Oona Hathaway

Oona A. Hathaway is the Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law at Yale Law School, Professor of Political Science at Yale University, and faculty member at the Jackson School of Global Affairs. She founded and directs the Center for Global Legal Challenges at Yale Law School. Hathaway received her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1997, serving as Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Law Journal, and her A.B. summa cum laude in Government from Harvard College in 1994. Her academic career includes positions as Professor of Law at Yale since 2008 (previously Associate Professor 2002–2008), Professor at UC Berkeley School of Law (2008–2009), and Associate Professor at Boston University School of Law (2000–2002). She clerked for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court (1997–1998) and Judge Patricia Wald on the D.C. Circuit (1997). In 2014–2015, she served as Special Counsel to the General Counsel for National Security Law at the U.S. Department of Defense, earning the Office of the Secretary of Defense Award for Excellence.

Hathaway's research specializes in international law, foreign relations law, national security law, use of force, human rights, war powers, treaties, cyberwarfare, and global governance. Notable publications include the book The Internationalists: How a Radical Plan to Outlaw War Remade the World (with Scott J. Shapiro, Simon & Schuster, 2017), recipient of the 2018 Scribes Book Award and named a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice; Foundations of International Law and Politics (with Harold H. Koh, 2004); and recent articles such as "The Dangerous Rise of 'Dual-Use' Objects in War" (with Azmat Khan and Mara Revkin, Yale Law Journal, 2025), "Mistakes in War" (with Azmat Khan, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 2024), and "International Law Goes to War in Ukraine" (Emory International Law Review, 2024). She has been awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship (2026), Berlin Prize (2025–2026), and elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2025). Hathaway serves on the Advisory Committee on International Law for the U.S. Department of State (since 2005), is President-elect of the American Society of International Law, founding executive editor of Just Security, and reporter for the Restatement (Fourth) of the Foreign Relations Law of the United States.

Professional Email: oona.hathaway@yale.edu