Mary Ellen O’Connell joined the faculty as the Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law in 2005. Prior to joining the Notre Dame faculty, Professor O’Connell was the William B. Saxbe Designated Professor of Law at the Moritz College of Law of Ohio State University. She earned her B.A. in History, with highest honors, from Northwestern University in 1980. She was awarded a Marshall Scholarship for study in Britain. She received an MSc. in International Relations from the London School of Economics in 1981, and an LL.B., with first class honors, from Cambridge University in 1982. She earned her J.D. from Columbia University in 1985, where she was a Stone Scholar and book review editor for the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law. After graduation, she practiced with Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. She then taught at Indiana University School of Law, Bloomington; at The Bologna Center of The Johns Hopkins University, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Bologna, Italy; and the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany; and the University of Cincinnati College of Law.

Professor O’Connell has been active in the American Society of International Law, the German Society of International Law, the International Institute for Humanitarian Law, and the International Law Association.

She teaches contracts as well as a number of courses in the area of international law. Professor O’Connell’s primary research focuses on international legal regulation of the use of force and conflict and dispute resolution, especially peaceful resolution of disputes prior to an escalation to armed conflict.

In conjunction with research on these issues, she continues to examine the processes by which international law is made, applied, and enforced and is particularly interested in the enforcement of international law and the question of whether it is time for a classical revival in international law.

Law, Foreign Policy,