Eugene Kontorovich
Phone: (312) 503-0429
E-mail: e-kontorovich@law.northwestern.edu
SSRN Author Page | Curriculum Vitae (pdf)
Professor Kontorovich specializes in constitutional and international law. His research focuses on extending the economic analysis of law from private law to public law. He is also one of the leading experts on maritime piracy and universal jurisdiction. Prof. Kontorovich’s scholarship has been published in leading scholarly journals such as the Stanford Law Review, Virginia Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, American Journal of International Law, and cited in judicial opinions as well as the popular press.
He attended the University of Chicago for college and law school, and ultimately taught law there. At law school, he was a member of the law review and the Order of the Coif. After law school, he clerked for Judge Richard Posner on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Before entering law school, he worked as a reporter and editorialist at the Wall Street Journal, New York Post and other papers, and continues to provide occasional commentary in the press.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
- International Law
- Constitutional Law
- Law and Economics
COURSES
PUBLICATIONS
Representative Publications
- The Constitutionality of International Courts: The Forgotten Precedent of Slave Trade Tribunals, 158 University of Pennsylvania Law Review __ (forthcoming, 2009)
- The “Define and Punish” Clause and the Limits of Universal Jurisdiction, 103 Northwestern University Law Review 149-203 (2009)
- What Standing is Good For, 93 Virginia Law Review 1663 (2007)
- Inefficient Customs in International Law, 48 William & Mary Law Review 859-922 (2006)
- The Constitution in Two Dimensions: A Transaction Cost Analysis of Constitutional Remedies, 91 Virginia Law Review 1135-1198 (2005)
Recent Publications
- International Responses to Territorial Conquest
- The“Define and Punish” Clause and the Limits of Universal Jurisdiction, 103 NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 149, 2009
- Originalism and the Difficulties of History in Foreign Affairs , 53 SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY LAW JOURNAL 39-52, 2008
- The Constitutionality of International Courts: The Forgotten Precedent of Slave Trade Tribunals
- International Legal Responses to Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, 13 ASIL INSIGHTS , February 6, 2009
EDUCATION
- BA, University of Chicago
- JD, University of Chicago

