The William W. Bishop Lecture in International Law brings international luminaries to Michigan Law to share their perspectives and expertise with our students and professors. Honorees present a marquee lecture as well as engage more broadly with the Law School community.

Past honorees include the following:

  • Albie Sachs, human rights activist and judge on the Constitutional Court of South Africa
  • Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
  • Harold Koh, Legal Advisor to the US Department of State
  • Mary Robinson, President of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
  • Clark Randt, US Ambassador to China
  • Richard Goldstone, judge on the Supreme Court of South Africa and head of the Goldstone Commission

The Bishop Lecture was established to honor William Bishop, a 30-year member of the Michigan Law faculty and his generation's foremost international law scholar. Professor Bishop served on the Permanent Court of Arbitration, advised the U.S. delegation at the Paris Peace Conference of 1946, and wrote the leading casebook on international law in the 1950s. His contributions helped solidify Michigan Law's standing as a preeminent institution for the study of international law.