Professor Koplow specializes in the areas of public international law and national security law. He joined the Georgetown Law faculty in 1981. His principal courses have been International Law I (the introductory survey of public international law topics), a seminar in the area of arms control, non-proliferation and terrorism, and the pro-seminar for LLM students in national security law. In addition, he has directed a clinic, the Center for Applied Legal Studies, in which students provide pro bono representation to refugees who seek asylum in the United States because of persecution in their homelands. His government service has included stints as Special Counsel for Arms Control to the General Counsel of the Department of Defense (2009-2011); as Deputy General Counsel for International Affairs at the Department of Defense (1997-1999); and as Attorney-Advisor and Special Assistant to the Director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (1978-1981). He is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School and a Rhodes Scholar. Most of his scholarly writing concentrates on the intersection between international law and U.S. constitutional law, especially in the areas of arms control and national security and treaty negotiation and implementation.

Scholarship

Contributions to Law Reviews and Other Scholarly Journals

David A. Koplow, Un-Repeal: Reviving the Arms Control Impact Statements, 11 Mich. J. Envtl. & Admin. L. 257-314 (2022). [WWW] [HEIN] [W] [L]
David A. Koplow, Reverse Distinction: A U.S. Violation of the Law of Armed Conflict in Space, 13 Harv. Nat’l Sec. J. 25-120 (2022).
[WWW] [W] [L] [SSRN]
Edward M. Ifft & David A. Koplow, Legal and Political Myths of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, 77 Bull. Atomic Scientists 134-139 (2021).

Selected Contributions to Other Publications

David Koplow, Apes on a Treadmill in Space, Arms Control Today, Apr. 2021.
[WWW]

Book Chapters & Collected Works

David A. Koplow, Legal Aspects of the Use of Nuclear Explosive Devices in Planetary Defence, in Legal Aspects of Planetary Defence 226-245 (Irmgard Marboe ed., Leiden, Neth.: Brill Nijhoff Publishers 2021).
[BOOK]