Cara Cunningham Warren
CaraÌýCunningham Warren
Professor of Law
Degrees
- LL.M. University of Toronto Faculty of Law ’17
- J.D. ±«Óãtv School of Law ’96
- B.A. Michigan State University ’93
Biography
Cara Cunningham Warren is a political scientist who holds degrees from American and Canadian law schools. Her scholarship concentrates on sovereignty, good governance, and institutional legitimacy at the international and domestic levels. She has been ranked in the top 10% of all authors on the Social Science Research Network in terms of new total downloads and received the University-wide 2023 Faculty Excellence Award and the Law School’s 2023 James T. Barnes Sr. Memorial Faculty Scholar Award.
In terms of national service, Professor Warren is the General Co-Editor of the American Bar Association International Law Section Year-in-Review; a member of the Governing Board of the Sirico Scholars Writing Workshops; and an executive member of three sections of the Association of American Law Schools (International Law, Comparative Law, and Law in the Americas).
Professor Warren completed a federal judicial clerkship with the Honorable Virginia M. Morgan of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. She then litigated at both the trial and appellate levels specializing in employment, civil rights, and tort-reform cases.
Professor Warren joined the ±«Óãtv Law faculty in 2000. She teaches in the Canadian and American Dual JD program and has created a series of upper-level international law clourses. She is a Dialogue Fellow and co-directs the Law School's Dialogue Fellows Faculty Training Series.
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Courses Taught
Comparative Legal Writing and Analysis I & II (1070) (Canadian & American)
International Law (3200)
Pursuing Dialogue in International Conflict (3201)
International Institutions & the Use of Force in the 21st Century (3205)
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Selected Publications
Regression: The Degradation of Environmental Protections and the Constitutional Order from Within, in Observatorio del ciclo del agua 2024/ Water Cycle Observatory 2024 (Atelier 2025).
Urban Water in the United States: Impacts of Infrastructure, Environmental Injustice, and Cooperative Federalism, in Observatorio del ciclo del agua 2023/ water Cycle Observatory 2023 (Thomson Reuters Aranzadi 2024).
International Law in Context (Carolina Academic Press, 2023)
Cultivating the International Criminal Court’s Legitimacy and Use of Constructivism to Prepare for Head-of-State Aggression Prosecutions, in The Past, Present, and Future of the International Criminal Court (International Nuremberg Principles Academy 2021).
‘Outing’ Otherization: A Means to Enable Cooperation in a Post-Truth Era, 58:3 Washburn L. J. 609 (2019).
Prosecuting the Crime of Aggression as a Complement: A Framework to Promote the ICC’s Legitimacy in the Context of Head-of-State Prosecutions, 51:2 Geo. Wash. Int’l. L. Rev. 231 (2019).
Sanctuary Lost? Exposing the Reality of the “Sanctuary-City” Debate and Liberal States-Rights’ Litigation, 63:2 Wayne L. Rev. 155 (2018). SSRN Top Ten Download List for September, October & November 2017
An American Reset—Safe Water & a Workable Model of Federalism, 27 Duke Envtl. L. & Pol’y F. 51 (2016). SSRN Top Ten Download List for September, October & November 2016
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Selected Presentations
Plenary Speaker & Facilitator, Promoting Dialogue Across Cultural & Ideological Differences (virtual), Suffolk University Law School & Legal Writing Institute Global Legal Skills Committee (2025) (invited speaker)
Intergroup Dialogue Faculty Training – A Case Study , Association of American Law Schools Annual Conference on Clinical Education, Baltimore, Maryland (2025)Innovations in International Law Instructional Design, Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting, San Francisco, California (2025)
International Court of Justice and the Case of South Africa v. Israel, ±«Óãtv School of Law (2024)
Comparing American Federalism: Saving Grace or Seeds of Disunion? Constitutional Law Colloquium, Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Chicago, Illinois (2023)
Countermeasures & the Security Council Veto, Law Review Symposium, ±«Óãtv School of Law, Detroit, Michigan (2023)
The Comparative Law Classroom, Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting, San Diego, California (2023)
The Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Threats to the International Order, Current Events in the Law Series, ±«Óãtv School of Law, Detroit, Michigan (2022)
Cultural Competency as a Core Lawyering “Skill” Developing an Inclusive and Culturally Proficient Community Using ‘Communities of Practice’ University of Michigan Law School, Association of Legal Writing Directors Annual Conference Ann Arbor, Michigan (2021)
American Federalism & The Pandemic: Saving Our Saving Grace Constitution Day Panel, ±«Óãtv School of Law Detroit, Michigan (2020)
Pedagogy Hallmarks in a 21st Century Casebook Institute for Law Teaching & Learning Writers’ Workshop Topeka, Kansas (2019)
Cooperation in a Post-Truth Era Washburn University School of Law, Washburn Law Journal Symposium Topeka, Kansas (2018)
Cultural Competency as a Core Lawyering “Skill” Marquette University Law School, Legal Writing Institute’s Biennial Conference Milwaukee, Wisconsin (2018)
Head-of-State Prosecutions in the International Criminal Court: A Framework to Promote International Justice University of Richmond School of Law, Mid-Atlantic Junior Faculty Forum Richmond, Virginia (2018)
Sanctuary Lost? Evaluating the Consequences of Liberal States’ Rights Legal Writing Institute Writers’ Workshop Washington, D.C. (2017)
What U.S. Law Professors Should Know About Legal Research in Canada and Mexico – It's Not Just NAFTA Anymore Association of American Law Schools Annual Conference San Francisco, California (2017)
An American Reset: Safe Water & a Workable Model of Federalism Washburn University School of Law, Junior Legal Writing Scholars’ Workshop Topeka, Kansas (2016)