Gregory S. Gordon

 

Gregory S. Gordon

Associate Professor of Law
gordon@law.und.edu

Professor Gordon is Director of the UND Center for Human Rights and Genocide Studies, and teaches courses in criminal law, criminal procedure, international law and international human rights law. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree (summa cum laude) and Juris Doctor at the University of California at Berkeley. He then served as law clerk to U. S. District Court Judge Martin Pence (D. Haw.). After a stint as a litigator in San Francisco, he worked with the Office of the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, where he served as Legal Officer and Deputy Team Leader for the landmark "media" cases, the first international post-Nuremberg prosecutions of radio and print media executives for incitement to genocide. For this work, Professor Gordon received a commendation from Attorney General Janet Reno for "Service to the United States and International Justice."

After his experience at ICTR, he became a white-collar criminal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice, Tax Division. Following a detail as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, he was appointed as the Tax Division's Liaison to the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (Pacific Region) for which he helped prosecute large narcotics trafficking rings. Also during this time, he was detailed to Sierra Leone to conduct a post-civil war justice assessment for DOJ's Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance, and Training. In 2003, he joined the Criminal Division's Office of Special Investigations, where he helped investigate and prosecute Nazi war criminals and modern human rights violators.

Professor Gordon has been featured on C-SPAN, NPR, the BBC and Radio France Internationale as an expert on war crimes prosecution and has lectured on that subject at the U.S. Army J.A.G. School, the Harry S. Truman Presidential Museum and Library, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.  In addition to contributing to the Holocaust Museum's influential "Voices on Antisemitism" podcast series, he has had the honor of speaking to members of both the British and Canadian Parliaments and sharing the dais with former U.N. Ambassadors Richard Holbrooke and Andrew Young.  On behalf of the Ethiopian government, he has trained high-level federal prosecutors in Addis Ababa. His scholarship on international criminal law has been published in leading international academic publications, such as the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, and the Virginia Journal of International Law. He has presented his work at institutions such as Yale University, Georgetown University Law Center, Emory University and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.  He was the inaugural winner of the North Dakota Spirit Law School Faculty Achievement Award in 2009.

In 2010, Professor Gordon co-wrote the U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief of Holocaust and Darfur Genocide survivors in the historic human rights case Yousuf v. Samantar. (more) He also represented the International League for Human Rights at the International Criminal Court Conference in Kampala, Uganda. (more)

 

EDUCATION

Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley
Juris Doctor, 1990

Moot Court Award for Written Brief
Moot Court Board and Student Advisor
High Honors, inter alia, in Criminal Procedure and International Organizations
Editor, International Tax and Business Lawyer

University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California
B.A., Summa Cum Laude, French Literature, 1985

Phi Beta Kappa and Second Highest Ranked Student in French Department
Winner, California French Teachers Association Writing Contest
Teaching Assistant, French Department
Journalist, Daily Californian
Studied humanities for year at Université de Paris at the Sorbonne -- 3.9 GPA
Studied German and spent intensive summer at Goethe Institute, Berlin
Worked for summer at Belgian chocolate warehouse in Ardennes Forest

 

ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE

University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota

Assistant Professor, School of Law, Aug. 2006 to present

Courses Taught: International Law, International Human. Rights Law, Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure II
Teach international law / human rights for UND Norway summer study program
Awarded 2009 North Dakota Spirit Faculty Achievement Award

Director, UND Center for Human Rights and Genocide Studies, Dec. 2007 to present

Founded Center to promote human rights curricular offerings, foster
Organizing human rights symposia and speakers
Digitizing UND's Nuremberg trial archives
Working to create archive of Ethiopian Red Terror documents

Convener & Conference Committee Chair, JFK Interdisciplinary Conference, 2007 – 2008

Conceived of and organized major international conference on 35th President
Raised close to $100,000 and brought in keynote speaker Ted Sorensen
Served as speaker, chair, discussant, and public relations point-person
Edited conference proceedings and authored the Introduction

Mykolas Romeris University Law School, Vilnius, Lithuania

Lecturer, "Bring Human Rights Home" Summer Study Program, 2008-2009

Teaching international criminal law topics to students from various countries including Lithuania, Belarus, United States, Canada, Italy and France (in conjunction with Elon University)

Institut Franco-Américain de Management, Paris, France

Instructor, International Relations Course, 1983-1984

Lectured and graded papers for French students at private university in Paris

Other Professional Experience

United States Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Washington, D.C.
Senior Trial Attorney, Office of Special Investigations, 2003 to 2006

Prosecuted international war criminals and human rights violators through denaturalization/deportation proceedings
Trial Attorney, Tax Criminal Enforcement Section, April 1999 to Nov. 2003

Prosecuted Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force and tax fraud cases

Detailed to conduct post-civil war justice assessment in Sierra Leone
Awarded National and Pacific Region OCDETF Commendations
Awarded IRS Commendation

United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, Washington, D.C.

