Diane Edelman

Biography

Professor Edelman ’83 is a Brooklyn Law alumna, the Director of International Program and an Adjunct Professor of Law, following her visiting directorship in 2022-2023.

Professor Edelman has a passion for all things international. After earning an A.B. in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University and working as a paralegal, she earned her J.D. from Brooklyn Law, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Brooklyn Journal of International Law and was a member of the Regional-winning Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Team.

After clerking with former BLS Dean I. Leo Glasser and litigating at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan in New York, and Hoyle, Morris & Kerr in Philadelphia, Professor Edelman brought her love of international law to Villanova University’s Charles Widger School of Law, where she served as Professor of Law and directed international programs for approximately 20 years and directed the Legal Writing Program for nine years. In addition to teaching first-year Legal Writing courses, she occasionally taught Advanced Appellate Advocacy and Legal Analysis & Writing for Undergraduates. She regularly advised students externing with arts and international law organizations as well.

As Director of Villanova’s International Programs, Professor Edelman designed and taught in Villanova’s summer program in Montréal, and also designed the Villanova – University of St. Thomas summer program in Rome, which she directed and in which she taught International Art and Cultural Heritage Law for many years. Edelman also developed Villanova's J.D./LL.M. International Studies program, in which 44 students have earned LL.M. degrees from more than a dozen law schools abroad while also earning their J.D. degrees.

Professor Edelman has been active in developing legal skills training programs for foreign lawyers and law professors and has been an active member and leader in a variety of professional organizations. She is co-chair of the American Bar Association’s International Legal Education and Specialist Certification Committee and chair of the Association of American Law Schools Section on International Engagement. In addition, she served as President of and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Lawyers’ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation (www.culturalheritagelaw.org). She is thrilled to return to Brooklyn Law to lead its international programs.