Ashley S. Deeks

Ashley Deeks served as an attorney-adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State.  She worked on issues related to the law of armed conflict, including detention, the U.S. relationship with the International Committee of the Red Cross, conventional weapons, and the legal framework for the conflict with al-Qaeda.  She also handled intelligence issues.  In previous positions at the State Department, Ms. Deeks advised on international law enforcement, extradition, and diplomatic property questions.  While in the Legal Adviser's Office, she has helped negotiate treaties on anti-corruption measures, extradition, counter-narcotics operations, and the law of war. From May to December 2005, she served as the embassy legal adviser at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, during Iraq's constitutional negotiations, constitutional referendum, and transition to the current government. She has written several articles on the Iraqi constitution, and has served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law Center, where she taught classes on international organizations.  Ms. Deeks received her BA in art history from Williams College and her JD from the University of Chicago Law School, where she served on the editorial board of the Law Review.  After graduating from law school, she clerked for Judge Edward Becker on the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.  She is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.  She is undertaking her fellowship tenure at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.