University of Utah : S.J. Quinney College of Law

Amos N. Guiora

Amos N. Guiora is professor of law at The S. J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah.

Professor Guiora teaches Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, International Law, Global Perspectives on Counter-terrorism, and Religion and Terrorism. In addition, Guiora incorporates innovative scenario-based instruction to address national and international security issues.

In collaboration with other leading experts at the S.J. Quinney College of Law, Guiora helps lead the school's efforts to provide cutting-edge research, innovative training, and public service initiatives in the prevention and mitigation of global conflict.

Prof. Guiora is a Research Fellow at the International Institute on Counter-Terrorism, The Interdisciplinary Center, Herzeliya, Israel, a Corresponding Member, The Netherlands School of Human Rights Research, University of Utrecht School of Law and has been awarded a Senior Specialist Fulbright Fellowship for The Netherlands in 2008.

Oxford University Press published Professor Guiora’s book “Constitutional Limits on Coercive Interrogation” (2008) and will publish “Freedom of Religion-Freedom from Religion: Rights, Conflicts and Obligations—A Comparative Perspective: Israel, The Netherlands, Turkey, UK and US,” (forthcoming, 2009). Prof. Guiora is the editor of Annual Review—Top Ten Global Security Law Review Articles, Oxford University Press.

Author of  Global Perspectives on Counterterrorism (Aspen Publishers, 2007) and  Fundamentals of Counterterrorism (Aspen Publishers, 2008), Professor Guiora writes and lectures extensively on issues such as “Legal Aspects of Counterterrorism”, “Re-articulating International Law”, Global Perspectives of Counterterrorism,” “Terror Financing,” “International Law and Morality in Armed Conflict,” “Educating IDF Commanders and Soldiers on International Law and Morality,”  “Religion and Terrorism”, “Domestic Terror Courts”, “Self Defense” and “Geo-politics and International Law”.
Guiora testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, “Improving Detainee Policy:  Handling Terrorism Detainees within the American Justice System,” (June, 2008) and the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment, “Effectiveness, Accountability and Resilience in Homeland Security,” (May, 2008).
His publications include: Where have we been; where are we going”, 30 U. of  Penn. J. of  Int'l Law,  (forthcoming Spring 2009) Invited paper, Military Commissions and National Security Courts After Guantánamo, 103 NW. U. L. REV. COLLOQUY 199 (2008) http://www.law.northwestern.edu/lawreview/colloquy/ 2008/42/. “Interrogating the Detainees: Extending a Hand or a Boot,” University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, “Self-defense from the Wild West to 9/11—Who, What, Why, When,” Cornell Journal of International Law, 41 Cornell Int’l L.J. 3 (2009), “Anticipatory Self-Defense and International Law:  A Re-evaluation,” Journal of Conflict & Security Law, 13 JCSL 1, 2008. “Using and Abusing Financial Markets—Money Laundering as the Achilles Heel of Terrorism,” co-authored with Brian Field, University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Economic Law, “National Objectives in the Hands of Junior Leaders: IDF Experiences in Combating Terror,” co-authored with Martha Minow of Harvard University, included in Countering Terrorism in the 21st Century (Praeger Security International, 2007).
As an expert commentator, he is frequently interviewed and quoted by CNN, The Washington Post, PBS, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, BBC, C-Span, The Christian Science Monitor, Fox TV, the New York Daily News, KQV Newsradio Pittsburgh, Wisconsin Public Radio, Minnesota Public Radio, NPR, Fox TV, Chicago Sun Times, Voice of America, Wall Street Journal, WCPN, Associated Press, Seattle Post-Intelligence, The Jersualem Post, Al-Jazerrah TV, The Bloomberg Report.  Prof Guiora presented at “Authors@Google”.
Prof. Guiora’s op-eds have been published in the Arizona Republic, Baltimore Sun, Boston Globe, Cleveland Plain Dealer,  East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Arizona),  JURIST, Los Angeles Times, Salt Lake Tribune and San Francisco Chronicle.
Prior to joining the S. J. Quinney faculty, Guiora was Professor of Law and the Founding Director of the Institute for Global Security Law and Policy at Case Law School. A grant application submitted by Prof. Guiora for an “Education Program for Prosecutors” was approved and funded for $250,000 by the Department of Justice.  

Before joining Case in 2004, Professor Guiora served for 19 years in the Israel Defense Forces Judge Advocate General’s Corps (Lt. Col. Ret.). He held a number of senior command positions, including Commander of the IDF School of Military Law, Judge Advocate for the Navy and Home Front Command, and the Legal Advisor to the Gaza Strip.

Professor Guiora had command responsibility for the development of an interactive software program that teaches an eleven point code-of-conduct based on International Law, Israeli Law, and the IDF code. This internationally acclaimed program is used to teach IDF soldiers and commanders their obligations regarding a civilian population during an armed conflict.

During his military service, Professor Guiora was involved in legal and policy-making issues, including the capture of the PLO weapons ship Karine A, implementation of the Gaza-Jericho Agreement, the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement, and “Safe Passage” between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Professor Guiora graduated from Kenyon College in 1979 (Honors in History) and Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 1985.