo Bay, and International Human Rights Law. Presented at a Butler University Undergraduate Sociology Class of Prof. Tamara Leech, taught by Prof. Dave Mason, Wednesday, 11 April 2007.
Other Activities
- Invited Conferences, Colloquia, Co-Sponsored Conferences, Expert Groups, Expert Witness Tenders, Grants, Awards, press Credentials, Other Appointments, Legal Research team Supervisor,and Consultancies (Selected)
1. Transnational Experiential Legal Education, Citizen-to-Citizen Diplomacy & Human Rights: Benefits of Master of Laws (LL.M.) Students From one Country Understaking Non-Classroom Academic Initiatives at Law Schools in Another Country. Presented this paper that was selected after a Call for paperes for the European Law Faculties Associate (ELFA) General Assebly and Conference. The European Law Faculties Association has more than 200 law faculties as members, from across Europe. This Congress was conducted at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid in Madrid, Spain. Five U.S. law school representatives were present and participated as speakers, including Association of American Law Schools (AALS) President Lauren Robel, who represented the AALS. This paper is to appear on the ELFA website and is to be submitted for publication in a European law journal. March 8-10, 2012; presentation March 9, 2012.
2. "An Introduction to U.S. Legal Education for Costa Rican Law Students: U.S. Masters of Laws (LL.M.), Juris Doctor (J.D.) and Doctor of Juridical Sciences (S.J.D.) Programs for International Students." Presented at the Global Legal Skills Conference VII, held in San Jose, Costa Rica, on March 12-14, 2012. Discussing, inter alia, LL.M. Roadmap book and www.llmroadmap.com. This presentation was made at the University of Costa Rica Law Faculty, and included UCR law students, student interns from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, professors and administrators. March 13, 2012, San Jose, Costa Rica.
3. Clashes and Consistencies in International Human Rights law, International Criminal Law, and International Humanitarian Law: Critical lessons for the 2012 Global Community. Lecture scheduled to be delivered on Feb. 23, 2012, at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, in a class taught by Lt. Col. Michael Dan Mori, USMC. (Honolulu, Hawaii).
4. Law Teaching Methodology in the 21st Century. Invited to conduct a one-week training course for law teachers in the Republic of Georgia. Training to take place in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia.
