Diane Desierto

Diane Desierto holds a joint appointment as Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs and Notre Dame Law School, where she serves as LLM faculty director. She is also co-principal investigator of the Notre Dame Reparations Design and Compliance Lab, one of Kellogg's Policy and Practice Research labs. As a Kellogg Institute faculty fellow since 2018, she maintains significant affiliations with multiple research centers at Notre Dame.

Dr. Desierto earned her JSD and LLM degrees from Yale University Law School and completed her JD and BS at the University of the Philippines. Her academic journey includes previous faculty appointments at the University of Hawaii and Peking University School of Transnational Law. She was a faculty fellow at Stanford University's Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and served as director of studies and faculty at The Hague Academy of International Law.

Professor Desierto specializes in international law with particular expertise in international economic law, human rights, development, humanitarian law, comparative constitutional law, and maritime security. Her research addresses dispute settlement mechanisms and the evolving regional law of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). She has written more than 100 law review articles, book chapters, and other publications, and is the sole author/editor of three books and co-author of two others.

Her scholarly work demonstrates a consistent focus on the intersection of human rights and economic governance, with particular attention to reparations mechanisms, ASEAN integration, and the challenges of balancing national policy space with international obligations. Recent publications highlight her growing interest in climate change impacts, reparative justice, and the practical implementation of international human rights standards.

• Honor Award for Environmental Advocacy (2024)

As an advisor, Professor Desierto currently mentors Rachel DeGaugh. She has secured significant research funding through her role as co-principal investigator of the Notre Dame Reparations Design and Compliance Lab, which has partnered with the Commission of Human Rights in the State of Mexico. Her lab also collaborates with international organizations including the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Asian Development Bank.

Professor Desierto leads the Notre Dame Reparations Design and Compliance Lab, which brings together scholars, policymakers, and practitioners from leading institutions in international human rights law compliance. The lab recently convened a workshop on reparations design and compliance with participants from across the globe, focusing on human rights, climate change, and international development.