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

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Erika George

Erika George

Professor of Law

Before joining the college Fall Semester 2003, Professor George was a litigation associate in the New York City firm of Coudert Brothers, where she focused on international litigation and arbitration with an emphasis on representation of foreign corporations, antitrust, and employment discrimination. Previously, she was a fellow with Human Rights Watch, where she conducted on-site investigations of developments in women's rights, children's rights, and the right to education. Professor George also wrote a book-length report examining how gender discrimination and violence in South African schools impedes realization of the right to education and presented her findings to the South African government. She has monitored human rights abuses against academics in various countries and addressed the World Education for All Forum convened by the United Nations in Dakar, Senegal, on human rights abuses against children.

Before serving as a law clerk to the Hon. William T. Hart, U.S. judge for the Northern District of Illinois during 1998-99, Professor George worked on women's human rights issues and HIV/AIDS in India, and was a litigation associate in the Chicago firm of Jenner & Block. In addition to human rights, her scholarly interests include constitutional law, civil rights, international relations, international development, and the interdisciplinary study of law.

Professor George teaches international human rights and humanitarian law, international law, and civil procedure.

Scholarship Highlights


Book Chapters

Failing the Future: Development Objectives, Human Rights Obligations and Gender Violence in Schools in Combating Gender Violence in and around Schools (Trentham Books, Fiona Leach & Claudia Mitchell, eds., 2006)



Books

Scared at School: Sexual Violence Against Girls in South African Schools

Human Rights Watch (2001).



Legal Writing


Academic Articles, Book Chapters, Books:

 

Corporate Liability for Human Rights Crimes in CRIMINAL JURISDICTION 100 YEARS AFTER THE 1907 HAGUE PEACE CONFERENCE (T.M.C. Asser Press/Cambridge University Press, W.M. van

Genugten & Michael P. Scharf eds. 2009)

 

Virginity Testing and South Africa’s HIV/AIDS Crisis: Beyond Rights Universalism and Cultural Relativism Towards Health Security, California Law Review (December 2008)

 

The Place of the Private Transnational Actor in International Law: Human Rights Norms, Development Aims and Understanding Corporate Self-Regulation As Soft Law, American Society of International law Proceedings (2007)

 

After Atrocity, Examples from Africa: The Right to Education and the Role of Law in Restoration, Recovery and Accountability, Loyola University of Chicago International Law Review (2007)

 

The Protection of the Right to Education by International Law By Klaus Dieter, Global Law Books (2007) (book review)

 

Unprotected Migrants: Zimbabweans in South Africa’s Limpopo Province (with Norma Kriger) Human Rights Watch (2006)

 

Failing the Future: Development Objectives, Human Rights Obligations and Gender Violence in Schools in Combating Gender Violence in and around Schools (Trentham Books, Fiona Leach & Claudia Mitchell, eds., 2006)

 

Instructions in Inequality: Development, Human Rights, Capabilities and Gender Violence in Schools, 26 Michigan Journal of International Law 4 (2005)

 

Scared at School: Sexual Violence Against Girls in South African Schools

Human Rights Watch (2001)

 

State Oil v. Khan, 36 ISBA Antitrust & Unfair Competition Law, May (1998) (co-author with John J. Hamill)

 

The Fourth Amendment''s Forcing of Flawed Choices: Giving Content to Freedom for Residents of Public Housing 30 Harv.  C.R.-C.L. L. Rev. 577 (1995) (case comment)

 

Words as Weapons: Naming the Harm of Racist Speech, 11 Harv.  BlackLetter J. 221 (1994) (book review)

 

Needling the System: Welfare Agency Approaches to Preschool Immunization, Center for Law and Social Policy (1993)

 

Essays and Editorials:

 

A Prescription for Development: Curing What Ails Foreign Aid to Africa, G8 Magazine Summit 2009 (July 2009)

 

A Black Lawyer’s Reflections on the Legacy of Brown v. Board of Ed., Utah Bar Journal (May 2004)

 

Like a Virgin? Virginity Testing as HIV/AIDS Prevention: Human Rights Universalism and Cultural Relativism Revisited, California Law Review (forthcoming spring 2008)

 

After Atrocity Examples from Africa: The Right to Education and the Role of Law in Restoration, Recovery and Accountability, Loyola University of Chicago International Law Review (forthcoming fall 2007)

 

