Joseph Dellapenna - International and Comparative Law

International and Comparative Law

Dellapenna has taught and practiced extensively in the area of international and comparative law. Among the courses he has taught in this area are: Admiralty, Chinese Law, Comparative Law, Conflicts of Law (Private International Law), Law of the Sea, Public International Law, and Transnational Litigation, as well as the already mentioned courses on International Trade and the Environment and on Ocean and Coastal Law. He has represented clients, consulted with attorneys and governments, and served as an expert witness in litigation in the United States and other countries. He is particularly well known as an expert on foreign state immunity and works frequently on such cases. His book, Suing Foreign Governments and Their Corporations (1st ed., The Bureau of National Affairs: Washington, DC 1988; 2nd ed., Transnational Publishers: Ardsley, NY 2003) was described by one book reviewer as the "bible" for liti¬gation under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976. The book was cited by both Justice David Souter (writing for the majority) and Justice John Paul Stevens (writing in dissent) in Saudi Arabia v. Nelson, 507 U.S. 349 (1993), as well as in numerous lower courts, as authoritative for the interpretation of the Act. He has also written numerous other articles on the above topics.

Perhaps Dellapenna’s most noteworthy litigation was as co-counsel for the family of Raoul Wallenberg in a case brought by Wallenberg’s half-brother, Guy von Dardel. Von Dardel v. U.S.S.R., 623 F. Supp. 246 (D.D.C. 1985). Although the judgment subsequently was vacated, 736 F. Supp. 1 (D.D.C. 1990), the Soviet government then opened its records to the family regarding Wallenberg’s fate, resulting in a report jointly released by the Swedish and Russian governments in 2000 confirming Wallenberg’s murder in 1947. Dellapenna’s work on this case was recognized with his award of the Wallenberg medal by the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation in 2008. His work was also featured prominently in a book about Wallenberg and the efforts to secure his release: Alan Gersten, A Conspiracy of Indifference: The Raoul Wallenberg Story 200-82 (2001).

Dellapenna chaired the Committee on International Litigation of the Section of International Law and Practice of the American Bar Association from 1993-1995 and the Section’s Committee on Chinese Law from 1995-1999. He was a member of the Working Group of the Section of International Law and Practice of the American Bar Association that drafted a proposed set of amendments to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act that the Association’s House of Delegates approved in 2002.

Other Fields of Law: Dellapenna has also taught several courses on contracts and commercial law and occasionally serves as an attorney in such cases. This includes more than 20 years in teaching basic contracts. He has also developed a special interest in the history of abortion and abortion law in England and America. This led to his book, Dispelling the Myths of Abortion History (Carolina Academic Press: 2006), a book that several reviewers has described as "definitive". He has also presented amicus briefs on the history of abortion in three cases before the Supreme Court of the United States and several lower courts.