• Professor, School of Law

Leila Sadat

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• B.A. at Douglass College
• J.D. at Tulane University
• LL.M. at Columbia University
• D.E.A. at University of Paris at Sorbonne

News Stories & Tip Sheets:

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Blue-ribbon steering committee drafting international treaty Harris World Law Institute kicks off landmark Crimes Against Humanity Project April 25, 2008 -- The Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute of Washington University School of Law announced a two-year project to study the international law regarding crimes against humanity and to draft a multilateral treaty condemning and prohibiting such crimes. Leila Sadat, J.D., the Henry H. Oberschelp Professor of Law and director of the Harris Institute, recently convened the first meeting of the project's steering committee.

Judgment at Nuremberg 60 Years Later WUSTL conference examines legacy of Nazi war trials Sept. 29-Oct. 1 Sept. 22, 2006 -- The Nuremberg trials of major Nazi war criminals spawned the idea of international human rights, but have the principles endured? Leading scholars from Washington University in St. Louis will join former Nuremberg prosecutors and distinguished experts on international criminal justice to examine the legacy of the war trials and their impact on international law, the judicial system and world peace. The conference, "Judgment at Nuremberg," marks the 60th anniversary of the Nuremberg trials and will take place Sept. 29-Oct. 1 on the Washington University campus.

Judgment at Nuremberg 60 Years Later Nazi war criminal trials spawned international human rights, but have the principles endured? Sept. 7, 2006 -- The Nuremberg trials still hold relevance today. The Nuremberg trials and the atrocities they revealed shocked the world 60 years ago and continue to resonate with increasing relevance. Yet, the Nuremberg principles have been implemented neither perfectly nor completely, according to a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis. Scholars from Washington University join other distinguished experts on international criminal justice, and the trials' three surviving U.S. prosecutors, to examine the legacy of Nuremberg and its impact on international law, the judicial system, and world peace. More...

Saddam on trial Is the Saddam Hussein trial one of the most important court cases of all time? Not necessarily, says international law expert Oct. 21, 2005 -- Sadat "In arguing that the Saddam Hussein trial is a 'Trial of the Century,' some experts appear to be suggesting that media interest is tantamount to success, importance and legitimacy. This is a mistake," says Leila N. Sadat, expert on international law and international war crimes tribunals and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. "Criminal trials, whether of important and notorious individuals, or of small-time offenders accused of petty crimes, are nothing more than show trials, unless three criteria are met: The judges must be independent, well-qualified and impartial; the accused must be properly and effectively represented; and the proceedings must be fair. Using these criteria, it is difficult not to be skeptical about the fairness, and therefore the ultimate significance, of the trial of Saddam Hussein."

Saddam on trial International law expert available to discuss the credibility of the Iraqi Special Tribunal and the case against the former Iraqi dictator Sept. 6, 2005 -- Hussein For the past 18 months, the Iraqi Special Tribunal (IST) for Crimes Against Humanity has emitted conflicting signals regarding the means and process by which it will ultimately bring Saddam Hussein to trial. "While it is not possible to predict the ultimate outcome of the current proceedings against Hussein, there is no doubt that skepticism remains as to the Iraqi Special Tribunal's credibility and legitimacy," says Leila N. Sadat, expert on international law and international war crimes tribunals and the Henry H. Oberschelp Professor of Law at Washington University in St. Louis. "The IST's decision to take up the Dujail case first, and the establishment of the IST itself, raise very interesting questions of international criminal law and procedure."

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Hussein presents a spirited defense Los Angeles Times and 3 others April 6, 2006 -- Article covers events from Wednesday in the Saddam Hussein trial. His savvy take on contemporary Iraqi politics took some observers by surprise. WUSTL international law professor Leila Nadya Sadat, who watched segments of the trial on the Internet, comments.

Saddam on trial PBS – NewsHour and 1 others Feb. 16, 2006 -- PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer features a discussion of the trial of Saddam Hussein. Following a background report from Independent Television News, two lawyers give their reactions to the proceedings. WUSTL law professor Leila Sadat is one of the lawyers.

Roundup of commentary on Saddam Hussein trial by Leila Sadat Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times and 2 others Dec. 8, 2005 -- Roundup of comments by Leila Nadya Sadat, WUSTL law professor and international criminal law expert, about the trial of Saddam Hussein. Defense strategy, the Iraqi war crimes tribunal, and the violence and turmoil surrounding the trial are all discussed. Professor Sadat also helped to train Iraqi jurists.

In addition to her teaching at Washington University, Sadat has taught abroad in France, Ireland, Italy and Greece. Sadat is a member of the Executive Committee of the American Branch of the International Law Association; a member of the Executive Committee of the American Society of Comparative Law; the secretary of the AALS section on comparative law; the vice-president of the American Branch of the International Association of Penal Law; and a Board member of the Revue Québécoise de Droit International, the International Law Students Association, the American Journal of Comparative Law, and the Société de Législation Comparée. She has been admitted to the French Bar as an avocat, is a member of the Board of Directors of the Alliance Française of St. Louis, and is bilingual in French, and proficient in several other languages.

