Paolo D. Farah, LL.M., J.D., Ph.D.

About

Paolo Davide Farah, Ph.D., is an interdisciplinary legal scholar whose research explores the intersections of law, public policy and public administration focusing on sustainable development, climate change, energy and environmental justice, international trade, intellectual property law, technology and human rights. Paolo Davide Farah has been a professor of law and a professor of public policy and public administration at numerous universities in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East for more than twenty years. He is founder and president of gLAWcal – Global Law Initiatives for Sustainable Development and has held academic and research appointments at institutions including Georgetown University Law Center, Harvard Law School and Beijing Foreign Studies University.

Farah’s scholarship spans nine books and more than 60 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters with leading publishers such as Oxford, Cambridge, Taylor & Francis (Routledge Publishing), Edward Elgar, Springer, Elsevier and Palgrave MacMillan. He has presented his research at over 200 international conferences and serves as editor for several global book series on law, governance and sustainability.

He has coordinated and led as principal investigator or major co-principal investigator externally funded research grants for an overall amount of $2 million.

He was an international consultant and legal advisor for projects implemented for the United Nations Development Program, for the Italian Ministry of Economic Development and Commerce and for the OECD. He has previously worked in the Legal Affairs Division of the World Trade Organization in Geneva, and was an associate lawyer of Baker & McKenzie Law Firm, Milan, Italy.

Farah graduated with a J.D. in international and European law from Paris Ouest La Defense Nanterre University (France), LLM in European legal studies from the College of Europe in Bruges (Belgium) and a dual Ph.D. in international law from Aix-Marseille University (France) and University of Milan (Italy).

Awards and honors

• Chair, Sub-Committee on Business and Human Rights, American Branch of the International Law Association (ABILA) – Committee on International Human Rights (current)
• Appointed Member (Alternate), International Law Association (ILA) – Committee on Business and Human Rights (current)
• Convener, European Society of International Law (ESIL) – European and International Rule of Law Interest Group (current)
• Director and Editor, American Society of Comparative Law (ASCL) American Journal of Comparative Law, (current)
• John Cabot University, Rome (2025) – Visiting Professor of Intellectual Property Theory and Law
• University of Rome Tor Vergata (2025) – Visiting Professor, teaching Uniform Private Law, Global Law, Law and Development, and related subjects; also Advisory Board member of the PhD Program “Theory of Contracts, Services, and Markets”
• University of Verona (2025) – Virtual Visiting Professor of International Cultural Heritage Law
• École Normale Supérieure (ENS-PSL), Paris (2025) – Visiting Professor, Chair of the conference “Towards a Global Ecological–Economic Legal Framework”
• University of Turin (2025) – Visiting Professor in Comparative Law and Cultural Development
• University of Milan (2023–2025) – Visiting Professor of Law, teaching International Environmental Law, Climate Change, Sustainability, and Technology Policy
• Bocconi University (2024) – Visiting Professor of Law, teaching Global Administrative Law and Climate Change Law
• Visiting Professor of Law, University of Bari, Italy (2024)
• Visiting Professor of Law, University of Salerno, Italy (2023)
• Appointed Member, International Law Association (ILA) – Committee on Submarine Cables and Pipelines under International Law (2022-2025)
• Visiting Researcher, University of Messina, Italy (2022)
• Visiting Professor of Law and Named Chair Balladore Pallieri, Catholic University of Milan, Italy (2021–2022)
• Visiting Professor, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia (2022)
• Researcher, Center for Law and Development, Qatar University (2022)
• Elected Board Member, European Society of International Law (ESIL) (2018–2022)
• Chair, ESIL Interest Group on International Environmental Law (2016–2024)
• Vice-Chair (2019–2020) and Chair (2020–2023), American Society of International Law (ASIL) – Interest Group on International Environmental Law
• Vice-Chair (2020–2021) and Chair (2021–2023), American Society of International Law (ASIL) – Interest Group on International Law and Technology
• Chair, American Society of International Law (ASIL) – Interest Group on Intellectual Property Law (2017–2020)
• Appointed Member, International Law Association (ILA) – Committee on Sustainable Development and the Green Economy in International Trade Law (2014–2022)
• Appointed Member, International Law Association (ILA) – Committee on the Role of International Law in Sustainable Natural Resource Management for Development (2014–2022)
• Visiting Professor, Royal University for Women, Bahrain (2019)
• Visiting Professor and Foreign Expert, Beijing Foreign Studies University, China (2017–2019)
• EU Commission Marie Curie Fellow, Beijing Normal University, Peking University, and Tsinghua University, China (2011–2016)
• EU Commission Science and Technology Fellowship (STF) Program in China, Fellow, hosted at Beijing Foreign Studies University and Chinese partner institutions (2009–2011)
• Visiting Scholar, Harvard Law School, East Asian Legal Studies Program (2011–2012)
• Visiting Professor and Co-Director, China Intellectual Property Summer Institute (CHIPSI), Tsinghua University & University of New Hampshire (2009–2010)
• Selected by the Italian Government among the Best Young Italian Talents, Festival Nazionale dei Giovani Talenti, Rome (2010)
• Nominated and Shortlisted for Excellence in Teaching, Edge Hill University, United Kingdom (2013)
• WVU Scholarship Awards for Research (2015, 2016, 2017)
• Invited Judge, Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition – Russian National Championship (2019)