Sean D. Murphy


Sean D. Murphy is the Manatt/Ahn Professor of International Law at the George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C., where he has been teaching since 1998. His primary areas of scholarly research are public international law, foreign affairs and the U.S. Constitution, international organizations, international dispute settlement, and law of the sea. Murphy served for ten years on the Board of Editors of the American Journal of International Law and is a former President of the American Society of International Law. In 2016, the United Nations General Assembly re-elected Murphy to serve as a Member of the U.N. International Law Commission. He was named by the ILC as Special Rapporteur for Crimes Against Humanity, a topic on which he has lectured widely.
Prior to his arrival at George Washington University Law School in 1998, Murphy served as legal counselor at the U.S. Embassy in The Hague from 1995 to 1998, arguing several cases before the International Court of Justice and representing the U.S. government in matters before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He currently serves as counsel, expert or arbitrator, such as in arbitral cases before the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes and the Permanent Court of Arbitration, and as ad hoc judge at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
Murphy received his S.J.D. from the University of Virginia Law School, his Master of Laws from the University of Cambridge, and his J.D. from Columbia University where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law. Murphy has published numerous articles and books on international law.

Selected works

Lectures