Rutzen

Douglas Rutzen ’87, president and CEO of the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL), will present, “Defending Civil Society and Peaceful Protest Around the World,” April 29 at 4:30 p.m. in Lewis Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall.

ICNL has worked in more than 100 countries to develop the legal framework for civil society, public participation and philanthropy.

Rutzen is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches international civil society law. He is frequently called upon to advise heads of state and foreign ministers on civil society law. Under Rutzen’s leadership, ICNL received a 2012 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, the organizational analogue to MacArthur’s “genius award” for individuals.

Rutzen serves on the Community of Democracies’ Working Group on Enabling and Protecting Civil Society, and co-chairs the U.S. State Department’s Global Philanthropy Working Group. He also serves on the advisory boards/steering committees of the National Center on Philanthropy and the Law, Hudson Institute’s Index of Philanthropic Freedom, the Charity and Security Network, and the U.S. International Grantmaking Project. He runs training programs for diplomats at the Foreign Service Institute and has spoken at meetings organized by the governments of Brazil, China and Sweden, the Work Bank, USAID and scores of civil society organizations.

A graduate of Yale Law School, he was an associate at Coudert Brothers, where he worked on international law, antitrust law and Supreme Court litigation. He has taught at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and the Charles Law Faculty in Prague, and has served as legal adviser to the Czechoslovak parliament during the country’s democratic transition. He served as co-counsel on the first case against Libya for the destruction of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which resulted in a $2.7 billion settlement. In addition, Rutzen has written a textbook on international civil society law and has been published in the Harvard International Review and other prominent publications.

The talk is part of the Einaudi Center’s Foreign Policy Distinguished Speaker Series and is co-sponsored by the Cornell Law School.