Dr Rafael Leal-Arcas, PhD, MRes (EUI), JSM (Stanford), LLM (Columbia), MPhil (LSE), BA, LLB (Granada), Barrister & Solicitor (Madrid)

Leal-Arcas

Senior Lecturer in Law

Location: Lincoln's Inn Fields
email: r.leal-arcas@qmul.ac.uk
Phone: +44 (0)20 7882 8071
Fax: +44 (0)20 7882 8101

Rafael teaches, and is the convenor of, the courses International Economic Law and the External Relations Law of the European Union, and teaches parts of  the course International Trade and Intellectual Property Law in the LLM programme. He also serves as a Senior Research Fellow at the World Trade Institute (University of Bern). He has thrice been a Drapers' Award nominee for excellence in teaching. In 2008, Rafael was named the best teacher of the University of Vienna School of Law 2008 Summer School (NICLAS), of which Queen Mary, University of London is a participant.

Rafael has been a Global Research Fellow at New York University School of Law (Hauser Global Law School Program), Visiting Fellow at the World Trade Institute (University of Bern), Visiting Scholar at Georgetown University Law Center (Fellow at its Institute of International Economic Law), Tillar House Resident Fellow at the American Society of International Law, Visiting Researcher at Harvard Law School (European Law Research Center) and Fellow at the Real Colegio Complutense (Harvard University), Emile Noël Doctoral Fellow at New York University School of Law (Jean Monnet Center for International and Regional Economic Law and Justice), Fellow at the Australian National University (National Europe Centre), and Visiting Scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School (Institute for Legal Studies).

Rafael completed his graduate legal education at Stanford Law School, Columbia Law School (where he obtained the Parker School Certificate for Achievement in International and Comparative Law), the London School of Economics and Political Science, and the European University Institute (Florence, Italy).

He completed his first law degree at the universities of Granada (Spain), Regensburg (Germany), Bologna (Italy), and Angers (France).

Rafael has previously taught at the Academy of WTO Law and Policy of Georgetown University Law Center (Washington, D.C.), the University of Vienna School of Law Summer School (Austria), the National Law School of India University (Bangalore, India)—where he was POROS Chair in European Union law, and the Universidade Federal Minas Gerais School of Law (Brazil).

Rafael has been a visiting lecturer at Georgetown University Law Center (US), Nankai University (China), Universidade Federal de Pernambuco School of Law (Brazil), Kültür University (Turkey), and University of Bahçesehir (Turkey). Rafael is also a Fellow of the Salzburg Seminar, and has been the recipient of the Fulbright, the British Council, and La Caixa scholarships. He has also been awarded a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Rafael has acted as a consultant to the World Trade Organization's legal affairs division, has served in the United States Court of International Trade (Chambers of Judge Pogue), and has clerked at the European Court of Justice (Chambers of Advocate-General Kokott) as well as the Court of First Instance of the European Communities (Chambers of Judge Lindh). He was an intern at the European Commission General Secretariat (Forward Studies Unit) -where he participated in the Young Leaders Summit 2000 (Okinawa, Japan), EU Council of Ministers Legal Service (External Relations Team), European Parliament General Secretariat (Directorate-General for Research), United Nations Secretariat (Economic and Social Council), and the European Commission Delegation to the United Nations.

Rafael is the author of the books International Trade and Investment Law: Multilateral, Regional and Bilateral Governance, Edward Elgar, 2010 and Theory and Practice of EC External Trade Law and Policy, Cameron May, 2008. He has published numerous articles on international trade and WTO law, international environmental law, EU law, international investment law and the interaction among them in American and European law reviews such as the Columbia Journal of European Law, Fordham International Law Journal, Legal Issues of Economic Integration, and European Foreign Affairs Review.

He has presented papers at conferences in the US, Canada, Europe, the Far East, Africa, Oceania, Latin America, South East Asia, and the Middle East, and is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the journals the European Law Journal, Melbourne Journal of International Law, London Law Review, European Integration Online Papers, International Journal of Communication, Journal of Int'l Commercial Law & Technology, International Journal of Private Law, Global Journal of Economics and Finance and Vienna Online Journal on International Constitutional Law.

Rafael supervises LLM and PhD dissertations in his field of expertise. He successfully won his bid for EUR 54,600 European Commission-funded project titled "Study on the existing level of liberalisation in selected services sectors."

Rafael is a member of the American Society of International Law, the Society of International Economic Law, the Asian Society of International Law, Young Professionals in Foreign Policy, and the University Association for Contemporary European Studies.

He is a qualified attorney in Madrid and speaks English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Ladino, and conversational Portuguese. Rafael is currently completing a novel based on a true criminal case in Italy.

