Alexandra Huneeus
Professor of Law ; Director, Global Legal Studies Center
@Alex_Huneeus
Education
Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley
J.D. Berkeley Law (Boalt Hall)
B.A. University of California, Berkeley
Biography
Alexandra Huneeus’ scholarship focuses on human rights law, with emphasis on Latin America. Her work stands at the intersection of law, political science, and sociology, and has been published in the American Journal of International Law, Harvard International Law Journal, Law and Social Inquiry, Yale Journal of International Law, Leiden International Law Journal, and by Cambridge University Press. She is Professor of Law and Legal Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, received her PhD, JD and BA from University of California, Berkeley, and was a post-doc at Stanford University's Center on Development, Democracy and the Rule of Law.
In 2017, Professor Huneeus was named to serve a ten-year term as Foreign Expert Jurist in the Colombian Jurisdicción para la Paz (JEP), a court created as part of the Colombian peace process. At UW, Professor Huneeus currently serves as Director of the Center for Law, Society and Justice. She is Chair of the University of Wisconsin Human Rights Program, which she co-founded, and Director of the Global Legal Studies Program. She is on the Board of Editors of the American Journal of International Law, and of Law and Social Inquiry. Previously, she has served on the Board of Trustees of the Law and Society Association and the American Society for Comparative Law, and as section chair for the Midwest Political Science Association (Law and Courts) and for the ASIL Midwest Interest Group on International law.
In 2013, she was awarded the American Association for Law Schools Scholarly Papers Prize, as well as the American Society for Comparative Law Award for Younger Scholars (for two different articles), and in 2014 she was awarded an NSF grant to explore the impact of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on domestic prosecutions of state atrocity.
Before becoming a scholar, she worked as journalist, and has written for Wired News, Business Week International, The San Francisco Chronicle, El Mercurio, and other media.
Scholarship & Publications
SSRN
Law Repository
Research Interests
- Public international law
- Comparative law
- Latin America
- Human rights
- Judicial Politics
Activities
Heinz Klug is chairing the search-and-screen committee to find a new UW Law dean. Other committee members include: Michelle Behnke, Roman Gierok, Erica Halverson, Alexandra Huneeus, Richard Monette, Yaron Nili, Kim Peterson, Howard Schweber, Mitra Sharafi, Susannah Tahk, Janice Toliver, Kathryn VandenBosch, Steven Wright, and Jason Yackee.
Alexandra Huneeus, Mitra Sharafi and Nina Varsava were selected for honorary membership into the Order of the Coif, a scholastic society that encourages excellence in legal education. Sixteen recent UW Law graduates also received Order of the Coif honors for 2019.
Alexandra Huneeus gave the keynote at the 4th Supreme Court Project Conference, held Oct. 9, 2019 at Torcuato di Tella University in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her presentation was titled “A Regional History of Human Rights: The Rise of the African, American and European Courts of Human Rights (1945-2018).”
Alexandra Huneeus co-edited a symposium for AJIL Unbound, now available online: "Non-State Actors and New Technologies in Atrocity Prevention." She also wrote the introduction to the symposium (with Larissa van den Herik).
Alexandra Huneeus has published a symposium titled the "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at 70 and the Future of Being Human," in AJIL Unbound, a publication of the American Society of International Law. The symposium, honoring the Universal Declaration's 70th birthday on Dec. 10, includes an article by Alta Charo, "Germline Engineering and Human Rights."
Alexandra Huneeus is co-editor and author of "Cultures of Legality: Judicialization and Political Activism in Latin America," published by Cambridge University Press in 2010.
Alexandra Huneeus and her article, "Judging from a Guilty Conscience: The Chilean Judiciary Human Rights Turn" (Law & Social Inquiry Vol. 35, No. 1, Winter 2010) are featured on the well-known international law blog International Law Grrls.
Alexandra Huneeus is the author of "Judging from a Guilty Conscience: The Chilean Judiciary's Human Rights Turn" appearing in the journal Law and Social Inquiry (Vol. 35, No. 1, 2010.)
Alexandra Huneeus has been elected to the 2009 Board of Trustees of the Law and Society Association, an international organization of scholars who study the interrelation of law and social, political, economic, and cultural life. Huneeus will serve on the Board for a term of three years.
News & Media
Monday, Dec 10, 2018On its 70th anniversary, Alexandra Huneeus reflects on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Scientific AmericanFriday, Dec 12, 2014Alexandra Huneeus: International law requires prosecution of those committing crimes of torture
Channel 3000Monday, Sep 16, 2013Alexandra Huneeus discusses Augusto Pinochet regime
WORT-FMTuesday, Nov 27, 2012Alexandra Huneeus discusses the Inter-American Court of Human Rights at Mexico City conference
La Jornada
Teaching Areas
- Comparative Law
- Human Rights Law
- International Law
- Latin American Law
- Law & Society
Recently Taught Courses
