Professor Gearhart-Serna has been an Attorney-Adviser in the U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Legal Adviser since 2016. During her first three years in the Office of the Legal Adviser, she represented the United States in litigation against Iran before the International Court of Justice and the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal, was a member of the United States’ investor-state disputes team, and advised on issues related to bilateral claims involving Central America and Cuba. Since 2019, she has been the principal State Department attorney advising on nuclear and conventional arms control issues. From 2011-2016, Professor Gearhart-Serna was a litigation associate at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP in New York, focusing on international disputes and pro bono work. Prior to her time in private practice, she served as a law clerk and Robina Human Rights Foundation Fellow in the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. She received her J.D. from Yale Law School in 2010.
