Jacob Katz Cogan earned his JD from the Yale Law School, his MA and PhD from Princeton University, and his BA, magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania. At Yale he was an articles editor of the Yale Law Journal and an executive editor of the Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities. After law school, Professor Cogan clerked for Judge Sandra Lynch of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. He then held fellowships at the New York University School of Law and the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Professor Cogan has also held appointments as a visiting assistant professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School and as the assistant director of the Yale Law School’s Global Constitutionalism Project. During the spring semester of 2011, Professor Cogan taught at Vanderbilt University Law School.
Immediately prior to joining the College of Law, Professor Cogan worked as an attorney-adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State. At State, Professor Cogan counseled policymakers in the areas of law enforcement and intelligence, United Nations affairs, and international claims and investment disputes. He also served as counsel for the United States before the International Court of Justice and the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal and worked on cases at all levels of the U.S. federal courts. He is a recipient the Department’s Superior Honor Award.
Professor Cogan’s research focuses on the constitution of international organization and its history. He is particularly interested in the informal and operational dimensions of international decision processes and contemporary changes in and challenges to the character and organization of the international legal system. He is currently engaged in two major projects: one studying the role of the BRICS countries in international organizations and the international legal system and another investigating the regulatory aspects of international law. He is also editing a book on the history of international law and co-authoring a casebook on comparative constitutional law. Professor Cogan’s publications include articles and essays in the American Journal of International Law, the European Journal of International Law, the Harvard International Law Journal, the Human Rights Quarterly, the Virginia Journal of International Law, and the Yale Journal of International Law. He writes the annual report on the judicial activity of the International Court of Justice for the American Journal of International Law. Professor Cogan was awarded the 2010 Francis Deák Prize of the American Society of International Law for his article Representation and Power in International Organization: The Operational Constitutional and Its Critics. He co-organized an April 2009 Yale Law School conference in honor of Professor Michael Reisman and co-edited a book in Professor Reisman’s honor.
Professor Cogan is an elected member of the American Law Institute, Co-Chair of the American Society of International Law’s International Organizations Interest Group, and formerly a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He edits the International Law Reporter, a widely read and lauded blog on international law scholarship. He holds both German and U.S. citizenship.
- Comparative Constitutional Law: Context and Cases (Aspen Publishers, forthcoming 2012) (co-author with Manuel José Cepeda Espinosa, Patrick Macklem, & Ingrid Wuerth)
- New Approaches to the History of International Law (editor) (book manuscript in progress)
- Looking to the Future: Essays on International Law in Honor of W. Michael Reisman (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2010) (co-editor with Mahnoush H. Arsanjani, Robert D. Sloane, & Siegfried Wiessner)
- The BRICS and the Future of International Law (article manuscript in progress)
- The 2011 Judicial Activity of the International Court of Justice, 106 American Journal of International Law (forthcoming 2012)
- The Idea of Fragmentation, 105 Proceedings of the American Society of International Law (forthcoming 2011)
- Book Review, 105 American Journal of International Law (forthcoming 2011) (reviewing Paul F. Diehl & Charlotte Ku, The Dynamics of International Law (2010))
- The Regulatory Turn in International Law, 52 Harvard International Law Journal 321 (2011)
- The 2010 Judicial Activity of the International Court of Justice, 105 American Journal of International Law 477 (2011)
- Introduction to Looking to the Future, supra, at xiii (2010) (co-author with Mahnoush H. Arsanjani, Robert D. Sloane, & Siegfried Wiessner)
