History

Below is a list of the major milestones in the development of Case Western Reserve University School of Law’s international law program.

• 1991: The Cox International Law Center is endowed by a multi-million dollar gift from the Gund Foundation. That same year, CWRU launched its LLM program for foreign lawyers which now enrolls more than 50 students a year and has been ranked as one of the top LLM programs in the country by International Jurist.
• 2001: Bruce J. Klatsky, Chairman and CEO of Phillips Van Heusen Corporation and a member of the Board of Directors of Human Rights Watch, provided a special endowment to the law school for a human rights lecture series and an annual fellowship for two students to Human Rights Watch.
• 2002: The Cox Center War Crimes Research Office and War Crimes Research Lab are established, now directed by James Johnson, former Chief of Prosecutions of the Special Court for Sierra Leone. To date, the Office has provided over 250 research memos to international tribunals, piracy courts, Interpol and the U.S. military commissions.
• 2003: The Institute for Global Security Law and Policy is established. Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law (established in 1968) moves to a double issue symposium format.
• 2004: The Cox Center establishes the International Humanitarian Award for Advancing Global Justice; UN Under-Secretary General for Legal Affairs Hans Corell is the inaugural recipient.
• 2005: The Cox Center’s war crimes research program, in association with the Public International Law and Policy Group, are nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by the chief prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone for research assistance leading to the successful prosecution of Liberian President Charles Taylor.
• 2006: The Cox Center launches the bi-weekly War Crimes Prosecution Watch e-newsletter, which now has 15,000 subscribers.
• 2007: CWRU approves semester-long foreign internships at international tribunals and organizations and adds three LLM degree programs: International Business Law, International Criminal Law and Intellectual Property Law.
• 2008: CWRU’s Jessup International Law Moot Court team wins the Jessup World Championship and CWRU student Margaux Day wins the Best Championship Round Oralist Award.
• 2009: CWRU launches a fundraising initiative resulting in an endowment for internship support in honor of Henry King (1918–2009), CWRU professor and former Nuremberg prosecutor.
• 2011: CWRU Jessup Moot Court team wins the Baxter Award for best brief in the world-wide competition. The Cox Center establishes a human rights documentary film series, which brings filmmakers to lead discussions of the films.
• 2012: The Cox Center launches Talking Foreign Policy, a quarterly radio program produced by Ideastream Public Media, Cleveland’s NPR station.
• 2013: CWRU launches the first international law free massive open online course (MOOC) on Coursera. More than 200,000 students from 139 countries have taken the “Introduction to International Criminal Law” MOOC. The Cox Center launches the Maritime Piracy Prosecution Project, providing assistance to tribunals in Kenya, Mauritius and the Seychelles. CWRU launches its SJD program, which enrolls 50 international students per year.
• 2014: CWRU establishes its first concurrent degree program with Comillas Pontifical University in Madrid under which students can spend their 3L year abroad and graduate with both the foreign LLM and a JD degree in just three years. CWRU has since added concurrent degree programs with Middlesex University in London; Université Paris-IX Dauphine; Dalhousie University Schulich School of Law in Halifax, Nova Scotia; and Lille Catholic University School of Law in France.
• 2016: CWRU School of Law establishes the Immigration Law Clinic. Under the law school’s new capstone requirement, 3L students earn a semester of credit externing at any international institution. CWRU launches a Master of Financial Integrity degree with cohorts in the United States and in Saudi Arabia. 
• 2018: The Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law celebrates its 50th anniversary. The journal, which publishes an annual double-volume symposium issue, is one of the oldest and most-cited international law journals in the country.  
• 2019: With funding from the Geise Foundation, the Cox Center launches the Yemen Accountability Project (YAP) to document war crimes and crimes against humanity for eventual international prosecution. Seventy students joined YAP under the supervision of the director of the Cox Center War Crimes Office, Jim Johnson.  
• 2020: The Cox Center submits its first of several Amicus Briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court. 
  Members of CWRU School of Law faculty and alumni publish a report on the Rohingya genocide, which was cited by the International Criminal Court in an opinion confirming the court’s jurisdiction to investigate the Rohingya genocide.
• 2021: The appeals chamber of the International Criminal Court cites an  amicus brief written by Professor Michael Scharf and colleagues in the case of Prosecutor v. Bosco Ntaganda.
• 2022: Professor Michael Scharf becomes the first American to make an amicus argument before the appeals chamber of the International Criminal Court in The Hague in the case of Prosecutor v. Dominic Ongwen.
• 2023: In partnership with the administrative court of Saudi Arabia, the Cox Center launches an annual summer program for Saudi judges with a focus on comparative administrative law.
• 2024: Alumni Austin Fragomen (LAW ’68) and Gwen Fragomen provide a million dollar endowment to create the position of Distinguished Practitioner in the Immigration Law Clinic.
• 2025: The Cox Center hosts the 15th American Society of International Law Midyear Meeting with 250 attendees and 120 speakers and panelists.
• 2026: The Cox Center launches the Spring Break in The Hague Program for law students and alumni, featuring a week of visits to the international institutions and meetings with international judges, prosecutors and officials. The Canada-United States Law Institute celebrates its 50th anniversary.