William Burke-White

William W. Burke-White (LinkedIn) is Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and an international lawyer and political scientist whose work focuses on U.S. foreign policy, multilateral institutions, and international law. He writes on the relationship between law and politics in international affairs, with particular expertise in global governance, international institutions, Russia and Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the changing norms and structures of the international legal order.

From 2009 to 2011, Burke-White served in the Obama administration on the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff, where he worked on U.S. engagement with the United Nations, G-20, G-8, and Russia, and was a principal drafter of the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, Secretary Clinton’s major initiative to reform the Department of State and reshape U.S. foreign policy. He previously served as the inaugural director of Perry World House, Penn’s interdisciplinary international affairs institute, and as Deputy Dean of Penn Carey Law.

Burke-White’s scholarship addresses multilateralism, global power shifts, human rights, international institutions, and international economic law. He has advised governments, law firms, and investment funds on sanctions, sovereign debt, foreign policy, and international litigation, and has served as an expert in international arbitrations. He holds degrees from Harvard University and Cambridge University, where he was a Fulbright Scholar.