Monica Eppinger, Ph.D., J.D.
Associate Professor
Center for International and Comparative Law
Courses Taught
Anthropology of Law, Managing International Commons: Law of the Sea, National Security, Property
Education
Practice Areas
- Anthropology of Law
- Comparative Law
- International Law
- National Security Law
- Property
Research Interests
Eppinger's work uses ethnographic tools to investigate law as a tool of social change at home and abroad.
Publications and Media Placements
Eppinger has published ten articles or peer-reviewed essays in journals including
the Hastings International and Comparative Law Review, the George Washington International
Law Review, and Catholic University Law Review. She has been a featured expert on
the law of war, Russia, and Ukraine on CNN, public radio, and in local print and broadcast
news media.
In 2011, the American Society of Comparative Law selected the working draft of her
article on the institution of private property in Ukraine, "Unraveling the Illiberal
Commons," as one of six papers discussed at its annual works-in-progress workshop
held at Yale Law School. Her work on property was also selected for the 2011 Stanford-Yale
Junior Faculty Forum. Her work in international law, on the law of war, was selected
for the 2011 Childress Symposium, the 2013 Ewha Comfort Women Conference (Seoul, Korea),
and the 2014 Cornell Law School Comfort Women Conference.
Community Work and Service
Before entering academia, Eppinger served in the United States diplomatic corps as
a tenured Foreign Service Officer for nine years, with tours of duty or policy-making
experience in Nigeria, Ukraine, Eastern Europe, Caspian energy, and West African security.
She was awarded an individual Superior Honor Award, the State Department's highest
civilian honor, in 1999.
In the fall of 2013, Eppinger was a visiting scholar at University of California Berkeley.
She has lectured at law schools across the United States and in Poland, Ukraine, and
Korea. She speaks Russian and Ukrainian and is conversant in Mandarin, French, and
Hausa.