Ruth Gordon

Biography

Professor Gordon joined the Villanova Law School faculty in 1990 and retired in 2022. Her scholarship focuses on International Law generally, and in particular the Third World encounter with international law. More recently she has turned her attention to the evolving international economic hierarchy and the rise of middle income nations and the prospects for South – South cooperation. Recent publications include, The Environmental Implications of China's Engagement with Sub-Saharan Africa, 42 Envtl. L. Rep. News & Analysis 109 (2012); “Panama and the Specter of Climate Change”, 41 U Miami Inter-Am. L. Rev. 129 (2010); The Dawn of A New, New International Economic Order?, 72 Law & Contemp. Prob. 131 (2009); and Climate Change and the Poorest Nations: Further Reflections on Global Inequality, 78 U. Colo. L. Rev. 1,559 (2007); and ‘Katrina, Race, Refugees and Images of the Third World’ for “Hurricane Katrina: America’s Unnatural Disaster, Dr. Jeremy Levitt, Matthew Witaker, editors. Professor Gordon also authored the entry on Mandates for the Encyclopedia of Public International Law.

Professor Gordon is a graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science, New York University School of Law, New York University School of Arts and Sciences, and Stuyvesant High School in New York City. She has taught a variety of International Law courses, including Public International Law, International Organizations, International Trade and Investment, International Business Transactions and a seminar on International Environmental Law. She has also taught Contracts. In 1994, Professor Gordon was the first recipient of the Riesenfeld Fellowship in Public International Law at the University of California at Berkeley.

Following completion of her JD, Professor Gordon clerked for U.S. District Court Judge John L. Kane before joining the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. She was a member of the firm, Blum, Nash & Railsback and the offices of former Ambassador Robert Van Lierop, where she assisted him in his role as the Ambassador for Vanuatu to the United Nations.

Practice Experience

• Clerked for U.S. District Court Judge John L. Kane
• Member of the firm, Blum, Nash & Railsback and the offices of former Ambassador Robert Van Lierop, where she assisted him in his role as the Ambassador for Vanuatu to the United Nations

Education

• New York University School of Law, JD
• The London School of Economics and Political Sciences, LLM