Associate Professor of Law and Political Science, UH Law Center
Co-Director Criminal Justice Institute; Associated Faculty, Hobby School of Public Affairs and Elizabeth D. Rockwell Center on Ethics and Leadership
Visiting Associate Professor of Law, Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (Spring 2022)

Expertise: Criminal law, international law, international and transitional justice, international courts and tribunals, human rights, atrocity crimes (including genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity), atrocity prevention and response, bystanders and upstanders, U.S. foreign policy and national security, United Nations, social entrepreneurship, and Sub-Saharan Africa (particularly Rwanda).

Career Highlights:

Before joining UH, Professor Kaufman taught at Stanford Law School and was a Senior Fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Previously, he held academic appointments at Yale Law School, Harvard Law School, Stanford University, and New York University, and taught at Yale University’s Department of Political Science and George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs.

Professor Kaufman received his J.D. from Yale Law School (where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Law & Policy Review); his Ph.D. and M.Phil, both in International Relations, from Oxford University (where he was a Marshall Scholar); and his B.A. in Political Science from Yale University (where he was the student body president).

Professor Kaufman has served in all three branches of the U.S. government (including at the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Departments of State and Justice, and the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee) and at three international war crimes tribunals (including as the first American to serve at the International Criminal Court).

A Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Professor Kaufman is currently working on his fourth book, this one on the law and politics of bystanders and upstanders. His other research focuses on domestic and international criminal law.