Professor William Dodge joins GW Law all the way from the West Coast and is a former professor at UC Davis School of Law (2015–2024) and UC Law San Francisco (1995–2015). Professor Dodge teaches International Business Transactions, International Litigation and Arbitration, Conflict of Laws, and Contracts. He received the Distinguished Teaching Award at both UC Davis and at UC Law San Francisco.
Q: How did you get interested in law?
William Dodge: “In college, I was interested in politics and policy. I had this impression that you could do anything with a law degree. It mostly teaches you to practice law, but it turned out to be the right decision. Between college and law school, I taught English in the People’s Republic of China. I knew I was interested in international law, but didn’t know what that meant.”
Q: How did your experience teaching in China influence your world view?
WD: “It continued my interest in other cultures and the way other countries and peoples do things. It showed that different systems of law fit together or don’t fit together — that could be domestically and internationally. There’s a complexity in this field that goes beyond the complexity in many fields and that keeps it interesting. I am an author of an international business transactions book, the new one just came out this summer and I feel like it’s already out of date.”
Q: What do you hope to instill most in your students?
WD: “My goal is to teach people how to be law students. More generally, I see law as a problem-solving profession, and this is equally true internationally and domestically. Law is a set of tools that helps address certain types of problems. The law doesn’t address every type of problem, but for some types of problems it is enormously helpful. I want students to learn how to use those tools and to understand that that’s what they’re doing.”
Q: What drew you to D.C. and GW Law?
WD: “There are lots of opportunities to connect with lawyers in private practice and in the government, and with other academics. Now the problem is not having enough time to participate where it used to be getting on a plane. There are more students who come to D.C. and GW with an interest in the international area than was true where I taught prior. People come here with more of a policy orientation and with more of an international orientation. The same things that drew me here are drawing students here as well.”
Q: What types of projects are you working on in the long term?
WD: “I am a reporter for the Restatement (Fourth) of Foreign Relations Law. I’m looking into immunity and now provisions about the Compacts Clause in Article I, Section 10, which says when states can contract internationally. The Restatements go through a very long process, that will probably take another five years. I write for a blog on transnational litigation just about every week, and may decide with co-editors on the blog to do a transnational casebook, but the Restatements (Fourth) is probably the most recognizable.”
Professor Dodge says he is happy to be at GW Law and is not only excited to have an opportunity to put some of what he knows into practice, but also to work with a wider variety of people. He can be reached at william.dodge@law.gwu.edu.
