Elizabeth Defeis
Professor of Law
Seton Hall University School of Law
Professor Elizabeth F. Defeis has lectured internationally on human
rights, rule of law, democracy and constitution building, electoral
reform and standards for independence of the judiciary. Her
expertise has been requested by governments and intergovernmental
institutions including the OSCE and the United Nations. She has
lectured in countries ranging from Azerbaijan, Russia, Tajikistan
and Turkmenistan, Guinea Bissau, Nepal, Italy, Egypt and Germany.
She has also participated in fact finding missions in Gaza and the
West Bank, Armenia and Moldova and in numerous international
conferences including the U.N. Conference on Women in Beijing,
China and the U.N. Conference on Human Rights in Vienna,
Austria.
Professor Defeis teaches in the areas of International Law,
International Human Rights, International Criminal Law, European
Union Law and United States Constitutional Law. She was a visiting
Professor of Law at the University of Milan and held the
Distinguished Chair at the University of Naples, Italy. She was
also a visiting Professor at St. Louis University, School of Law,
St. John’s University School of Law and Temple University School of
Law. Through Fulbright Scholarships and the Speakers Program of the
U.S. State Department she has lectured at various universities
including those in Russia, Iran, India, Bangladesh, Italy, Egypt,
Kenya and Armenia. She is the recipient of numerous awards
including a Ford Foundation Fellowship, a Reginald Heber Smith
Fellowship and an Honorary Doctor of Law Degree from St. John’s
University.
Professor Defeis has written extensively in the areas of
International Law, Human Rights, Gender Equality, European Union
Law and U.S. Constitutional Law. She is also the Producer/Host of
television programs including the 15 part video course on Women and
the Law, Human Rights and New Jersey, the 3 part series The
Italians and the Creating of America and the 10 part International
Law Television Course which has been translated into Chinese,
Spanish and Russian and is in distribution in more than 25
countries.
Professor Defeis currently serves on the Council of International
Affairs and the European Affairs Committee for the Association of
the Bar of the City of New York and previously Chaired the
International Law Committee and the Committee on the United Nations
for the Association. She is active in numerous professional
associations including the ABA, the New York and New Jersey State
Bar Associations, the International Association of Jurists
Italy/U.S.A. and the American Law Institute. She is a member of the
Board of SUNSGLOW and is a director of the Albert Einstein
Institution, which explores alternatives to violence in the
international context. Professor Defeis was appointed by Governor
Thomas Kean to chair the Urban Development Corporation for the
State of New Jersey.
Professor Defeis received her J.D. from St. John's University
School of Law and her LL.M. from New York University, School of
Law. Prior to joining the faculty of Seton Hall Law School, Prof.
Defeis was selected for the Honors Program with the United States
Department of Justice and was an Assistant United States Attorney
in the Southern District of New York. She was also an Associate
with the Law Firm of Carter, Ledyard, Milburn in New York
specializing in complex litigation and was a Reginald Heber Smith
Fellow at Bedford Stuyvesant Legal Services in Brooklyn, N.Y.
focusing on test case litigation. Professor Defeis joined the
faculty of Seton Hall Law School in 1971 and was Dean from 1983 to
1988.