Special Assistant United States Attorney, July 1999 to Jan. 2000

Sex Offense/Domestic Violence Unit -- 18 convictions in 20 trials

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda

Legal Officer and Deputy Team Leader -- Media Crimes Team, 1996 to 1997

Indicted “Media Case” defendants for role in incitement to genocide
Helped direct team of lawyers, paralegals, and support staff
Commendation from AG Janet Reno for Service to the U.S. and International Justice

Kollender & Sargoy, Los Angeles, CA - 1998
Seyfarth, Shaw, et al., San Francisco, CA - 1994 - 1996
McCutchen, Doyle, et al., San Francisco, CA - 1992 - 1994
Litigation Associate -- Emphasis in labor and employment litigation
United States District Court, Honolulu, Hawaii
Law Clerk, Honorable Martin Pence, U.S. District Court Judge, 1990 to 1991

 

PUBLICATIONS

Books/Book Chapters

John D. Williams, Robert G. Waite, Gregory S. Gordon, eds., John F. Kennedy: History, Memory, Legacy - An Interdisciplinary Inquiry - authored book Introduction and edited JFK Conference proceedings (forthcoming) (currently an online publication anticipating hardback book publication) available at www.und.edu/org/jfkconference

Encyclopedia of Genocide, Vol. 2 (forthcoming) - invited by Editor-in-Chief Dr. Israel Charny to serve as Legal Editor with Professor Michael Bazyler - ongoing discussions regarding article updates and new topics for second volume

Complementarity and Alternative Forms of Transitional Justice in The International Criminal Court and Complementarity: From Theory to Practice (Cambridge University Press, Carsten Stahn, ed. forthcoming 2010)

Incitement to Genocide in International Law in Holocaust Encyclopedia (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum online publication) - contributed to and helped edit chapter, available at www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10007839

Articles

Music and Genocide: Harmonizing Coherence, Freedom and Nonviolence in Incitement Law, 50 Santa Clara L. Rev. ___ (forthcoming 2010) (lead article)

Complementarity and Alternative Justice, 88 Or. L. Rev. ___ (forthcoming 2010) (lead article)

Goldstone, Gaza and (Dis)Proportionality: Three Strikes, Jurist, Nov. 4, 2009, available at http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumy/2009/11/goldstone-gaza-and-disproportionality.php (with Emory Law School Professor Laurie Blank)

An African Marshall Plan: Changing U.S. Policy to Promote the Rule of Law and Prevent Mass Atrocity in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 32 Fordham Int'l L. J. 1361 (2009) (lead article)

Genocide: The Year in Review 2008, forthcoming for soon-be-launched "Genocide Prevention Now" website

From Incitement to Indictment? Prosecuting Iran's President for Advocating Israel's Destruction and Piecing Together Incitement Law's Emerging Analytical Framework,
98 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 853 (2008)

Bring Ahmadinejad to Justice, Orange County Register, April 9, 2008

Toward an International Criminal Procedure: Due Process Aspirations and Limitations,
45 Colum. J. Transnat'l L. 635 (2007) (lead article)

Taking the Paper Trail Instead of Memory Lane: OSI’s Use of Ancient Foreign Documents in the Nazi Cases, United States Attorney’s Bulletin, Vol. 54, No. 1 (Jan. 2006)

OSI’s Expanded Jurisdiction under the 2004 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, United States Attorney’s Bulletin, Vol. 54, No. 1 (Jan. 2006)

“A War of Media, Words, Newspapers and Television Stations”: The ICTR Media Trial Verdict and a New Chapter in the International Law of Hate Speech, 45 Va. J. Int'l L. 139 (2004)

The Other Shoe Drops: Suits by Employees Discharged for Sexual Harassment, California Labor Letter, Vol. 6, No. 3 (1995)

Essay

The Law of Incitement, forthcoming for United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Committee on Conscience website

Book Review

JFK & The Unspeakable by James Douglass, 19 Villanova J. Peace & Justice Studies 84 (2010)

 

PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS

National / International

John Marshall Law School, Chicago, Illinois
Invited Panelist, April 2010 - "International Justice in the 21st Century: The Law & Politics of the International Criminal Court"

U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum   
Invited Speaker, March 2010 - "The Sovereign Immunity Defense in Yousuf v. Samantar and Its Treatment in Holocaust and Modern Tribunal Cases"

Washburn University School of Law, Topeka, Kansas Center for Law and Government
Invited Speaker, February 2010 - "Music and Genocide: Harmonizing Coherence, Freedom and Nonviolence in Incitement Law"

University of Kansas School of Law, Lawrence, Kansas Faculty Colloquium
Invited Speaker, February 2010 - "Complementarity and Alternative Justice

American Association of Law Schools Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana
Invited Panelist, Jan. 2010 - “International Human Rights" Panel – to discuss complementarity; selected for International Human Rights Section poster presentation on "Complementarity and Alternative Justice"

Capital University School of Law, Columbus, Ohio
Speaker, October 2009 -  Central States Law Schools Association (CSLSA) Annual Meeting, "Music and Genocide: Harmonizing Coherence, Freedom and Nonviolence in Incitement Law"

University of Missouri School of Law, Columbia, Missouri
Faculty Colloquium Speaker, October 2009 - Complementarity and Alternative Justice

The Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies Complementarity Conference, The Hague, Netherlands -- Leiden University, The Hague Campus
Panelist, Sept. 2009, "The ICC and Complementarity - From Theory to Practice"

Opinio Juris, International Law Weblog
Guest Blogger, July - Aug. 2009 - focusing on the Rwandan genocide and universal jurisdiction

International Association of Genocide Scholars Conference, Washington, D.C.
Panelist, June 2009 - "An Update on Incitement Law"

U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum "Voices on Antisemitism" Podcast Series  
Speaker, May 2009 - "Incitement to Genocide" - joined series luminaries such as Elie Wiesel and Madeleine Albright to discuss contemporary ideas related to anti-Semitism

Parliament of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
Speaker, March 2009 - Human Rights Situation in Iran - testified regarding hate speech and its relation to the domestic and international situation in Iran

American Society of International Law Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C.
Participant, March 2009 - "Using Simulations to Teach International Law" - discussed use of treaty negotiation simulations for purposes of teaching human rights law

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Conference, Washington, D.C.
Speaker, February 2009 - "Speech, Power & Violence" - presented on the international law of incitement to genocide

Wilton Park Conference, West Sussex, United Kingdom
Participant, December 2008 - "Pursuing Justice in Ongoing Conflict: Examining the Challenges" - discussed paper on Complementarity and Alternative Justice

Global Law Forum Conference, London, United Kingdom
Speaker, November 2008 - "Ending Impunity or Decreasing Accountability? Averting Abuse of Universal Jurisdiction" - presented to members of the British Parliament on anniversary of landmark British Pinochet universal jurisdiction decision

Virginia Journal of International Law, Online Symposium through Opinio Juris Blog
Participant, Oct. 2008 - participated on panel with Norwegian Nobel Institute discussing Roger Alford’s article on the effect of the Nobel Peace Prize on the development of international law

Southern Illinois University School of Law, Carbondale, Illinois
Speaker, Oct. 2008 - CSLSA Annual Conference, "Complementarity and Alternative Justice:  A New Test for ICC Admissibility"

International Association of Genocide Scholars Conference, Washington, D.C.
Panelist (with, inter alia, former U.N. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke), September 2008 - "State Sanctioned Incitement to Genocide: What Can Be Done?" (co-sponsored by YIISA)

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Speaker & Participant, July 2008 - Roundtables on Peace-Building in DR Congo

Virginia Journal of International Law, Online Symposium through Opinio Juris Blog
Participant, May 2008 - participated on panel with Mark Drumbl and Chimène Keitner discussing Susan Benesch’s article on defining incitement to genocide

Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
Speaker, April 2008 - “Understanding the Challenge of Iran” (discussed Ahmadinejad and incitement to genocide)

Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
Panelist (with inter alia, former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young), Nov. 2007 - "Beyond Hollywood's Rwanda: Truth & Justice After the 1994 Genocide"

Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan
Speaker, Oct. 2007 - CSLSA Annual Conference, "Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Incitement to Genocide"

Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C.
Panelist, April 2007 - "Issues in International Criminal Law" - presented paper on due process in international criminal procedure

Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
Panelist, Jan. 2007 - "The Continuing Search for Justice in the Rwandan Genocide" 

