GW LAW SCHOOL DEAN MICHAEL K. YOUNG PRESENTED WITH
LOBINGIER PROFESSORSHIP

WASHINGTON – The George Washington University Law School announced today the appointment of Dean Michael K. Young as the School’s new Lobingier Professor of Comparative Law and Jurisprudence. Dean Young will take over for Thomas Buergenthal, who left active status at the University in 2000 to serve as a judge on the International Court of Justice in The Hague. 

“The Lobingier Professorship could not be in better hands with the appointment of Dean Young,” said GW President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg. “His experience and scholarship is a perfect match for this prestigious academic position.”

The Lobingier Professorship was established at the Law School in 1978 through an endowment from the Charles S. Lobingier estate. Lobingier was an international jurist, philosopher, and author. The first incumbent of the chaired professorship was Leroy Sorenson Merrifield, now a GW Law School professor emeritus.   

“The appointment of Dean Young recognizes his eminence in the field of Japanese law,” said Professor Jerome A. Barron, a former dean of the Law School who was instrumental in Young’s selection to fill the chair. “It also highlights the strength and reputation of The George Washington University Law School in the field of international law.”

Dean Young came to GW Law in 1998 after serving as the Fuyo Professor of Japanese Law and Legal Institutions at The School of Law of Columbia University.  He also served as director of the Center for Japanese Legal Studies, the Center for Korean Legal Studies, and the Project on Religion, Rights, and Religious Freedom at Columbia. During the administration of President George Bush, he served as ambassador for trade and environmental affairs, deputy under secretary for economic and agricultural affairs, and deputy legal adviser to the U.S. Department of State.  Dean Young is currently serving his second term on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, and was recently elected to chair the Commission until May 2002.

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