Jessica H. Kim, an accomplished former federal prosecutor with deep experience in international criminal law, has joined the Cornell Law faculty this fall as a Distinguished Practitioner in Residence and Rule of Law Fellow. Kim brings a wealth of expertise at a moment of historic reflection and renewed global urgency for the rule of law.

Jessica H. Kim

Kim is the former U.S. Special Prosecutor for the Crime of Aggression, appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2023. Based at the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression Against Ukraine in The Hague, she worked with international partners to secure evidence and prepare cases aimed at holding senior political and military leaders accountable for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Kim was the first U.S. prosecutor since the Nuremberg Trials eighty years ago to engage in international efforts to build cases on the crime of aggression.

Kim’s hiring is part of a larger Law School plan to enhance research, teaching, and public engagement regarding the multifaceted relationship between democracy and the rule of law. In the coming years, these efforts will include new courses, conferences, symposia, visiting fellows, and training programs designed to support the rule of law in ways small and large. Specific topic areas will include support for international justice, preventing and prosecuting transnational corruption in business and politics, elections, and the essential connection between democratic governance and the administrative state. In building these efforts, the Law School plans to collaborate with Cornell’s Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy and the College of Arts and Sciences.

“The Nuremberg Trials established enduring principles for justice, accountability, and the rule of law,” said Jens David Ohlin, Allan R. Tessler Dean and Professor of Law. “Jessica Kim stands squarely in that tradition, bringing her extraordinary experience to Cornell Law School at a time when the world is once again confronting aggression, atrocities, and challenges to international legal norms. Our students will learn from someone who has been at the forefront of history in the making.”

As the Special Prosecutor, Kim collaborated with prosecutors and investigators from multiple countries, building on her prior leadership as Chief of Staff & Counselor of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division. She also served as the Department’s Resident Legal Advisor for Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovakia, where she helped prosecute high-level corruption, counter foreign malign influence, and strengthen judicial systems. Earlier in her career, Kim was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Ohio, where she prosecuted a wide range of criminal matters and received multiple national awards for distinguished service.

This fall, Kim will teach Designing International Criminal Tribunals. The course draws on her first-hand knowledge of international accountability mechanisms addressing war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and aggression, including from her recent experience representing the United States to establish a special tribunal for Ukraine.

“I am excited to be joining the Cornell Law community and contribute to its longstanding commitment to promoting and upholding the rule of law,” said Kim. “It is an honor to engage with students and colleagues in exploring how to advance accountability under the challenges of our time.”

Kim earned her B.A. from Miami University and her J.D. from Ohio State University, where she served as editor in chief of the Ohio State Law Journal. She clerked for the Hon. Edmund A. Sargus Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio and the Hon. G. Steven Agee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. She has also taught as an adjunct professor at Ohio State University Moritz College of Law since 2014.