Recent Publications

Journal Articles and Essays

* Terrorism and the Rule of Law (forthcoming)

* Universal Jurisdiction, National Amnesties, and Truth Commissions: Reconciling the Irreconcilable ( The Princeton Project on Universal Jurisdiction, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003)

* ASIL Insight: The Trial of Slobadan Milosevic, American Society of International Law Newsletter (forthcoming, October, 2002)

*International Criminal Law and Alternative Modes of Redress, Proceedings, Kiel Symposium on INternational Law, Kiel, Germany, May 30-June 2, (2002)

* Religious Freedom and American Foreign Policy: The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (Symposium Keynote Address, New England Law Journal (2002)

* ASIL Insight: The International Criminal Court Treaty Enters into Force, American Society of International Law Newsletter, March-April 2002, at 8.

* L'influence reciproque des juridictions nationales et internationales sur la poursuite et la punition de génocide (work in progress)

* Redefining Universal Jurisdiction, 35 New England Law Journal 241 (2001)

* Custom, Codification and Some Thoughts About the Relationship Between the Two: Article 10 of the ICC Statute, 35 DePaul L. Rev. 909 (2000)

* The Legal Legacy of Maurice Papon, in THE PAPON AFFAIR: MEMORY AND JUSTICE ON TRIAL (Richard J. Golsan, ed., Rutledge, 2000)

* The International Criminal Court and the Transformation of International Law: Justice for the New Millenium, 88 Georgetown L. J. 381 (2000) (with S. Richard Carden) The Establishment of the International Criminal Court: From The Hague to Rome and Back Again, 8 Det. J. Int'l L. 97 (2000)

* The New International Criminal Court: An Uneasy Revolution, 88 Georgetown Law Journal 381 (2000) (with S. Richard Carden)

* The Proposed Permanent International Criminal Court: An Appraisal, 29 Cornell Int'l L. Journal 665 (1996)

* Official English, Nationalism and Linguistic Terror: A French Lesson, 71 Washington L. Rev. (Seattle) 285 (1996)

* The Proposed Permanent International Criminal Court: An Appraisal, 29 Cornell International Law Journal 665 (1996)

* Reflections on The Trial of Vichy Collaborator Paul Touvier for Crimes against Humanity in France, 20 J.L. & Soc. Inquiry 191 (1995)

* The Interpretation of the Nuremberg Principles by the French Court of Cassation: From Touvier to Barbie and Back Again, 32 Columbia J. Transnat'l L. 289 (1994)

Books and Book Chapters

* The New International Criminal Court: An Uneasy Revolution (Transnational, 2000)

* International Criminal Law: Cases and Materials (Carolina, 2000)(with Bassiouni, Paust, et al.)

* The Legal Legacy of Maurice Papon, in The Papon Affair: Memory and Justice on Trial (Richard J. Golsan, ed., Rutledge, 2000)

* The Establishment of the International Criminal Court: From the Hague to Rome and Back Again, in National Security and International Law: The United States and the International Criminal Court (American Academy of Arts and Sciences) (Sarah Sewall & Carl Kaysen, eds., Rowman & Littlefield, 2000)

* The French Experience, in III International Criminal Law (M. Cherif Bassiouni, ed., Transnational, 2d ed. 1999)

* A First Look at the 1998 Rome Statute for a Permanent International Criminal Court: Jurisdiction, Definition of Crimes, Structure and Referrals to the Court, III International Criminal Law (M. Cherif Bassiouni, ed., Transnational, 2d ed. 1998)

* Model Draft Statute for the International Criminal Court Based on the Preparatory Committee's Text to the Diplomatic Conference, Rome, June 15-July 17, 1998, 13ter Nouvelles Études Pénales (Leila Sadat Wexler, special ed. 1998)

* Observations on the Consolidated ICC Text Before the Final Session of the Preparatory Committee, 13bis Nouvelles Études Pénales (Leila Sadat Wexler, special ed. 1998)

* The Role of the European Court of Justice on the Way to European Union, in Europe after Maastricht: American and European Perspectives (Paul Michael Lützeler, ed., Berghahn, 1994)

Book Reviews and Symposia

* Leila Nadya Sadat, 94 Am. J. Int'l. L. 430 (1999) (reviewing, Virginia Morris and Michael P. Scharf, The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (1998))

* Panel Discussion, Association of American Law School Panel on the International Criminal Court, 36 Am. Crim. L. Rev. 223 (1999)

* International Criminal Law Comes of Age, 8 Crim. L. Forum 461 (1998) (reviewing, Jordan J. Paust, et al. (1998))

* The Euro: A New Single Currency for Europe? Chair and Organizer, Washington University School of Law and the European Studies Program Conference, October 30, 1997

* Prosecutions for Crimes Against Humanity in French Municipal Law: International Implications, American Society of International Law Proceedings of the 91st Annual Meeting 270 (1997)

* International Law Association (American Branch) First Committee Report on Jurisdiction, Definition of Crimes and Complementarity, 13 Nouvelles Études Pénales 159 (Spring 1997) (also published in 25 Denver J. Int'l L Pol.221)