- The 2009 Judicial Activity of the International Court of Justice, 104 American Journal of International Law 605 (2010)
- National Courts, Domestic Democracy, and the Evolution of International Law: A Reply to Eyal Benvenisti and George Downs, 20 European Journal of International Law 1013 (2009) (responding to Eyal Benvenisti & George W. Downs, National Courts, Domestic Democracy, and the Evolution of International Law, 20 European Journal of International Law 59 (2009))
- Book Review, 96 Journal of American History 844 (2009) (reviewing Elizabeth R. Varon, Disunion! The Coming of the American Civil War, 1789-1859 (2008))
- Representation and Power in International Organization: The Operational Constitution and Its Critics, 103 American Journal of International Law 209 (2009)
- Competition and Control in International Adjudication, 48 Virginia Journal of International Law 411 (2008)
- International Decision, Prosecutor v. Milutinović et al., Decisions on Requests of the United States of America and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation for Review, 101 American Journal of International Law 163 (2007)
- Book Review, 100 American Journal of International Law 278 (2006) (reviewing Michael Barnett & Martha Finnemore, Rules for the World: International Organizations in Global Politics (2004))
- Noncompliance and the International Rule of Law, 31 Yale Journal of International Law 189 (2006)
- International Criminal Courts and Fair Trials: Difficulties and Prospects, 27 Yale Journal of International Law 111 (2002)
- Book Review, 20 Law and History Review 194 (2002) (reviewing Laura J. Scalia, America’s Jeffersonian Experiment: Remaking State Constitutions, 1820-1850 (1999))
- Book Review, 88 Journal of American History 1074 (2001) (reviewing Maurice Baxter, Henry Clay the Lawyer (2000))
- The Problem of Obtaining Evidence for International Criminal Courts, 22 Human Rights Quarterly 404 (2000)
- Book Review, 107 Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 105 (1999) (reviewing The Bill of Rights: Government Proscribed (Ronald Hoffman & Peter J. Albert eds., 1997))
- Note, The Look Within: Property, Capacity, and Suffrage in Nineteenth-Century America, 107 Yale Law Journal 473 (1997)
- 1846 Petition for Woman’s Suffrage, New York State Constitutional Convention, 22 Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 427 (1997) (with Lori D. Ginzberg)
- The Reynolds Affair and the Politics of Character, 16 Journal of the Early Republic 389 (1996)
- Book Review, 53 William and Mary Quarterly 675 (1996) (reviewing Robert Rutland, James Madison and the American Nation, 1751-1836: An Encyclopedia (1996)); see also Communications, 54 William and Mary Quarterly 465 (1997) (replying to letter from Joyce Appleby)
- Book Review, 104 Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 513 (1996) (reviewing Richard Brookhiser, Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington (1996))
- Book Review, 27 Journal of Interdisciplinary History 332 (1996) (reviewing Jack P. Greene, Negotiated Authorities: Essays in Colonial Political and Constitutional History (1994))
- Book Review, 63 Pennsylvania History 280 (1996) (reviewing Tony Freyer, Producers Versus Capitalists: Constitutional Conflict in Antebellum America (1994))
- A Continental Divide in American History, 112 New Jersey History 79 (1994) (reviewing Stanley Elkins & Eric McKitrick, The Age of Federalism (1993) and James Roger Sharp, American Politics in the Early Republic: The New Nation in Crisis (1993))
Books
Articles, Essays, and Book Reviews
Courses
- Contracts
- International Business Transactions
- International Commercial Arbitration
- Public International Law
November 2011
Jacob presented the paper, “The Laws of War in an Era of Asymmetric Conflict” as part of the University’s Life of the Mind Lecture Series.
Jacob’s article, The Look Within: Property, Capacity, and Suffrage in Nineteenth-Century America, 107 Yale L.J. 473 (1997), was cited in Mark C. Alexander, Money, Politics, and the Constitution: Beyond Citizens United: Citizens United and Equality Forgotten, 35 N.Y.U. Rev. L. & Soc. Change 499 (2011).
October 2011
Jacob co-organized the Works-in-Progress Workshop of the International Organizations Interest Group of theAmerican Society of International Law, which was held at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, on October 28.
September 2011
Jacob’s new article, The 2010 Judicial Activity of the International Court of Justice, 105 Am. J. of Int’l L. 477 (2011), is now in print.