Publications:

Rafael Leal-Arcas' scholarly papers on the SSRN website

Public Speaking Engagements

Dr Leal-Arcas' presentations [PDF 107kb]

Publications since 2001

A) Books

  • International Trade and Investment Law; Multilateral, Regional and Bilateral Governance, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, 2010, 352 pages; ISBN-13: 978 1 84980 319 9
    • ‘well researched and well written. [...] excellent and should be made mandatory reading materials for the relevant courses of EU external trade and investment law and policy.’
      – reviewed by Dr Nikolaos Lavranos in Legal Issues of Economic Integration, Vol. 38, Issue 3, pp. 287-290, 2011
    • To be Reviewed by Transnational Dispute Management, 2011
    • Reviewed by Theodore R. Posner in Transnational Dispute Management, Vol. 8, Issue 3, pp. 1-28, September 2011
    • ‘This book comes highly recommended. . . resembling a mini-handbook, [it] provides excellent snapshots on the history of international trade and investment law and provides detailed discussions on the various levels of governance available. . . a well-researched, informative and a good compilation. . . the book is practical and would be considered a valuable resource for academics and students of international trade and investment law.’
      – reviewed by Shu Ying Wee in International Trade and Business Law Review, Vol. XIV, pp. 555-558, 2011
    • ‘. . . a significant contribution to the literature. . . Mr Leal-Arcas’s analysis should be of interest to policy-makers and negotiators.’
      – reviewed by Prof. David Gantz in International Trade Law and Regulation, Vol. 17, Issue 2, pp. 77-78, 2011
    • Included in the American Journal of International Law, Vol. 104, No. 3, p. 564, 2010 under ‘Books Received’
    • Included in the 2010 Annual Book Survey of the Journal of International Economic Law, Vol. 14, No. 1, p. 211, 2011 [Oxford University Press], which is “a survey of themes, authors and publishers important in the area [of international economic law]”.
    • ‘In International Trade and Investment Law Dr Rafael Leal-Arcas succinctly describes and evaluates the linkages and tensions among three governance levels in the global political economy, the multilateral, the regional and the bilateral. He synthesises trade and investment law in a single text, exploring the continuities and discontinuities between the two. He discusses relevant historical, theoretical and policy issues, and the text moves easily between economic and legal analysis. Dr Leal-Arcas has provided a highly informative and stimulating text which will serve a wide audience for years to come.’ –Laurence Boulle, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
    • ‘This comprehensive treatment of international trade and investment law, covering various regulatory and legal levels, convinces by outlining approaches to overcome the existing fragmentation of the legal framework. Advocating for a move toward extended multilateralism and improved dispute settlements mechanism also allows to combat the past cyclicality of the rule- and decision-making processes.’ –Rolf H. Weber, University of Zürich, Switzerland
  • Theory and Practice of EC External Trade Law and Policy, London: Cameron May, April 2008, 606 pages, ISBN-13: 978 1 905017 65 2; ISBN-10: 1905017650
    • Included in the Common Market Law Review, Vol. 47, Issue 3, p. 970, 2010 under the ‘Book notices’ section
    • ‘one can only praise Leal-Arcas for his very well-researched and clearly written analysis of this complex but so fascinating topic. [...] In short, this book provides a very useful basis for guiding the reader through the murky waters of the EU’s external trade policy and practice.’
      – reviewed by Dr Nikolaos Lavranos in Legal Issues of Economic Integration, Vol. 38, Issue 3, pp. 287-290, 2011
    • Included in the American Journal of International Law, Vol. 102, No. 3, p. 711, under ‘Books Received’, 2008
    • Included in the 2008 Annual Book Survey of the Journal of International Economic Law, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 227-236, 2009 [Oxford University Press], which is “a survey of themes, authors and publishers important in the area [of international economic law]”.

B) Articles in International Peer-Reviewed Journals

2012

  • “Climate Migrants: Legal Options,” Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 37, pp. 86-96, 2012
  • “Geoengineering the Climate: An Overview” Oil, Gas & Energy Law Intelligence, Vol. 10, Issue 3, pp. 1-15, 2012
  • “The Role of the European Union and China in Global Climate Change Negotiations: A Critical Analysis,” Journal of European Integration History, Vol. 18, 2012 (commissioned by editorial board)
  • “Reflections on EU International Trade Law: An EU Introspective View,” Frontiers of Law in China, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

 C) Book Chapters/Contributions

D) Book Reviews

Works in progress

  • Climate Change, International Trade, and Energy Law: Issues for the WTO and the EU
  • "The future of regionalism in East Asia: the Creation of an East
    Asia Free Trade Area," publication by Brill, 2010

Research interests:

Rafael Leal-Arcas' research interests lie in international economic law and the external relations law of the EU.