JSD Candidate Marcos Garcia Dominguez Selected for International Court of Justice Program

Marcos Garcia Dominguez

University of Chicago Law School JSD candidate Marcos Garcia Dominguez, also LLM ’13, has been selected to participate in the 2017-2018 University Trainee Program at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, a highly selective program designed to expose participants to international law and the work of the Court.

Participants in the 10-month program are assigned to an ICJ judge and typically write memoranda, draft various types of legal documents, conduct research, prepare case files, review evidence, attend public hearings, and sometimes assist judges with arbitrations, academic articles, and speeches. The Court, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, accepts up to 15 participants each year. Garcia Dominguez will be clerking for Judge James Crawford.

“Marcos will be a great representative for the school, said Tom Ginsburg, Leo Spitz Professor of International Law. “He is a superb international lawyer already, who combines academic rigor and a terrific work ethic. I hope he will be the first of many that we send to the Court, highlighting our investment in international law and our terrific students.”

Added Adam Chilton, an assistant professor of law: “The International Court of Justices’ traineeship program is an extremely competitive and prestigious opportunity to work on the development of public international law. Marcos has studied international law as a student in Argentina and the United States, taught as an assistant professor at law schools in Argentina, and worked in private practice in both countries. From these experiences, Marcos has extensive academic and practical knowledge of public international law. Given these wide-ranging experiences, Marcos is the perfect candidate to work at the International Court of Justice.”

Garcia Dominguez, who received his JD cum laude from the University of Buenos Aires in 2006, has worked in the public law and international investment arbitration teams of Argentina's largest law firm. Upon receiving his LLM from the Law School, he joined the international arbitration group at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer US LLP in Washington, DC. His professional and research interests include international investment law, administrative law, and public international law, from an empirical and economic perspective.

Garcia Dominguez said he is grateful to the Law School and his supervisors for the support and the valuable opportunity to build his expertise in international law.

"I’m thrilled to know that I’ll actively participate in state-to-state international dispute resolution at the most important court of the international legal system. It will be exhilarating to see the action from the other side of the bench," Garcia Dominguez said. "I look forward to working on cases that deal with diverse areas of public international law, which are relevant not only for the countries involved but also for the international community as a whole. I am particularly eager to learn from Judge Crawford, who has been one of the most highly regarded experts in the field for the last several decades."

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