Summer 2011
The Board of Trustees approved Jacob’s tenure and promotion to Professor of Law, effective September 1, 2011. Congratulations to Jacob on this well-deserved promotion!
Jacob’s articles, The Regulatory Turn in International Law, 52 Harv. Int’l L.J. 321 (2011), and The 2009 Judicial Activity of the International Court of Justice, 104 Am. J. of Int’l L. 605 (2010), are now in print.
Several of Jacob’s publications were cited:
Competition and Control in International Adjudication, 48 Va. J. Int’l L. 411 (2008), in N. Jansen Calamita, Countermeasures And Jurisdiction: Between Effectiveness And Fragmentation, 42 Geo. J. Int'l L. 233 (2011);
- Competition and Control in International Adjudication, 48 Va. J. Int’l L. 411 (2008), in Eyal Benvenisti & George W. Downs,Prospects For The Increased Independence Of International Tribunals, 12 German L.J. 1057 (2011); and
- Looking to the Future: Essays on International Law in Honor of W. Michael Reisman, (Martinus Nijhoff 2011) (with Mahnoush H. Arsanjani, Robert D. Sloane, & Siegfried Wiessner, eds. ), in Richard B. Bilder, ed., Books On International Law: Books Received, 105 A.J.I.L. 415 (2011).
April 2011
Jacob served as a Commentator at the Vanderbilt International Legal Studies Roundtable on International Organizations in Transition.
Jacob presented his paper, The Regulatory Turn in International Law, 52 Harv. Int’l L.J. ___ (forthcoming, 2011), at Temple University Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia as part of Beasley’s Spring 2011 International Law Colloquium.
Jacob presented a paper on Fragmentation of International Legal Orders and International Law: Ways Forward?, at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law in Washington, D.C.
March 2011
Jacob’s article, Representation and Power in International Organization: The Operational Constitution and Its Critics,103 Am. J. Int’l L. 209 (2009), was cited in in Anu Bradford Eric A. Posner,Universal Exceptionalism In International Law,52 Harv. Int'l L.J.1 (2011).
December 2010
Jacob’s article,The 2009 Judicial Activity of the International Court of Justice, 104 Am. J. of Int’l L. 605 (2010), is now in print.
November 2010
Jacob’s book, Looking to the Future: Essays on International Law in Honor of W. Michael Reisman (with Mahnoush H. Arsanjani, Robert D. Sloane, and Siegfried Wiessner, eds.) (Martinus Nijhoff 2011), is now in print. This 1153-page volume includes contributions from 52 scholars and practitioners from around the world.
Jacob presented The Coercive Turn in International Law at Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law.
Jacob’s article, Noncompliance and the International Rule of Law, 31 Yale J. Int’l L. 189 (2006), was cited in Curtis A. Bradley & Mitu Gulati, Withdrawing from International Custom, 120 Yale L.J. 202 (2010).
October 2010
Jacob co-organized a Works-in-Progress Workshop for the American Society of International Law’s International Organizations Interest Group, of which he is Co-Chair. The event was held at the Organization of American States in Washington, D.C.
Jacob’s article, International Criminal Courts and Fair Trials: Difficulties and Prospects, 27 Yale J. Int'l L. 111 (2002), was cited in Kweku Vanderpuye, Traditions in Conflict: The Internationalization of Confrontation, 43 Cornell Int’l L.J. 513 (2010).
September 2010
Jacob presented The Coercive Turn in International Law at the Fourth Biennial Conference of the European Society of International Law, which was held at the University of Cambridge.
The Coercive Turn in International Law was accepted for publication in the Harvard International Law Journal.
