Claudio Grossman
Professor of Law and Dean Emeritus
WCL | WCL Faculty
Degrees
Doctor in de Rechtsgeleerdheid (Doctor of the Science of Law), The University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands 1980 Licenciado en Ciencias Jurídicas y Sociales, The University of Chile Law School, Santiago, Chile 1971 ( summa cum laude)
Bio
Claudio Grossman is Professor of Law, Dean Emeritus, and the Raymond Geraldson Scholar for International and Humanitarian Law at American University Washington College of Law (WCL). He is a renowned authority in the field of international law. Throughout his career, Grossman has worked tirelessly to promote legal education, human rights, and the rule of law in a variety of leadership capacities in both international and domestic organizations and has published widely on such issues.
As Dean of WCL between 1994-2016, Grossman presided over the remarkable expansion of WCL, including international and national programs, curricular developments, research, and service in Human Rights, Law and Government, Clinics, Trade, Intellectual Property, LLM’s, SJD’s, and Dual Degree programs. During his time as Dean, he was recognized as one of the top 25 most influential people in legal education.
Grossman was elected by the General Assembly of the UN as a member of the International Law Commission (ILC) for 5 years (2017-2021) and re-elected for an additional period until 2027. In 2019 he was elected chair of the ILC’s Drafting Committee, and since 2023, he has served as Special Rapporteur on Immunity of State Officials from Foreign Criminal Jurisdiction and member of the ILC study group on Sea Level Rise. In 2024, Grossman was appointed by the Government of Canada to the Independent International Panel on Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations.
He was also elected to the L’Institut de Droit International (Institute of International Law) in 2019, becoming a full member in 2023, and was appointed to its 12th Commission on Epidemics and International Law. In 2023, he was elected by the Chilean Congress as a member and then vice president of the technical committee of admissibility. This committee was the judicial organ in charge of deciding the compatibility of projects for constitutional reform with basic principles consensually approved in the process designed to modify the Chilean constitution. Grossman served as both member and chairperson of the UN Committee Against Torture (CAT) and was elected chair of the UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies for a one-year term (2013-2014). In May 2009, he was named to the judging panel for the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights, and since May 2010, he has been a member of the Center’s Board of Directors.
From 1993-2001, he served on the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights (IACHR) and twice served as IACHR President. He was the IACHR's first Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women as well as Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Populations. He participated in landmark human rights cases and developments within the Universal and Inter-American legal systems, including the adoption of CAT General Comment 3 on reparations, decisions against discrimination, freedom of expression, rape as torture, extraordinary renditions, disappearances, indigenous populations, amnesties, and reparations. Grossman has served as Agent for Chile in Obligation to Negotiate (Bolivia v Chile) from 2016-2018 and as Co-Agent from 2013-2016, and in 2014, as Advocate on the Case Concerning Maritime Dispute (Perú v. Chile) before the International Court of Justice.
Prof. Grossman has received numerous honorary degrees and distinctions for his work. In 2020, he received the Goler T. Butcher Medal awarded by the American Society of International Law, as a “distinguished person for outstanding contributions to the development or effective realization of international human rights.” In 2025, he received the Nelson Mandela Award from the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) in recognition of his pioneering research, advocacy, and teaching, which have inspired countless scholars, practitioners, and policymakers worldwide. In March 2025, he was recognized with the Premio Facultad de Derecho de la Escuela de Derecho de la Universidad de Chile for his “contributions to democracy, human rights, the teaching of law, and peacemaking.”
