Student Deak Award – International Law Students Association

The Student Deak Award is sponsored by Oxford University Press for the best international law student article in a student-edited law journal. The award honors Francis Deak, a WWII veteran who wrote extensively on international law. The award is the student equivalent of the prize separately awarded by the American Journal of International Law to a younger author for meritorious scholarship in the prior year’s volume of the Journal.

Students, professors, practitioners or other persons in the legal community may nominate students for the Deak Award. A student may even nominate his own article.

ILSA awards the Student Deak Award annually to the author of the best student-written international law article in a student-edited law journal. The winning article is selected by a panel of international legal academic experts from among all the nominated articles.

Details about the 2027 edition will be released shortly.

Any questions about the award may be directed to [email protected].

Past Winners

Click for Details

Year	Name	School	Paper
2026	Elson Law	Boston University	Standing Before the ICJ: A Novel Framework for Erga Omnes Partes
2025	Sydney Robson	American University Washington College of Law	A Common Law Corporate Crisis: The Status of Common Law Criminal Immunities for Foreign State-Owned Enterprises in a Post-Halkbank Era
2024	Jack McNally	University of New South Wales	Representation, Recognition, Resistance: Rival Governance Before the International Court of Justice
2023	Jiang Zhifeng	National University of Singapore	Pacta Sunt Servanda and Empire: A Critical Examination of the Evolution, Invocation, and Application of an International Law Axiom
2018	Beatrice Walton	Yale Law School	Duties Owed: Low-Intensity Cyber Attacks and Liability for Transboundary Torts in International Law
2017	Peter Tzeng	Yale Law School	Supplemental Jurisdiction Under UNCLOS, Houston Journal of International Law
2016	Alexander Bedrosyan	University of Pennsylvania	Adverse Inferences in International Arbitration: Toothless or Terrifying?
2015	Kathryn Manza	Boston College Law	Making Chocolate Sweeter: How to Encourage Hershey Company to Clean Up Its Supply Chain and Eliminate Child Labor
2014	Samantha Miko	Boston College Law	Norm Conflict, Fragmentation, and the European Court of Human Rights
2013	Ron Kendler	Boston College Law	Delayed Fight: The World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement Mechanism, Negotiation, and the Transatlantic Conflict over Commercial Aircraft
2012	Jeffrey D. Stein	NYU School of Law	Waging Waterfare: Israel, Palestinians, and the Need for a New Hydro-Logic to Govern Water Rights Under Occupation
2008	Robert Snyder	University of Georgia School of Law	Disillusioned Words Like Bullets Bark’: Incitement to Genocide, Music, and the Trial of Simon Bikindi
2007	Gary Feldon	Emory University School of Law	The Antitrust Model of Extraterritorial Trademark Jurisdiction: Analysis and Predictions after F. Hoffman-LaRoche
2006	Jonathan Schmidt	Yale Law School	Keeping the U.S. Courts Open to Foreign Antitrust Plaintiffs: A Hybrid Approach to the Effective Deterrence of International Cartels
2005	Brian T. Larson	University of Wisconsin	Meaningful Technical Assistance in the WTO
2004	Elizabeth Perry		Blueprint for Catastrophe / Blueprint for Peace: Planning Law in Israel as a Precursor to the Peace Process
2003	Sonia Boutillon	University of Michigan Law School	The Precautionary Principle: Development of an International Standard
2002	William Burke-White	Harvard Law School	Reframing Impunity: Applying Liberal International Law Theory to an Analysis of Amnesty Legislation
2001	Jessica Spiegel	Boston College Law	Will the Great Banana War Ever End: Will the Tariff Only System Be the Solution?
2000	Jeremy Farrall
1988	John S. Willems	University of Virginia	From Treblinka to the Killing Fields: Excluding Persecutors from the Definition of ‘Refugee’
1987	Ellen C. Auwarter	Fordham University School of Law	Compelled Waiver of Bank Secrecy in the Cayman Islands: Solution to International Tax Evasion or Threat to Sovereignty of Nations?
1986	John J. Balitis, Jr.	University of Virginia	Shielding Non-Resident Aliens from the Reach of Administrative Subpoenas under the Commodity Exchange Act
1985	David M. Cooper	Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy	Transborder Data Flow and the Protection of Privacy: The Harmonization of Data Protection Law
1984	Peter John Lesser	University of Virginia School of Law	Superseding Statutory Law by Sole Executive Agreement
1983	J. Robert Maguire	University of Virginia School of Law	The Decolonization of Belize: Self-Determination v. Territorial Integrity
1982	Paul Pavlis	NYU Law	International Arbitration and the Inapplicability of the Act of State Doctrine
1980	Jeffrey Golan	Georgetown University	U.S. Technology Transfer to the Soviet Union and the Protection of National Security
1979	Ralph Harrison Smith II	Yale Law School	Beyond the Treaties: Limitations on Neutrality in the Panama Canal
1978 (tie)	Daniel Dukovac	NYU Law	Securities Law – Subject Matter Jurisdiction in Transnational Securities Fraud
1978 (tie)	Judson Wambold	Cornell Law School	Prohibiting Foreign Bribes – Criminal Sanctions for Corporate Payments Abroad
1977	Brian D. Smith	University of Virginia	Canadian and Soviet Arctic Policy: An Icy Reception for the Law of the Sea
1976	Thomas Mooney	Harvard Law School	A Delicate Balance: Equal Representation for Labor on German Corporate Boards
1975	Alan Marchisotto	Vanderbilt Law School	The Protection of Art in Transnational Law
1974	Leonard Terr	Cornell Law School	The Distance Plus Joint Development Zone Formula, A Proposal for Speedy and Practical Resolution of the East China and Yellow Seas Continental Shelf Oil Controversy
1963	Ibrahim Shihata	Harvard Law School	Islamic Law and the World Community

31 July 2026	Anticipated Release of Official Jessup Rules National Rules Supplements will be posted as they become available.
3 August 2026	Team Registration Opens
15 September 2026	Anticipated Release of the Jessup Problem
7 October 2026	Anticipated Launch of Basic Materials All Basic Materials will be posted to the ILSA’s website, and materials will be added from time to time over the course of the Jessup season. Teams are encouraged to continue checking the Basic Materials webpage for updates.
17 October 2026	Deadline for Requests from Teams for Corrections and Clarifications to the Jessup Problem Requests must be submitted through the online form found on your Team’s Home Page.
6 November 2026	Deadline for Eligibility Inquiries This is the last day on which individuals may request the Executive Office’s special permission to compete under Official Rule 2.4.
17 November 2026	Anticipated Release Date of Corrections and Clarifications to the Jessup Problem
20 November 2026	Deadline for Registration, Payment, and Submission of Team Roster This is the last day on which teams may register as well as submit the names of their team members and advisors. In addition, all teams must have submitted payment by this date or risk disqualification.
12 January 2027	Deadline for Submission of Memorials If a Team fails to submit its Applicant and Respondent Memorials by this day, the Team will be disqualified from the Competition. Memorials must be submitted to the Executive Office in accordance with the Official Rules. A National Supplement to the Official Rules may impose additional submission requirements. It is the responsibility of teams to understand the submission requirements of the Official Rules and of their National Rules Supplement, if any, which are posted on ILSA’s website.
January – March 2027	National & Friendly Rounds Teams from jurisdictions with more than one team registered must take part in Qualifying Rounds. National and Friendly Rounds may take place virtually or in-person. Advancing Teams will go on to compete in the White & Case International Rounds.