Summer 2010
Several of Jacob’s publications were cited:
- Competition and Control in International Adjudication, 48 Va. J. Int’l L. 411 (2008), in Anthea Roberts, Power and Persuasion in Investment Treaty Interpretation: The Dual Role of States, 104 Am. J. Int'l L. 179 (2010);
- The Look Within: Property, Capacity, and Suffrage in Nineteenth-Century America, 107 Yale L.J. 473 (1997), in William N. Eskridge, Jr., Sexual and Gender Variation in American Public Law: From Malignant to Benign to Productive, 57 UCLA L. Rev. 1333 (2010); and
- Looking to the Future: Essays on International Law in Honor of W. Michael Reisman (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, forthcoming 2010) (with Mahnoush H. Arsanjani, Robert D. Sloane, & Siegfried Wiessner), in Anthea Roberts, Power and Persuasion in Investment Treaty Interpretation: The Dual Role of States, 104 Am. J. Int'l L. 179 (2010);
- Noncompliance and the International Rule of Law, 31 Yale J. Int’l L. 189 (2006), in Saira Mohamed, Restructuring the Debate on Unauthorized Humanitarian Intervention, 88 N.C. L. Rev. 1275 (2010).
April 2010
Jacob was co-awarded the American Society of International Law's 2010 Francis Deák Prize for his article, Representation and Power in International Organization: The Operational Constitution and Its Critics, 103 Am. J. Int’l L. 209 (2009). The prize is awarded annually to a young author for meritorious scholarship published in The American Journal of International Law.
Two of Jacob’s works were cited:
- International Criminal Courts and Fair Trials: Difficulties and Prospects, 27 Yale J. Int'l L. 111 (2002), in Jenia Iontcheva Turner, Legal Ethics in International Criminal Defense, 10 Chi. J. Int'l L. 685 (2010).
- Imagining Democracy: Popular Sovereignty from the Constitution to the Civil War (Nov. 2002) (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton), in Jed Handelsman Shugerman, Economic Crisis and the Rise of Judicial Elections and Judicial Review, 123 Harv. L. Rev. 1061 (2010).
March 2010
Jacob published National Courts as Checks on Executive Power: A Response to Benvenisti and Downs, 20 Eur. J. Inter’l L. 1013 (2009).
February 2010
Jacob Cogan presented The Coercive Turn in International Law at Villanova as part of the College's Scholar Exchange Program.
October 2009
Jacob was promoted to Associate Professor of Law.
Summer 2009
Jacob published Representation and Power in International Organization: The Operational Constitution and Its Critics, 103 Am. J. Int’l L. 209 (2009). Two of his articles were cited:
- Noncompliance and the International Rule of Law, 31 Yale J. Int’l L. 189 (2006), in Rachel Brewster, Unpacking the State's Reputation, 50 Harv. Int'l L.J. 231 (2009); and Tara J. Melish, From Paradox to Subsidiarity: The United States and Human Rights Treaty Bodies, 34 Yale J. Int'l L. 389 (2009).
- Competition and Control in International Adjudication, 48 Va. J. Int’l L. 411 (2008), in Joost Pauwelyn & Luiz Eduardo Salles, Forum Shopping Before International Tribunals: (Real) Concerns, (Im)Possible Solutions, 42 Cornell Int'l L.J. 77 (2009).
June 2009
The Provost has approved Jacob’s promotion to Associate Professor, effective September 1, 2009.
Jacob posted his forthcoming article, Representation and Power in International Organization: The Operational Constitution and Its Critics, 103 Am. J. Int’l L. ___ (2009), on SSRN.
May 2009
Jacob co-organized and attended a Yale Law School conference on Realistic Idealism in International Law: A Conference in Honor of W. Michael Reisman. His article, Competition and Control in International Adjudication, 48 Va. J. Int’l L. 411 (2008), was cited in Laurence R. Helfer, Karen J. Alter, & M. Florencia Guerzovich, Islands of Effective International Adjudication: Constructing an Intellectual Property Rule of Law in the Andean Community, 103 Am. J. Int'l L. 1 (2009).
April 2009
Jacob’s article, Representation and Power in International Organization: The Operational Constitution and Its Critics, was accepted for publication in the American Journal of International Law, the peer-review journal of the American Society of International Law. He was elected Vice-Chair and Co-Chair-Elect of the International Organizations Interest Group of the American Society of International Law.
