The Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA), a division of The Center for American and International Law (CAIL), announces the appointment of four new members to its Academic Council. ITA congratulates existing member Prof. Victoria Shannon Sahani on her new role as the Academic Council Chair for 2021-2024.
MOHAMED S. ABDEL WAHAB, Founding Partner and Head of International Arbitration, Energy and Construction Groups; Chair of Private International Law and Professor of International Arbitration (Cairo University); Vice-President, ICC International Court of Arbitration; Member of the ICCA Governing Board; Member of the MIAC Advisory Board; LACIAC Court Member; CIMAC Court Member; Member of the CRCICA Advisory Committee; Member of the CIArb’s Board of Trustees; Dean of Africa Arbitration Academy; Member of the ICODR’s Governing Board; and Vice-chair, IBA Arab Regional Forum. He served as ‘Arbitrator’, ‘Counsel’ and ‘Legal Expert’ in more than 220 cases involving African, Asian, Canadian, European, Middle Eastern and US parties. He was selected as the African Personality by Africa Arbitration in June 2018 (Nigeria), and by the LACIAC in May 2019 (Nigeria). He received the LAW Magazine 2017 Best Legal Practitioner Award (Egypt), the 2018 ASA International Arbitration Advocacy Prize (Switzerland), the 2019 AYA Hall-of-Fame African Arbitrator Award (UK) and the 2020 Client Choice International Award (UK). He is the co-editor (with Maxi Scherer and Niuscha Bassiri) of “International Arbitration and the COVID-19 Revolution” (2020) and the author of the Abdel Wahab Pandemic Pathway to Virtual/Remote Hearings. Who’s Who Legal: Arbitration (2021) says: “Outstanding engagement and pleasant to work with”, “He is a top-tier thought leader and in a league of his own” and “a very well-prepared and exceptional arbitrator”. WWL: Arbitration (2020) says he is “a leader in the space”. The Legal500 (2019) states he is ‘one of the best in the world’.
ANGELA M. BANKS (Harvard, J.D., Oxford, M.Litt, Spelman, B.A.) is a legal scholar who specializes in membership and belonging in democratic societies. Her research explores this topic in the areas of immigration, citizenship, law school curriculum, and professional development for faculty. She is the Charles J. Merriam Distinguished Professor of law at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Her scholarship has appeared in leading American law review journals and her book Civic Education in the Age of Mass Migration: Implications for Theory and Practice is forthcoming with Teachers College Press. Prior to joining the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law faculty, Professor Banks was a Professor of Law at William & Mary School of Law. She has also served as the Reginald F. Lewis Fellow for Law Teaching at Harvard Law School, a legal advisor to Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald at the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal; an associate at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in Washington, DC (now WilmerHale); and a law clerk for Judge Carlos F. Lucero of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Professor Banks is a graduate of Harvard Law School, where she served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review and the Harvard International Law Journal. Prior to attending law school Professor Banks received a Master of Letters degree in sociology from the University of Oxford, where she studied as a Marshall Scholar, and a B.A. in sociology from Spelman College summa cum laude.
DR. KRISTEN E. BOON, Miriam T. Rooney Professor of Law, specializes in public international law and international organizations. Professor Boon joined the Seton Hall Law School faculty as an Associate Professor of Law in 2006. She was promoted to full professor in 2011. In 2018, she was honored as the inaugural Patrick Toscano Jr. Research Scholar for significant contributions to scholarship and teaching and is a former Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Development. Dr. Boon teaches courses in international law and contracts at Seton Hall. Dr. Boon holds a Doctorate in law from Columbia Law School and a J.D. from New York University School of Law in 2000. She was also awarded an M.A. in Political Science from McGill University and Sciences Po (Paris) in 1996, and a B.A. with honors, in Political Science and History from McGill University in 1994. Her areas of expertise include public international law, international organizations, business and human rights, international arbitration, transnational law, and international humanitarian law. She is a member of the Executive Council of The American Society of International Law. Prior to joining Seton Hall she served as a clerk to Supreme Court of Canada Justice Ian Binnie and as a litigation associate with Debevoise & Plimpton in New York. Kristen Boon is a member of the bar of New York (2002), the Law Society of Upper Canada (2003), and the US Supreme Court Bar (2008).
PROF. J. BENTON HEATH is an Assistant Professor of Law at Temple University, Beasley School of Law. Professor Heath’s primary research interests include international trade, investment law, dispute resolution, global health, administrative law, public international law, and the national security dimensions of trade and investment. He teaches Civil Procedure and International Arbitration. Professor Heath previously practiced international law and arbitration at the U.S. State Department, and at Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle. He has represented governments and state-owned enterprises before the International Court of Justice, the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, other international arbitral tribunals, and the federal courts. His work at the State Department also included bilateral claims negotiations with the Republic of Cuba, matters relating to embargoes and economic sanctions, and U.S. court cases brought against foreign governments by victims of terrorism. He also served as a clerk to Judge Robert D. Sack of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Professor Heath’s research has appeared in the Yale Law Journal, the Northwestern University Law Review, the Harvard International Law Journal, and the American Journal of International Law, among others. He holds a J.D. and LL.M. from New York University School of Law, and a B.A. (Philosophy) from the University of Texas at Austin. From 2018 to 2020, Professor Heath was an Acting Assistant Professor of Lawyering at NYU School of Law.