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Profile
Dr Ayelet Berman is Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for International Law (CIL), where she leads CIL’s work on global health law and governance and is a member of the International Investment Law and Policy Group. She is also Adjunct Assistant Professor at the NUS Faculty of Law. She is Vice Chair of the American Society of International Law (ASIL) International Organizations Interest Group. Other past academic appointments include Research Fellow at the Centre for Trade and Economic Integration at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva and Visiting Professor at the Law Faculty of the University of Lausanne.
Practice
Prior to entering academia, Dr Berman practiced law in the field of World Trade Organization (WTO) litigation at Sidley Austin (Geneva). She also practiced regulatory and commercial law at Herzog, Fox & Neeman (Tel Aviv). She was a research assistant to Justice Miryam Ben-Porat (dec.) of the Israeli Supreme Court. She’s admitted to the Israeli bar.
Teaching
She teaches in the fields of global regulation and governance, international investment and trade law. She co-runs the International Economic Law TradeLab clinic.
Publications and Speaking Engagements
Dr Berman regularly publishes or speaks on global regulation and governance, global health law, and international investment law. She’s published a book, articles in top peer-reviewed journals, including the American Journal of International Law (Unbound) and the International Journal of Constitutional Law, as well as book chapters with Oxford University Press. She regularly moderates panels or presents her work at leading international law conferences and professional events, including at events of the American Society of International law, the European Journal of International Law, the Asian Society of International Law, and at the OECD. Her media commentary on COVID-19 and global health governance has been featured in the South China Morning Post.
Professional Service and Leadership
Dr Berman is the Vice-Chair of the ASIL International Organizations Interest Group. She is executive board member of Tradelab, a network of international economic law clinics. She is a member of the academic advisory group of the OECD Partnership for Effective International Rule-Making by International Organisations. She is a mentor in the American Society of International Law (ASIL) Women in International Law Mentoring Program.
Notable Awards
Dr. Berman’s PhD dissertation was awarded the 2015 SNIS Award for Best PhD in International Studies, which honors the best PhD thesis received at a Swiss university on a subject related to International Studies (from all academic disciplines in all Swiss universities).
Current Research Projects
Dr Berman’s research is interdisciplinary, bridging law, international relations, and public policy. She’s currently working on a project on the reform of the WHO’s International Health Regulations following COVID-19. She also co-runs two research projects: The ‘Investment Treaties and National Governance’ project examines the effects of investment treaties on national governance in Asian countries. The ‘Rethinking Stakeholder Participation in International Governance’ examines the participation of non-state actors, developing, and emerging countries in international rule-making (forthcoming, with Oxford University Press). Previously, she was a researcher on the ‘Informal International Law-Making’ project, which examined the shift from formal to informal international law.
Education
She holds a PhD in International Law (summa cum laude ‘with congratulations of the committee’) and a DEA in International Law from the Graduate Institute/University of Geneva, and an LLB (magna cum laude) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. As an undergraduate student, Ayelet was a teaching assistant in the fields of administrative law and constitutional law at the Faculty of Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
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Research Interests
- Global Governance Law
- International Rule-Making, International Standard-Setting
- Global Health Law
- Non-State Actors in International Law
- International Investment Law
- International Trade Law
- Domestic Implementation of International Law
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Selected Publications
- Rethinking Participation in Global Governance: Challenges and Reforms in Global Health and Global Finance (co-editor) (forthcoming with Oxford University Press)
- ‘Between Participation and Capture: The World Health Organization (WHO) Framework of Engagement with Non-State Actors’ 32(1) European Journal of International Law (2021)
- The World Health Organization (WHO) and COVID-19: How Much Legal Authority Does the WHO really Have to Manage the Pandemic? in CIL Blog (2020)
