Nancy Combs

Associate Professor of Law

(757) 221-3830

Degrees

Ph.D., Leiden University
J.D., University of California at Boalt Hall School of Law
B.A., University of Portland
Certificate, Hague Academy of International Law

Areas of Specialization

Human Rights; International Criminal Law; International Law.

Teaching This Coming Year (2008-2009)

Criminal Law, Human Rights Law, International Criminal Law

Representative Professional Activities & Achievements

Nancy Combs joined the faculty in 2004. A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall), Professor Combs was awarded the Thelin Marrin prize for graduating first in her class, and she served as an Articles Editor on the California Law Review. After law school, Professor Combs served as a law clerk to Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and to Justice Anthony Kennedy on the United States Supreme Court.

Prior to joining the faculty, Professor Combs served as legal advisor at the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal in The Hague, The Netherlands. She has published on topics in international law and international criminal justice. Professor Combs received her B.A., in philosophy, summa cum laude, from the University of Portland and her Ph.D. from Leiden University in December 2005. Before attending university, Professor Combs owned and operated a chimney sweeping business.

Professor Combs's publications

Books

Bridging Justice and Truth: Constructing a Restorative Justice Guilty-Plea System for International Crimes (Stanford U. Press 2007).

Articles

Co-author, 2005 Year-In-Review, 3 Transnat'l Disp. Mgmt. 1 (2006) (with L. Caplan, C. Nesser, U. Onwuamaegbu, C. Romano, & A. Staples).
Procuring Guilty Pleas for International Crimes: The Limited Influence of Sentencing Discounts, 59 Vand. L. Rev. 68 (2006).
Co-author, International Courts and Tribunals, 39 Int'l Law. 259 (2005) (with Carl Magnus Nesser, Ucheora O. Onwuamaegbu, Mark B. Rees, & Jacqueline Weisman).
Profile: Judge George H. Aldrich, 7 Int'l L.F. 47 (2005).
Co-author, International Courts and Tribunals, 38 Int'l Law. 451 (2004) (with Daryl A. Mundis, Ucheora O. Onwuamaegbu, Mark B. Rees, & Jacqueline A. Weisman).
International Decisions: Prosecutor v. Plavsic, 97 Am. J. Int'l L. 929 (2003).
Co-author, International Courts and Tribunals, 37 Int'l Law. 523 (2003) (with Ucheora O. Onwuamaegbu, Mark B. Rees, & Jacqueline A. Weisman)
Establishing the International Court, 5 Int'l L.F. 77 (2003).
Copping a Plea to Genocide: The Plea Bargaining of International Crimes, 151 U. Pa. L. Rev. 1 (2002).
International Criminal Jurisprudence Comes of Age: The Substance and Procedure of an Emerging Discipline, 42 Harv. Int'l L.J. 555 (2001).
Carter, Reagan, and Khomeini: Presidential Transitions and International Law, 52 Hastings L.J. 303 (2001).
Diplomatic Adjudication, 2 Chi. J. Int'l L. 267 (2001).
On Children and Dual Nationality: Sabet and The Islamic Republic of Iran, 13 Leiden J. Int'l L. 173 (2000).
Toward a New Undersanding of Abuse of Nationality in Claims Before the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, 10 Am. Rev. Int'l Arb. 27 (1999).
Comment, Understanding Kaye Scholer: The Autonomous Citizen, the Managed Subject and the Role of the Lawyer, 82 Cal. L. Rev. 663 (1994).

Book Chapters

Plea Bargaining, in International Criminal Law (M. Cherif Bassiouni ed., Transnat'l Publishers 3d ed. forthcoming 2007).
The ICC: Prospects and Challenges, in The Hague: Legal Capital of the World (Peter J. van Krieken & David McKay eds., Asser Press 2005).
Co-author, Introduction and Summary of Awards and Decisions and Orders, Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, in 25 Yearbook on Commercial Arbitration (2000).

Other

Words Not War: A Letter from The Netherlands, Spring 1998.

Resources