The Protection of the Right to Education by International Law By Klaus Dieter, Global Law Books (2007) (book review)

 

Unprotected Migrants: Zimbabweans in South Africa’s Limpopo Province (with Norma Kriger) Human Rights Watch (2006)
 
Instructions in Inequality: Development, Human Rights, Capabilities and Gender Violence in Schools, 26 Michigan Journal of International Law 4 (2005)
 

The Fourth Amendment''''s Forcing of Flawed Choices: Giving Content to Freedom for Residents of Public Housing 30 Harv.  C.R.-C.L. L. Rev. 577 (1995) (case comment)

 

Words as Weapons: Naming the Harm of Racist Speech, 11 Harv.  BlackLetter J. 221 (1994) (book review)

 

Needling the System: Welfare Agency Approaches to Preschool Immunization, Center for Law and Social Policy (1993)

 


Talks & Presentations

Human Rights and Legal Systems in the Global South, Indiana University Journal of Global Legal Studies (invited symposium April 2010)

 

Globalization and the Human Rights Protection Gap: Corporate Social Responsibility Compacts to Close the Distance, Vanderbilt University School of Law (forthcoming February 2010)

 

Reproductive Rights, Human Rights and the Right to Health, Case Western Reserve (invited symposium January 2010)

 

Human Rights Human Security: Finding Food for a Sustainable Future, American Association of Law Schools Annual Meeting, panelist Food Security, the Financial Crisis, and International Regulation: Perspectives from Africa (forthcoming January 2010)

 

See No Evil? Revisiting Early Visions of the Social Responsibility of Business, Seattle University, Center on Corporations, Law and Society (invited symposium November 2009)

 

Soft Law and Self-Regulation to Promote Corporate Compliance with Human Rights, Drexel University (September 2009)

 

Gender Based Asylum Claims from Africa and FGM, Film Review: Mrs. Gounod’s Daughter, Sundance Institute, panelist (September 2009)

 

The Intersection of Identity and HIV/AIDS: South-South Cooperative Efforts to Fight Infectious Disease, Catholic University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (July 2009)

 

The Role of Law in Restoration, Recovery and Accountability, Catholic University, Access to Justice Symposium, Buenos Aries, Argentina (June 2009)

 

Women’s Rights as Human Rights: Reproductive Rights in Latin America, Los Andes University, Santiago, Chile (June 2009)

 

Human Rights Universalism, Cultural Relativism and the Right to Health in the Context of South Africa’s HIV/AIDS Crisis, University of Utah (April 2009)

 

Gender Discrimination: A Comparison of Constitutional Approaches in South Africa and the United States, Stellenbosch University, Colloquium Constitutional Rights in Two worlds: A Constitutional Dialogue, Stellenbosch, South Africa (March 2009)

 

A Discussion of a Human Rights Approach to Reproductive Rights, University of Colorado School of Law, Roundtable on Reproductive Rights and Human Rights in the Legal Academy, facilitator (October 2008) 

 

High Tech Trash: The Afterlife of Your Computer in Asia and Africa, Wallace Stegner Center for Land, Resources and the Environment and Salt Lake City Public Library, moderator  (October 2008)

 

ACLU Freedom Files: Freedom to Vote Protecting the Ballot, Utah ACLU and Salt Lake City Arts Center, panelist (October 2008)

 

Like a Virgin? Virginity Testing as HIV/AIDS Prevention: Human Rights Universalism and Cultural Relativism Revisited in Context, University of Maryland School of Law International and Comparative Law Colloquium  (February 2008)

 

The Cost of Conducting Business Consciously: Reflections on the Role of Corporate Social Responsibility, Chapman University Law School  (February 2008)


Towards Recovery and Reconstruction: The Rule of Law and the Role of Education in Transitional Justice, University of Illinois Symposia International Criminal Processes and Human Rights: New Challenges and Opportunity (August 2007)

 

From Law Breakers to Law Makers? Multinational Corporations and Human Rights, Law & Society Association International Conference, Humboldt University Berlin (August 2007)

 

Corporate Liability for Human Rights Crimes, Hague Joint Conference on Contemporary Issues of International Law, The Hague, The Netherlands (June 2007).

