Dale Stephens

S.J.D. Candidate

dstephens at sjd.law.harvard.edu

Dissertation

The Role of Law in Military Decision Making: Lawfare or Law Fair?

My project seeks to reveal the manner in which law is synthesized within the military decision-making structure. The central focus of my study will be on decision-making undertaken within the context of national security, with particular emphasis on the exercise of discretion under the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC). The principal themes I will canvass include the ‘traction’ of law in influencing national security and LOAC decisions with particular reference to the salience of underlying socio-legal norms, the normative character of the Law of Armed Conflict and its pre-dominant interpretative methodology and the modalities of dispensing legal advice in military command decision-making.

Fields of Research and Supervisors

A Normative Assessment of the Law of Armed Conflict and Its Interpretative Methodologies with Professor David Kennedy, Brown University and Visiting Professor Harvard Law School, Overall Faculty Supervisor
Socio-Legal Analysis of Norm Building and Compliance with Professor Ryan Goodman, Harvard Law School.
The Taxonomy of Government Legal Advice in Relation to NationalSecurity/Military Operations with Professor Jack Goldsmith, Harvard Law School.

Additional Research Interests

Public International Law
Legal and Political Theory
Legal Profession
Military Ethics

Education

Harvard Law School, S.J.D. Candidate 2009 - Present
Harvard Law School, LL.M 2004
Melbourne University, LL.M 2003
South Australia Institute of Technology, GDLP 1990
Adelaide University, LL.B (Hons) 1989
Flinders University of South Australia, B.A. 1985

Academic Appointments and Fellowships

Director Military Law Centre, 2006 – 2008 Sydney, Australia (Course co-ordinator with the Australian National University).
Deputy Director Asia Pacific Centre for Military Law (joint venture with Melbourne University), 2006 – 2008, Sydney, Australia.

Representative Publications

Dale Stephens, “Coalition Warfare: Challenges and Opportunities” in The Law of War in the 21^st Century: Weaponry and the Use of Force (ed. A. Helm), 82 International Law Studies, 245 (2006).
Dale Stephens (with Michael Lewis), “The Law of Armed Conflict – A Contemporary Critique”, 6 Melbourne Journal of International Law, 55 (2006).
Dale Stephens (with Angeline Lewis), “The Targeting of Civilian Contractors in Armed Conflict”, 9 Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law 25 (2006).
Dale Stephens, The Use of Force in Peacekeeping Operations, Monograph, (2005).

Additional Information

Captain, Royal Australian Navy.

Last Updated: [May 27, 2009]