March 2009
Jacob served as a Commentator for the Junior International Law Scholars Association Conference at Temple. His article, Competition and Control in International Adjudication, 48 Va. J. Int’l L. 411 (2008), was cited in Dinah Shelton, Form, Function, and the Powers of International Courts, 9 Chi. J. Int'l L. 537 (2009).
February 2009
The members of the OGEMID listserv voted Jacob’s blog, the International Law Reporter, as their Best Blog of 2008. He acted as the discussant at a faculty workshop at the College by Peter Spiro (Temple) on An International Law of Citizenship as part of the College’s Faculty Workshop Series.
Jacob’s article, Competition and Control in International Adjudication, 48 Va. J. Int’l L. 411 (2008), was cited in Evan P. Lestelle, The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, International Norms of Foreign Public Bribery, and Extraterritorial Jurisdiction, 83 Tul. L. Rev. 527 (2008).
January 2009
Jacob’s article, The Look Within: Property, Capacity, and Suffrage in Nineteenth-Century America, 107 Yale L.J. 473 (1997), was cited in Jason Wisecup, Resident Alien Voting Rights in a Postmodern World, 27 Chicana/o-Latina/o L. Rev. 149 (2008).
December 2008
Jacob offered a Practice View on International Law.
November 2008
Jacob Cogan has signed a book contract with Martinus Nijhoff Publishers for Looking to the Future: Essays in Honor of W. Michael Reisman (with Mahnoush H. Arsanjani, Robert D. Sloane, & Siegfried Wiessner).
October 2008
Jacob presented Representation and Power in International Organization: The Operational Constitution and Its Critics at Georgetown as part of its International Legal Theory Colloquium.
Jacob's article, Competition and Control in International Adjudication, 48 Va. J. Int'l L. 411 (2008), was cited in David Zaring, Rulemaking and Adjudication in International Law, 46 Colum. J. Transnat'l L. 563 (2008).
Summer 2008
The Provost has approved Jacob's reappointment as Assistant Professor of Law for a term of three years.
Jacob presented Representation and Power in International Organization: The Current Constitutional Crisis as part of the 12th Annual UC Faculty Summer Scholarship Series.
Jacob's article, Competition and Control in International Adjudication, 48 Va. J. Int'l L. 411 (2008), was cited in David Zaring, Rulemaking and Adjudication in International Law, 46 Colum. J. Transnat'l L. 563 (2008).
Jacob's blog post, Ecuador's Notification Pursuant to Article 25(4) of the ISCID Convention, International Law Reporter (Dec. 16, 2007), was cited in Kevin T. Jacobs & Matthew G. Paulson, The Convergence of Renewed Nationalization, Rising Commodities, and "Americanization" in International Arbitration and the Need for More Rigorous Legal and Procedural Defenses, 43 Tex. Int'l L.J. 359 (2008).
May 2008
Jacob's article, International Criminal Courts and Fair Trials: Difficulties and Prospects, 27 Yale J. Int'l L. 111 (2002), was cited in Wayne A. Logan, Confronting Evil: Victims' Rights in an Age of Terror, 96 Geo. L.J. 721 (2008).
April 2008
Jacob presented Representation and Power in International Organization: The Current Constitutional Crisis at Boston College Law School and Cumberland School of Law, Samford University. He was quoted in Supreme Court Decision on Treaty Rights Prompts Sharp Debate Among Legal Experts, BNA Daily Report for Executives, March 28, 2008.
March 2008
Jacob's article, Noncompliance and the International Rule of Law, 31 Yale J. Int'l L. 189 (2006), was cited in Laurence R. Helfer, Nonconsensual International Lawmaking, 2008 U. Ill. L. Rev. 71.
February 2008
Jacob published Competition and Control in International Adjudication, 48 Va. J. Int'l L. 411 (2008). The article was the subject of an online symposium on the Opinio Juris blog, with commentary by Larry Helfer (Vanderbilt) and Monica Hakimi (Cardozo). See also Jacob's Introduction and Reply.
