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Laurie R. Blank

Clinical Professor of Law
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Areas of Expertise

International Humanitarian Law, Law of Armed Conflict, International Criminal Law, National Security Law

Courses

International Humanitarian Law Clinic, National Security Law, Transitional Justice, International Law, National Security Law Workshop

Biography

Laurie R. Blank is a Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the International Humanitarian Law Clinic at Emory University School of Law, where she teaches the law of armed conflict and works directly with students to provide assistance to international tribunals, non-governmental organizations and militaries around the world on cutting edge issues in humanitarian law and human rights. During the 2022-2024 academic years, she served as Special Counsel to the General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Defense. Professor Blank’s latest book is International Conflict and Security Law and she is co-author of International Law and Armed Conflict: Fundamental Principles and Contemporary Challenges in the Law of War, a casebook on the law of war. She is also the co-director of the End of War Project, a multi-year project exploring a range of legal, policy, moral and strategic challenges in ending complex counterterrorism and counterinsurgency conflicts. Professor Blank is a Senior Fellow at the Lieber Institute for Law and Land Warfare and at the Stockton Center for International Law, and served as a core expert on the Woomera Manual on International Law of Military Space Operations and the Oslo Manual on Selected Problems in the Law of Armed Conflict. 

She is the author of numerous articles and opinion pieces on topics in the law of armed conflict, including targeted killing and drone strikes, the classification of armed conflict, urban warfare, emerging technologies, implementation of the law of armed conflict during military operations, cyber war, and law and legitimacy in armed conflict. Before coming to Emory, Professor Blank was a Program Officer in the Rule of Law Program at the United States Institute of Peace. At USIP, she directed the Experts’ Working Group on International Humanitarian Law, in particular a multi-year project focusing on New Actors in the Implementation and Enforcement of International Humanitarian Law.

Education: JD, New York University School of Law (Henry L. Boudin Fellow for Human Rights, 1996–1998) (cum laude); MA, International Relations, The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University (with distinction); AB, Political Science, Princeton University (cum laude).