Costa Rica Summer Program in Ciudad Colón

Faculty and Directors

Cesare Romano
Associate Professor of Law

MA (Laurea), University of Milano
D.E.S. (Diplôme des Études Superieures), Graduate Institute of International Studies, University of Geneva
LL.M., New York University Law School
PhD (Doctorat), Graduate Institute of International Studies, University of Geneva

Cesare P. Romano is an Associate Professor of Law at Loyola Law School, and the on site program director for the first week of the 2009 Costa Rica Summer Program. Prof. Romano received an MA (Laurea) in Political Science, University of Milano (1992); D.E.S. (Diplôme des Études Superieures), Graduate Institute of International Studies, University of Geneva (1995); LL.M., New York University Law School (1997); PhD (Doctorat), Graduate Institute of International Studies, University of Geneva (1999). He holds degrees in three different disciplines (political science, international relations and law) from three countries (Italy, Switzerland and the United States), and is a polyglot. His scholarship and teaching reflect the variety of his background.

His expertise is in public international law, and in particular dispute settlement, international environmental law, international human rights and international criminal and humanitarian law. However, it is probably the field international courts and tribunals where he has made to date the greatest contribution, publishing numerous articles and four books. Since 1997 he has directed the Project on International Courts and Tribunals (www.pict-pcti.org), an international research project shared by scholars across the globe becoming a world-renowned authority in the field.

Before joining Loyola Law School, Prof. Romano taught as visiting or adjunct professor in a number of institutions in the U.S. and Europe. He teaches International Protection of Human Rights; International Law; and International Environmental Law.

Julie K. Waterstone

Director of the Children's Rights Clinic

Associate Clinical Professor of Law

B.A., with honors, Law and Society, University of California, Santa Barbara

J.D., Northwestern University

Professor Waterstone joined the faculty of Southwestern Law School in July 2007 as an Associate Clinical Professor Law and Director of the Children’s Rights Clinic.  In that capacity, she created and developed the curriculum for the Children’s Rights Clinic.  Her Clinic provides representation to children in school discipline proceedings and children with disabilities in special education proceedings who have discipline or behavioral issues.  In addition to her practice, Professor Waterstone is a core group member of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Dignity in Schools Campaign where she is focused on reforming zero tolerance policies that lead to the current pushout phenomenon.    

Prior to working at Southwestern, Professor Waterstone was a staff attorney at Public Counsel Law Center, where she provided legal assistance to parents in obtaining special education and related services for children with disabilities and represented children in school discipline proceedings.  Before that, Professor Waterstone was a clinical professor at the University of Mississippi Law School, where she supervised law students in the Child Advocacy Clinic.  Her practice in Mississippi focused on teaching law students how to represent children in issues relating to abuse and neglect, delinquency, and school discipline.  In addition, she focused on juvenile justice reform and advocacy.  Professor Waterstone began her career with the law firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, LLP, in Los Angeles, as a litigation associate in the area of business litigation.  While at Milbank, she focused her pro-bono practice in the areas of Child Advocacy and First Amendment issues. 

Professor Waterstone earned her J.D. from Northwestern Law School and her B.A. in Law and Society from the University of California, Santa Barbara.  She is a member of the California and Mississippi state bars.

Michael Waterstone
Associate Dean of Academic Programs

Professor of Law

B.A., summa cum laude, University of California, Los Angeles
JD, magna cum laude, Harvard Law School

After law school, Michael Waterstone clerked for the Honorable Richard S. Arnold on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, then worked as an associate in the Los Angeles law firm of Munger, Tolles, & Olson for three years. From 2003-2006, Waterstone taught at the University of Mississippi Law School. He joined Loyola's faculty in the fall of 2006.

Waterstone is a nationally-recognized expert in disability and civil rights law. He is one of the co-authors of a leading casebook on disability law and has written articles in the Minnesota Law Review, Duke Law Journal, Vanderbilt Law Review, and Northwestern Law Review, amongst others. He advises and consults with several policy organizations on national and international disability issues, including the Harvard Law School Project on Disability, Human European Consultancy, the Burton Blatt Institute, the Disability Rights Legal Center, and the World Bank, and the National Council on Disability.

Waterstone is a current member of the California State Bar's Commission on Access and Fairness, and a former Commissioner on the American Bar Association's Commission on Physical and Mental Disability, the Chair of the American Association of Law School's Section on Disability Law, and a board member of the Disability Rights Legal Center.

He frequently lectures on disability and civil rights law, and has provided media commentary for the New York Times, Voice of America, and other TV and radio outlets. He has testified before the United States Senate on issues relating to voters with disabilities and older voters.

Peter Tiersma
Professor of Law and Joseph Scott Fellow
Director of International Programs

BA, with distinction, Stanford University, Phi Beta Kappa
JD, University of California Berkeley, Order of the Coif
PhD, University of California San Diego

Peter Tiersma will be the on site program director for the second and third weeks of the 2009 Costa Rica Summer Program. Professor Tiersma was born in the Netherlands and immigrated with his parents to the United States. Following graduation from Stanford University, he was a Fulbright Fellow to the Netherlands and later received a Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of California, San Diego. Subsequently, he obtained a J.D. from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California in Berkeley. He clerked for Justice Stanley Mosk of the California Supreme Court, worked in private practice for three years, and has been teaching at Loyola Law School since 1990. Tiersma is the author of the books Frisian Reference Grammar (Fryske Akademy, 1999), Legal Language (University of Chicago Press, 1999), and Speaking of Crime: The Language of Criminal Justice (co-authored with Lawrence Solan, University of Chicago Press, 2005). He has written several articles on the relationship between language and law. Tiersma has also lectured widely on these topics, most recently in Germany and China.