Linda M. Keller
J.D., Yale Law School
B.A., University of Richmond, summa cum laude
Dean and President Linda M. Keller joined the TJSL faculty in the fall of 2003. She served as Dean from October 2018 – July 2024 and was appointed as Dean and President in July 2025. She returned to the faculty for the 2024-2025 academic year while also serving as head of the Department of Strategic Planning and Institutional Analysis. Prior to her initial appointment as Dean, she served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Vice Dean.
After graduating from Yale Law School, where she was notes editor for the Yale Law Journal, she served as a clerk and supervisor in the Legal Research Office of the Connecticut Judicial Department. She then taught international human rights law and legal writing for four years at the University of Miami School of Law, where she also served as Fellow of the Center for the Study of Human Rights.
She has published on international criminal law and human rights in journals including the American University International Law Review. She served as a Visiting Professional at the International Criminal Court during the 2011-12 academic year, working in the Pre-Trial Chambers handling the Kenya cases. She is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
Residential and Online Courses include:
Criminal Law, Learning Skills
Articles, Book Chapters, and Article-Length Works
The Continuing Peace with Justice Debate: Recent Events in Uganda and the International Criminal Court, 48 U. of Pac. L. Rev. 265 (2017) Download a PDF version of the article
The Impact of States Parties’ Reservations to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 2014 Mich. St. L. Rev. 309 (2014) Download a PDF version of the article
Comparing the Interests of Justice: What the International Criminal Court Can Learn from New York Law, 12 Wash. U. Glob. Stud. L. Rev. 1 (2013) Download a PDF version of the article.
The Practice of the International Criminal Court: Comments on "The Complementarity Conundrum", 8 Santa Clara J. Int'l L. 199 (2010) Download a PDF version of the article.
Using International Human Rights Law in U.S. Courts: Lessons from the Campaign against the Juvenile Death Penalty, in What is Right for Children?: The Competing Paradigms of Religion and Human Rights (Martha Fineman & Karen Worthington, eds., 2009)
The False Dichotomy of Peace versus Justice and the International Criminal Court, 3 Hague Justice Journal No. 1 (2008) Download a PDF version of the article.
Achieving Peace with Justice: The International Criminal Court and Ugandan Alternative Justice Mechanisms, 23 Conn. J. Int'l L. 209 (2008) Download a PDF version of the article.
Alternatives to Miranda: Preventing Coerced Confessions via the Convention Against Torture, 10 Chapman L. Rev. 745 (2007)
Seeking Justice at the International Criminal Court: Victims' Reparations, 29 T. Jefferson L. Rev. 189 (2007) Download a PDF version of the article.
Is Truth Serum Torture?, 20 Am. U. Int'l L. Rev. 521 (2005) Download a PDF version of the article.
The Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women: Evolution and (Non)Implementation Worldwide, 27 T. Jefferson L. Rev. 35 (2005)
The American Rejection of Economic Rights as Human Rights and the Declaration of Independence: Does the Pursuit of Happiness Require Basic Economic Rights?, 19 N.Y.L. Sch. J. Hum. Rts. 557 (2003)
Other Writings
The Changing Landscape of Legal Education, San Diego Lawyer Magazine, p. 11, Sept/Oct 2019.
Supporting Law Students’ Interest in Serving the Community, San Diego Lawyer Magazine, p. 15, Mar/Apr 2019.
The International Criminal Court and Palestine: Part I, JURIST - Forum, Jan. 29, 2013, http://jurist.org/forum/2013/01/linda-keller-palestine-icc-part1.php.
The International Criminal Court and Palestine: Part II, JURIST - Forum, Feb. 5, 2013, http://jurist.org/forum/2013/02/linda-keller-palestine-icc-part2.php.
Partial Victory for Zimbabwe President Mugabe in U.S. Litigation Alleging Human Rights Violations, ASIL Insights (March 2002), at http://www.asil.org/insights/insigh83.htm.
The Indivisibility of Economic and Political Rights: A Review of Development as Freedom, by Amartya Sen, 1 Human Rights & Human Welfare 9 (July 2001), at http://www.du.edu/gsis/hrhw/volumes/2001/1-3/keller-sen.pdf.
Belgian Jury to Decide Case Concerning Rwandan Genocide, ASIL Insights (May 2001), at http://www.asil.org/insights/insigh72.htm.
Domestic Incorporation of International Human Rights Law in Capital Punishment Litigation, in Using International Human Rights Law in Domestic Courts: A Workshop for Legal Service Providers (Lowenstein International Human Rights Law Project, Feb. 26, 1994) (working draft with Sanjay Chhablani).
Selected Presentations & Media Appearances
Thomas Jefferson School of Law – Committed to Diversity and Inclusion (cover feature), San Diego Attorney Journals, vol. 237, 2023.
