Paul Schiff Berman is an American laywer and the current dean of the The George Washington University Law School as of July 1, 2011. He also serves as GW's Robert Kramer Research Professor of Law.[1]
He was previously the Dean at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law of Arizona State University. Before his arrival at ASU he was a Professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law, where he taught from 1997 to 2008. His scholarship focuses on the intersection of international law, conflict of laws, cyberspace law, written law, and the cultural analysis of law.
He earned his A.B., summa cum laude, from Princeton University in 1988 and his J.D. in 1995 from New York University School of Law, where he served as Managing Editor of the NYU Law Review and received the University Graduation Prize for the graduating law student with the highest cumulative grade point average.
He served as law clerk to then Chief Judge Harry T. Edwards, of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and for Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, of the United States Supreme Court. Prior to entering law, Berman was, from 1988–2005, Artistic Director of Spin Theater, a theater company based in New York City. He was also Administrative Director of The Wooster Group and was the founding Administrator for Richard Foreman's Ontological-Hysteric Theatre [3] at Saint Mark's Church in the East Village.
His recent work, which discusses the multiple effects of globalization on legal systems, includes Seeing Beyond the Limits of International Law, Towards a Cosmopolitan Vision of Conflict of Laws: Redefining Governmental Interests in a Global Era, From International Law to Law and Globalization, and The Globalization of Jurisdiction
He is also the author (with Patricia L. Bellia and David G. Post) of Cyberlaw: Problems of Policy and Jurisprudence in the Information Age[2] and the editor of a collection of essays, The Globalization of International Law.[3]