David Cohen
King Center on Global Development
Professor
Department of Classics
Director
Center for Human Rights and International Justice
David Cohen is a leading expert in the fields of human rights, international law, and transitional justice, as well as one of the world's leading social and legal historians of ancient Greece. Before coming to Stanford, Cohen taught at UC Berkeley as the Ancker Distinguished Professor for the Humanities and served as the founding director of the Berkeley War Crimes Studies Center. Cohen holds the WSD-HANDA professorship in human rights and international justice and is appointed in the classics department at Stanford. He also serves as a fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution.
Cohen's research into war crimes tribunals began with a project to collect the records of the national war crimes programs after WWII. Since 2001, Cohen's work has focused on contemporary tribunals and transitional justice initiatives. Cohen has led justice sector reform initiatives and tribunal monitoring programs overseas and at the regional level. Cohen serves as the advisor to the executive director and the governing board of the Human Rights Resource Center and leads the Center’s research projects. Cohen also directs the Summer Institute in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights.
Professor Cohen received his JD at UCLA’s School of Law, his PhD in classics and ancient history from Cambridge University, and an honorary doctorate in law from the University of Zurich.