Nancy Combs

Faculty Director, L.L.M. Program and Ernest W. Goodrich Professor of Law

Areas of Specialization

Human Rights Law; International Criminal Law; International Law; Post-Conflict Justice; Transitional Justice

Representative Professional Activities and Achievements

Nancy Combs joined the faculty in 2004. A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley School of Law, Professor Combs was awarded the Thelen Marrin prize for graduating first in her class, and she served as an Articles Editor on the California Law Review. Professor Combs received her B.A., in philosophy, summa cum laude, from the University of Portland and her Ph.D. from Leiden University in December 2005. After law school, Professor Combs served as a law clerk to Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and to Justice Anthony Kennedy on the United States Supreme Court. Prior to joining the faculty, Professor Combs served as legal advisor at the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal in The Hague, The Netherlands.

Since joining the faculty, she has written extensively on topics in international law and international criminal justice, publishing two books and dozens of articles and essays appearing in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, the Vanderbilt Law Review, the Indiana Law Journal, the Wake Forest Law Review, the U.C. Davis Law Review, the Hastings Law Journal, the Washington & Lee Law Review, the Arizona Law Review, the Harvard International Law Journal, the Yale Journal of International Law, the Virginia Journal of International Law, and the Chicago Journal of International Law, among others.

Professor Combs has received numerous University and Law School Awards during her tenure at William and Mary. In 2024, she received the University’s Thomas A. Graves, Jr. Award for Sustained Excellence in Teaching. In 2023, she received the McGlothlin Award for Teaching Excellence. In 2022, she was voted 1L Professor of the Year by the Law School class of 2024. In 2016 and 2009, Professor Combs received the Plumeri Award for Faculty Excellence, and also in 2009, she received William and Mary's Alumni Award Fellowship Award for teaching excellence.

Professor Combs has appeared as an expert witness in international criminal trials in Norway, Sweden and The Netherlands, and she was a member of the International Expert Framework on International Criminal Procedure. She is currently on the Steering Board of Rethinking SLIC, a global research project that explores secondary liability for international crimes and serious human rights violations. Before attending university, Professor Combs owned and operated a chimney sweeping business.