 

Human Rights Universality, Virginity Testing and HIV/AIDS: From the Politics of Cultural Pluralism towards a Global Public Health Ethic, Association of American Law Schools & American Society of International Law Conference, Vancouver  (June 2007)  

 

Virgin Territory—Virginity Testing as HIV/AIDS Prevention: Human Rights Universalism and Cultural Relativism Revisited, The Third World and International Law Conference, Albany Law School (April 2007)

 

Corporate Social Responsibility as Soft Law: Non-State Actors and Transnational Governance, New Voices Panel Presentation American Society of International Law, Washington DC (March 2007)

 

 Responding to the Challenges of a Continent: Restoration, Recovery and Accountability, Loyola University Chicago International Law Review Symposia the Rule of Law and Delivering Justice in Africa, Chicago (February 2007)

 

Containing Terrorism and the International Rule of Law, Institute for Public and International Affairs University of Utah (December 2006)

 

Unwanted and Unprotected: Zimbabwean Migrants in South Africa: Reasons for Ratifying the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Migrants,, Johannesburg South Africa (August 2006)

 

Virginity Testing, Violence and HIV/AIDS: The Politics of Culture and Advancing Women’s Human Rights in Pluralistic Legal Cultures, University of Witswatersrand, South Africa (August 2006)

 

A Question of Torture, Moderator Fordham Debate, University of Utah, S.J. Quinney College of Law (April 2006)

 

Constitutional Law Crossing Borders: International Law in U.S. Supreme Court Jurisprudence, for panel “Human Rights, Law, and Constitutionalism: Transnational Resonances” Utah of Utah Tanner Lecture Series, Tanner Humanities Center (March 2006)

 

The Race to Execute: Reflections on the Death Penalty and Slavery in America for panel “Legacies of Oppression: Structural Racism” MLK Day Program, University of Utah (January 2006)

 

Development Priorities, Human Rights Principles: Globalization and the Place of the Transnational Private Actor in International Law, University of Connecticut School of Law (November 2005)

 

Development Priorities, Human Rights Principles: Globalization and the Place of the Transnational Private Actor in International Law, University of Texas at Austin School of Law (October 2005)

 

Oh , The Places You’ll Go: A Career in Law and How to Get Started, Utah Minority Bar Association (October 2005)

 

How Gender Discrimination and School Violence Impede the Realization of the Right to Education in South Africa, Salt Lake City Public Library Forum for Questioning Minds (September 2005)

 

Pragmatism in Constitutional Interpretation: The South African Experience and Gender Equality, Law & Society Annual Meeting, Las Vegas, NV (June 2005)

 

Virginity Testing, Violence and HIV/AIDS: The Politics of Culture and Advancing Human Rights in a Pluralistic Legal Culture, Association for the Study of Law, Culture and the Humanities, University of Texas, Austin , TX (March 2005)

 

Girls’ Education, Human Rights and Compromising Capabilities, Netherlands Institute of Human Rights, Utrecht University (August 2004)

 

The U.N. Minimum Rules: No Minor Matter in Efforts to Protect Children’s Human Rights, Remarks to International Seminar on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, Havana, Cuba (June 2004)

 

Girls’ Education, Gender Based Violence in Schools: A Political Issue, Presentation to Girls’ Education and Human Security Meeting, UNICEF, New York, NY (April 2004)

 

People and Profits: Corporate Social Responsibility, Human Rights and Corporations, Seminar on Law and Globalization, Fordham Law School, New York (September 2002)

 

Advocating for Prisoners’ Health and Safety, Rebellious Lawyering Conference, Yale Law School, New Haven (February 2002)

 

Beyond the World Conference Against Racism: U.N. Advocacy and International Human Rights, National Anti-Racism Counsel, Toronto, Canada (June 2001)

 

The U.S. and the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination: A Critical Review and Questions, United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Geneva, Switzerland (August 2001)

 

Sexual Discrimination Against Girl Children in Education and the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, South African Parliament, Committee on Youth, Cape Town, South Africa (March 2001)

 

The Right to Education and the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNESCO Education for All Forum, Dakar, Senegal (April 2000)



Contact

Phone: (801)581-7358
Fax: (801) 581-6897
Email: georgee@law.utah.edu

S.J. Quinney College of Law
University of Utah
332 S. 1400 E., Room 101
Salt Lake City, UT 84112


Education

B.A., University of Chicago (1992)

M.A., University of Chicago (1993)

J.D., Harvard University (1996)


Curriculum Vitae


Courses


In The Media