January 2008
Jacob's article, International Criminal Courts and Fair Trials: Difficulties and Prospects, 27 Yale J. Int'l L. 111 (2002), was cited in Douglas Donoho, Human Rights Enforcement in the Twenty-First Century, 35 Ga. J. Int'l & Comp. L. 1 (2006), and in Aparna Sridhar, The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia's Response to the Problem of Transnational Abduction, 42 Stan. J. Int'l L. 343 (2006).
December 2007
Jacob provided commentary on a lecture by Eugene Kontorovich (Chicago) on The Quasi-Legality of Israel's Annexation of the Golan Heights & Occupation of the West Bank, hosted by the Federalist Society.
November 2007
Jacob attended the AALS Faculty Recruitment Conference in Washington, D.C. as a member of the College's Faculty Appointments Committee
Jacob participated in the Alumni Teach-In Day, as Rick Landrun (Class of 1993), Kroger Co. (Cincinnati, OH), and Lori Landrum (Class of 1993), Frost Brown Todd (Cincinnati, OH), taught his Contracts Class.
October 2007
Jacob's article, International Criminal Courts and Fair Trials: Difficulties and Prospects, 27 Yale J. Int'l L. 111 (2002), was cited in Gregory S. Gordon, Toward An International Criminal Procedure: Due Process Aspirations and Limitations, 45 Colum. J. Transnat'l L. 635 (2007).
Summer 2007
Jacob presented Competition and Control in International Adjudication at the AALS—American Society of International Law Joint Conference in Vancouver. His article, International Criminal Courts and Fair Trials: Difficulties and Prospects, 27 Yale J. Int'l L. 111 (2002), was cited in Gregory S. Gordon, Toward an International Criminal Procedure: Due Process Aspirations and Limitations, 45 Colum. J. Transnat'l L. 635 (2007).
June 2007
Jacob Cogan has launched an International Law Blog. He is the sixth College of Law faculty member with a blog:
- Tim Armstrong: Info/Law
- Barbara Black: Securities Law Prof Blog
- Paul Caron: TaxProf Blog and MoneyLaw
- Jacob Cogan: International Law Reporter
- Mark Godsey: CrimProf Blog
- Betsy Malloy: Health Law Prof Blog
Cincinnati thus enjoys a large legal blogosphere presence in raw terms and an even larger presence on a per capita basis-nearly 25% of our tenured and tenure-track faculty now blog.
May 2007
Jacob published International Decision, Prosecutor v. Milutinovic et al., Decisions on Requests of the United States of America and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation for Review, 101 Am. J. Int'l L. 163 (2007).
Jacob's article, Competition and Control in International Adjudication, was accepted for publication in the Virginia Journal of International Law. He presented the article at Indiana-Bloomington as part of the College's Scholar Exchange Program. The article was selected for a works-in-progress panel at the Association of American Law Schools-American Society of International Law Joint Conference on International Law: What Is Wrong with the Way We Teach and Write International Law in Vancouver, Canada, in June.
April 2007
Jacob presented Competition and Control in International Adjudication at the University of Georgia School of Law's International Law Colloquium.
Jacob's essay, Noncompliance and the International Rule of Law, Yale J. Int'l L. 189 (2006), was one of five papers chosen for the international law blog Opinio Juris's inaugural online symposium for junior scholars. The commentator on Jacob's paper was Joost Pauwelyn (Duke), and Jacob wrote a reply to the commentary.
January 2007
Jacob's article, International Criminal Courts and Fair Trials: Difficulties and Prospects, 27 Yale J. Int'l L. 111 (2002), was cited in Douglas Donoho, Human Rights Enforcement in the Twenty-First Century, 35 Ga. J. Int'l & Comp. L. 1 (2006), and in Aparna Sridhar, The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia's Response to the Problem of Transnational Abduction, 42 Stan. J. Int'l L. 343 (2006).
Please see Faculty News Archives for earlier issues.