American Association of Law Schools Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C.
Panelist, Jan. 2007 - “New Voices in International Human Rights Scholarship" - presented paper on due process in international criminal procedure

Stetson University College of Law, Tampa, Florida
Panelist, March 2006 - "The Legacy of the Holocaust" (with Jonathan Bush, John Q. Barrett, Edward Kissi and Michael Bazyler in association with the Florida Holocaust Museum) 

Harry S. Truman Presidential Museum and Library, Independence, Missouri
Expert Panelist, July 2005 - “Law of War” (televised on C-SPAN, Jan. 3, 2006)

George Washington University Law School, Washington, D.C.
Guest Lecturer, April 2005 - "International Criminal Procedure"

U.S. Army JAG School, Charlottesville, Virginia
Guest Lecturer, Feb. 2004 - "War Crimes Prosecution in Rwanda"

Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C.
Moot Court Judge, Nov. 2000 - Evaluated/advised students in Mock Trial competition

Regional

North Dakota Human Rights Coalition Fall Conference, Fargo, North Dakota  Speaker, October 2008, "Classroom to Community:  Collaborating for Human Rights" - presentation on "Bringing Human Rights Alive in the Classroom"

Local

University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota

Panelist, Nov. 2009, "Indigenous Human Rights" - discussed international legal framework for event sponsored by Partnership for Student Cultural Engagement

Speaker, October 2009, "The Use of International and Foreign Law in Constitutional Jurisprudence" - A Debate between Professor Gregory Gordon and Northwestern University Law School Professor John McGinnis (event sponsored by the Federalist Society). 

Panelist, Sept. 2009, Q & A on Human Rights with UND Center for Human Rights & Genocide Studies Visiting Fellow Professor Margaret McGuinness

Speaker, November 2008, "The Viability of Prosecuting Iran's President for Urging Israel's Destruction" - A Discussion between Professor Gregory Gordon and St. Thomas Law School Professor Robert Delahunty (event sponsored by the Federalist Society) 

Chair and Discussant, October 2008, "Witnessing the Kristallnacht:  A Talk by Kristallnacht Survivor Dr. Fred Lyon"

Chair and Discussant, October 2008, "Resisting the Nazis:  A Talk by Norwegian Resistance Leader Gunnar Sonsteby"

Chair and Discussant, October 2008, "Exploitation of Child Labor in India:  A Talk by Dr. Sudip Chakraborty"
Participant, October 2008, Panel Discussion with Dr. Sudip Chakraborty on Film "Born into Brothels"

Chair and Discussant, September 2008, "John F. Kennedy: History, Memory, Legacy" -  Panels:  "Diplomacy & International Economic Relations" and "JFK & the Cold War: Cuba & Vietnam"

Chair & Speaker, May 2008, "Freedom Walk" - event to announce upcoming JFK conference and address incidents of discrimination on the UND campus

Speaker, March 2008 - School of Law International Human Rights Organization's Rights of the Child Conference --  "Child Soldiers:  How the Law Should Treat Victim-Perpetrators"

Participant, December 2007, Discussion on movie "Sand and Sorrow" related to genocide in Darfur and shown as part of EFR Critical Documentary Film Series

Speaker, November 2007, UNICEF Rights of the Child Conference - "Child Soldiers:  Justice through Temperance and Compassion" 

Speaker, Feb. 2007 - UND Law School Helen Hamilton Day Lectures - "Bringing War Criminals to Justice in the United States"

Speaker, November 2006, "The Military Commissions Act and the Future of Human Rights" - part of the "Global Dialogue Series" sponsored by the UND Department of Languages

B'Nai Israel Synagogue, Grand Forks, North Dakota

Speaker, May 2008, "Prosecution of Nazi War Criminals in Commemoration of Holocaust Day"

Kiwanis Club, Grand Forks, North Dakota

Speaker, Feb. 2007 - "Prosecuting War Crimes: From Nuremberg to the International Criminal Court"

 

RESEARCH AND TRAVEL GRANTS

September 2009 - Awarded UND Senate Scholarly Activities Committee, Travel Grant for presenting article on complementarity and alternative justice at Leiden University (Grotius Center) in The Hague, Netherlands
May 2009 - UND School of Law, Summer Research Grant for article on music and genocide.