- ‘Accordion Governance‘ 13(3) Vienna Journal of International Constitutional Law (2019)
- ‘The Rise of Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships‘ in Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting 2017
- ‘Industry, Capture and Transnational Standard-Setting’ in 111 American Journal of International Law (AJIL) Unbound (2017):112-118
- ‘Taking Foreign Interests into Account: Rulemaking in the U.S. and EU’ in 15 (1) International Journal of Constitutional Law (2017): 235-256
- ‘Emergency Action by the WTO Director General: Global Administrative Law and the WTO’s Initial Response to the 2008-2009 Financial Crisis’ , 6 (2) International Organizations Law Review (2009): 499-512 (with Joost Pauwelyn)
- Informal International Law-Making: Case Studies, Ayelet Berman et. al. (eds) TOAEP 2012
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Conference Presentations
Selected Speaking Engagements (since 2015)
2020
- Panelist, ‘The Likely Trajectory of Global Governance after the U.S. Elections: A Comparative Perspective’, McDonnell International Scholars Academy, Washington University in St. Louis (23 November 2020)
- Panelist, ‘United we Stand: Exploring New Collaboration Architectures in Uncertain Times’, OECD Government After Shock Global Forum (18 November 2020)
- Moderator, ‘Business Engagement in Global Governance: Boon or Peril?’International Law Association American Branch, International Law Weekend (22-24 October 2020)
- Introductory remarks, ‘COVID-19: A New Surveillance Era?’, ASIL and CIL co-sponsored event as part of the CIL Covid-19 and International Law e-conference series (27 July 2020)
- Moderator, ‘Between Participation and Capture in International Rule-Making’, American Society of International Law Annual Meeting (June 2020)
- Panelist, ‘Emergency Powers of International Organizations’, OECD Partnership for Effective Rulemaking by International Organizations (June 2020)
- Discussant, Charles Roger’s Book ‘The Origin of Informality’ (Oxford University Press), Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies GLOBE Webinar (28 May 2020)
- Panelist, ‘Global Health Governance in the Time of COVID19’, CIL Covid-19 and International Law e-conference series (29 April 2020)
2019
- ‘Democracy and Participation in International Organization: The World Health Organization Framework of Engagement with Non-State Actors’, 30th European Journal of International Law Symposium on International Law and Democracy Revisited, NYU School of Law (18-20 September 2019)
- Panel Moderator, ’Investment Treaties, National Governance and the Rule of Law Promise’, Asian Society of International Law 7th Biennial Conference (22-23 August 2019)
- “Preventing Undue Influence in International Rule-Making”, 8th Annual Junior Faculty Forum for International Law, NUS, Singapore (12-14 August 2019)
2018
- “International Investment Treaties and Domestic Governance”, ASIL Research Forum, UCLA School of Law (8-9 November 2018)
- Invited speaker, “Trade, Public Policy and Health Workshop”, RegNet School of Regulation and Global Governance, Australian National University, Canberra (5-6 June 2018)
- “International Trade Law”, Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs Course (2018)
- Panel moderator, “The Internalization of Investment Treaties”, Investment Treaties and National Governance panel, 15th Asian Law Institute (ASLI) Conference, Seoul National University (10-11 May 2018)
- Invited speaker, Better International Rules for Inclusive Globalization, 5th Annual Meeting of International Organizations (OECD) (12 April 2018)
- “Accordion Governance”, Global Networks and Power, International Studies Association Annual Conference, San Francisco (April 2018)
2017
- Invited discussant, Fragmentation and Harmonization in International Law panel, ASIL Research Forum, St. Louis (26-28 October 2017)
- Invited panelist, The Path to Practice in International Law, ASIL Research Forum, St. Louis (26-28 October 2017)
- “Accordion Governance”, ASIL Research Forum, St. Louis (26-28 October 2017)
- Invited panelist, Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships in International Law, American Society of International Law (ASIL), Annual Conference (April 2017)
2016
- Invited speaker, “The Practices of International Organizations to Engage Stakeholders—Contribution of Stakeholder Engagement to Good Regulatory Practices”, OECD, International Organizations: Their Role in International Regulatory Cooperation meeting (15 April 2016)
- “Stakeholder Participation in International Governance: 2nd Generation Legitimacy Challenges”, American Society of International Law (ASIL) Research Forum, Washington D.C., (23-24 October 2015)
- “Taking Foreign Interests into Account: Rulemaking in the U.S. and EU”, International Society of Public Law (ICON-S) Annual Conference, NYU School of Law (1-3 July 2015)
- Invited panelist, “The Stagnation of International Law”, American Society of International Law (ASIL), Annual Conference (April 2015)