ABTL Nuts & Bolts: Persuading the Court through Effective Legal Writing, Association of Business Trial Lawyers, San Diego, CA, Oct. 5, 2021.
San Diego Leaders React to Death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sept. 18, 2020, CBS8 (available at https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbs8.com/amp/article/news/local/san-diego-reacts-justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg/509-38d29214-5587-42ae-bfd2-152bd04aaccb)
Acholi Traditional Justice & the International Criminal Court, 2016 Global Center Symposium, Crimes without Borders: In Search of an International Justice System, McGeorge School of Law, Sacramento, CA, March 4, 2016.
The Challenges of International Criminal Justice: Case Study – Kenya & the International Criminal Court, University of California at San Diego, Osher Institute, Feb. 18, 2014; Thomas Jefferson School of Law Alumni MCLE Presentation, July 16, 2013.
The Impact of States Parties’ Reservations to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Symposium on Whether the United States Should Become a Party to the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Michigan State University College of Law, East Lansing, MI, Nov. 8, 2013.
The International Criminal Court in Africa, Africa Today with Walter Turner, KPFA (Berkeley, CA), https://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/96594, Oct. 28, 2013.
The Convoluted Road to Trial: The ICC Kenyatta Case, International Law Weekend – Midwest, The Legal Challenges of Globalization: A View from the Heartland, Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, St. Louis, MO, Sept. 20, 2013.
Prosecuting Human Rights Violations: Case Study – Kenya & the International Criminal Court, Campaigning for Human Rights, La Jolla, CA, Dec. 4, 2012.
Sabbatical Presentation: International Criminal Court Experience, Faculty Development Committee, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, Oct. 1, 2012.
The International Criminal Court & Africa, Africa Today with Walter Turner, KPFA (Berkeley, CA), http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/72049, Aug. 1, 2011.
Reconciling Peace and Justice, International Human Rights Speakers Series, Whittier Law School, Costa Mesa, CA, Mar. 24, 2009.
Commentator, Complementarity and the International Criminal Court; Experts’ Roundtable, 2009 Santa Clara Journal of International Law Symposium: The Future of International Criminal Justice, Santa Clara Law School, Santa Clara, CA, Mar. 13-14, 2009.
Channel 10, 4 O’clock News, Local Man Imprisoned in Nicaragua to Receive Appeal [Eric Volz case], Apr. 26, 2007 at http://www.10news.com/news/13208299/detail.html (last visited 4/27/07).
International Human Rights & the U.S. Abolition of the Death Penalty, Challenges for Children’s Rights Symposium, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, San Diego, CA, Mar. 2, 2007.
International Law & Interrogations, Chapman Law Review Symposium 2007 - Miranda at 40, Chapman University School of Law, Orange, CA, Jan. 26, 2007.
Using International Human Rights Law in U.S. Courts: Lessons from the Campaign against the Juvenile Death Penalty, San Diego County Public Law Library Special Events - Attorneys as Authors Series, San Diego, CA, Sept. 15, 2006.
Victims’ Reparations in International Law, World Affairs Council, Rancho Bernardo, CA, June 15, 2006.
Legal Research & the Google Generation: Update from Cyberspace (with Prof. Ben Templin), Twelfth Biennial Conference of the Legal Writing Institute, Atlanta, GA, June 9, 2006.
Seeking Justice at the International Criminal Court: Victims’ Reparations, Conference on Taking Reparations Seriously, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, San Diego, CA, Mar. 19, 2006.
Moderator, Guantanamo Debate: Professor Cohn vs. West Point Professor Margaret Stock,Thomas Jefferson School of Law, San Diego, CA, Sept. 7, 2005.
International Human Rights Law: Hot Topics, UCSD English Language Institute (Intensive Legal English), San Diego, CA, Mar. 4, 2005.
Moderator, Law and the Humanities’ Representation of the Holocaust, Genocide and Other Human Rights Violations: Narratives of Retributive and Non-Retributive Justice and Genocide, Law & Humanities Institute and Thomas Jefferson School of Law, San Diego, CA, Jan. 16, 2005.
Introduction to Legal Analysis and Writing in the United States, UCSD English Language Institute, San Diego, CA, Dec. 2, 2004.
Investigating International Crimes in Uganda & Democ. Rep. of Congo: The Work of the International Criminal Court Begins, World Affairs Council, Rancho Bernardo, CA, Oct. 14, 2004.
The Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women: Evolution and (Non) Implementation Worldwide, Fourth Annual Women & the Law Conference, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, San Diego, CA, Feb. 20, 2004.
The Creation of the International Criminal Court, World Affairs Council, Rancho Bernardo, CA, Mar.18, 2004.
The Declaration of Independence Demands Economic Rights, Center for the Study of Human Rights, University of Miami School of Law, Miami, FL, Oct. 2002.