April 2008 - UND Office of Research Development & Compliance, Grant for presenting paper at Leuven University on human rights violations in Congo

October 2008 - UND Senate Scholarly Activities Committee, Travel Grant for presenting article on complementarity and alternative justice at Southern Illinois University

May 2008 - UND School of Law, Summer Research Grant for article on complementarity and alternative justice

October 2007 - UND Senate Scholarly Activities Committee, Travel Grant for presenting article on Ahmadinejad at Wayne State University
May 2007 - UND School of Law, Summer Research Grant for article on Ahmadinejad and incitement.

 

COURSES TAUGHT

Law 234: International Human Rights Law (3 credits, fall 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)

Law 236: International Law (3 credits, fall 2007, 2008, 2009)

Law 140: Criminal Law (3 credits, spring 2007, 2008, 2009)

Law 286: Criminal Procedure II (2 credits, spring 2007, 2008, 2009)

 

INSTITUTIONAL SERVICE

University

Director, UND Center for Human Rights and Genocide Studies, 2007- present

Member, UND Outstanding Faculty Awards Committee, 2006-2007

Member, UND University Senate, 2007-2008

Member, UND Special Task Force on Hate Crimes, 2008 - present

Member, UND Senate Scholarly Activities Committee, 2008 - present 

 
School of Law

Member, Student Affairs Committee, 2006-2007

Chair, Law Library Director Search Committee, 2007-2008

Member, Diversity Committee, 2007-2008; 2009 - present

Chair, Diversity Committee, 2008-2009

Member, Library Committee, 2008-2009

Member, Academic Affairs Committee, 2009 - present

Member, Technology Committee, 2009 - present

Advisor, Student Sports Law Association, 2006 - present

Advisor, International Human Rights Organization, 2007 - present

Advisor, Student Criminal Law Association, 2008 - present

Coach, External Competition Moot Court Team, 2006-2007

Judge, Moot Court and Mock Trial Intramural Competitions (2006-2009)

 

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

U.S. Supreme Court Amicus Brief
2009-2010:  Commissioned by Center for Justice and Accountability to draft U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief for Holocaust and Darfur survivors in Alien Tort Statute and Torture Victims Protection Act case on applicability to former Somali Prime Minister of Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act in Samantar v. Bash Abdi Yousuf - brief filed on January 27, 2010

Extradition Consulting
2008:  Consultant to South/North Dakota Federal Public Defender's Office in United States v. Hodzic - Bosnian defendant had served in paramilitary unit during 1990s Balkans Civil War and was wanted on murder charges in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Overseas Prosecutorial Training
2007:  Conducted training in Addis Ababa for high-level Ethiopian federal prosecutors at the request of the Ethiopian Minister of Justice  

 

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

President, Central States Law School Association, 2009 - present

Vice President, Central States Law School Association, 2008 - 2009

Secretary, Central States Law School Association, 2007 - 2008

Member, American Society of International Law, 2009 - present

Member, International Association of Genocide Scholars, 2009 - present

Member, State Bar of California, 1991- present

Member, State Bar of Hawaii (inactive), 1992 - present

Member, American Bar Association, 1992 - 1996, 2006 - present

 

HONORS / AWARDS

Academia

North Dakota Spirit Law School Faculty Achievement Award (Inaugural Winner)

Feb. 2009 - in recognition of "expanding the reach of law school programs and student thinking, prolific scholarship, and an international presence that raises the visibility of the law school and the University"

Professional

Awarded National (2003) and Pacific Region (2002) OCDETF Commendations  
Awarded IRS Commendation for Criminal Tax Prosecution (2001)
Commendation from AG Janet Reno for Service to the U.S. and Int'l Justice 

University of California, Berkeley

Phi Beta Kappa and Second Highest Ranked Student in French Department
Winner, California French Teachers Association Writing Contest
Moot Court Award for Written Brief (Law School)
Moot Court Board and Student Advisor (Law School)
High Honors, inter alia, in Criminal Procedure and International Organizations

 

MEDIA AND BLOG COMMENTARY

British Broadcasting Corporation - 2008-2009
Commented on war in DR Congo, verdicts at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, detention of terrorism suspects in Ethiopia, gacaca courts in Rwanda,apprehension of Rwandan genocide suspects

Institute for War and Peace Reporting - 2009
Provided analysis on ICTY cases, including recent commentary on Radovan Karadzic trial

Opinio Juris - 2006-2009
Served as guest blogger on various topics of international law and participant in three online symposia

International Law Prof Blog - 2009
Commented on Kardzic trial

Radio France Internationale, C-SPAN, NPR and Voice of America - 1996-2006
Commenting on war crimes prosecution issues and international law

LANGUAGES

French (fluent)

German (proficient)