David D. Caron Fund

David D. Caron

David D. Caron (1952-2018), judge, lawyer, educator, and scholar, was an admired leader of the American Society of International Law and a cherished friend, mentor, and colleague to many within its ranks. The Society has established the David D. Caron Fund, with the support and approval of the Caron family, as a way of paying tribute to his life and achievements and perpetuating his legacy.

David first became engaged in the Society as a student in 1979. As a young professional, he received the American Journal of International Law's Francis Deák Prize for best article by an author under 40. He participated in the Disaster Law and International Environmental Law Interest Groups and chaired the ASIL West Interest Group. He went on to serve as a member of the Program, Outreach, Honors, Executive, and Nominating committees and the Journal's Board of Editors, as a vice president, and as president from 2010-2012. During his presidency, David and his wife Susan relocated to Washington, D.C., and David became the first (and only) president to have an office in the Society's headquarters at Tillar House. He was a devoted supporter of the Society, both intellectually and financially, becoming an Elihu Root Patron in 2011. He appeared before the Society for the last time at the 2017 Annual Meeting, where, he delivered the Charles N. Brower Lecture on International Dispute Resolution. David's untimely passing in February 2018 was an enormous loss to the Society and the international law community in the United States and worldwide.

David D. Caron Fund Convocation - 2018 Midyear Meeting


The David D. Caron Fund will be used to support the Society's Research Forum, including the creation in David's name of an annual prize and annual fellowships for students or recent graduates who attend the Forum, as well as for other Society activities. The Society gratefully acknowledges generous commitments from Society Patron and Past President Charles N. Brower to match the first $100,000 in donations, and from the Spencer and Caron families to match the next $25,000 in donations.

David D. Caron Prize

The David D. Caron Prize is awarded for the best paper presented at the ASIL Research Forum by (a) a student currently enrolled in a graduate program; or (b) a person who received a graduate degree not more than five years prior to the date of the Research Forum at which the paper is presented. The Prize is announced at the Research Forum and the recipient receives a travel stipend to attend the formal presentation at the Society's subsequent Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.
David D. Caron Prize Recipients
  • 2023: Tobias Traxler, European University Institute, "Issues of Timing and Pro-Claimant Bias in Arbitration Selection"
    Tobias Traxler
  • 2022: Dr. Chen Yu, National University of Singapore, "International Adjudication as Interactional Law-Making"
  • 2021: Shiri Krebs, Associate Professor of Law, Deakin Law School, "The Effects of Visual Evidence on the Application of International Humanitarian Law: A behavioural approach"
  • 2020: Tatsiana Ziniakova, Wake Forest University School of Law, "Gender-Based Violence in International Human Rights Law: Evolution towards a Binding Post-Binary Framework"
  • 2019: Yanbai Andrea Wang, Stanford Law School, "Exporting American Discovery"
  • 2018 (inaugural): Léon Castellanos-Jankiewicz, T.M.C. Asser Institute, "Nationalism, Alienage, and Early International Rights"


Click to Donate to the David D. Caron Fund
The Society gratefully acknowledges the following contributors to
the David D. Caron Fund
(Updated through June 1, 2019)

Anonymous
Frederick M. Abbott
Mark D. Agrast & David M. Hollis
Jawad Ahmad & Isabella Ingelman-Sundberg
Shahla F. Ali
José E. Alvarez
Diane Marie Amann
Elizabeth Andersen
Georgios Andriotis
Mr. & Mrs. Edward Balsamo
Judge Rosemary Barkett
John & Dawn Bellinger
George A. Bermann
Sir Daniel L. Bethlehem
Richard B. Bilder
Andrea Bjorklund & Seán Duggan
Jeff Bleich
Christopher Borgen
David & Amanda Bowker
Anna Spain Bradley
Curtis A. Bradley
John Branson
John Briscoe & Carol Sayers
Briscoe Ivester & Bazel LLP
Sherry Broder
Charles Hendrickson Brower II
Charles N. Brower
Diane Marie Brown
Edith Brown Weiss
Hannah Buxbaum
Lee & Christina Caplan
Marina Caron
Peter Caron
Ray & Denise Caron
James H. Carter
Leon Castellanos-Jankiewicz
James Castello
Steve & Sally Charnovitz
Matthew N. Church
Kathleen Claussen
Harlan G. Cohen
Nancy Combs
Linda Crabtree
John R. Crook
The Bederman Cuzze Family
Jan & Elizabeth J S Dalhuisen
Dorinda G. Dallmeyer
Michael Daly
Lori Fisler Damrosch
E. Whitney Debevoise II
Delos Dispute Resolution
Claire & Al Denholm
William S. Dodge
Joan Donoghue & Julie Oettinger
Donald F. Donovan & Jennifer Lake
Kathleen A. Doty
Sharla Draemel
Brian J. Egan
Gudmundur Eiriksson
Dr. Mark S. Ellis
Michael & Mary Ann Farley
Kathryn & Thomas Faturos
Jim Feinerman
Aaron Fellmeth
Malgosia Fitzmaurice
Laurel Fletcher
L. Yves Fortier
Susan D. Franck
Lisa Frank
Jean Galbraith
David A. Gantz
Hannah R. Garry
Judith Gill QC
Tom Ginsburg
Chiara Giorgetti
Ron Goodman & Rosabel Goodman-Everard
Sir Christopher & Lady Greenwood
Florian Grisel
Margaret & Richard Hagelberg
Marianne E. Haesloop
Jeff Hall & Amy Levine
Loytavian Harrell
Veijo Heiskanen
Laurence R. Helfer
Giulia Pelillo-Hestermeyer & Holger Hestermeyer
Rosalyn Higgins
Christina Hioureas
James Hosking
Timothy Hughes
Brian Israel & Lindsay Harris
Robert A. James
Tom Johnson
Benjamin Jones
Walter F. Kaelin
Susan L. Karamanian


David & Dalia Dassa Kaye
Chimène Keitner
Harold Hongju Koh & Mary-Christy Fisher
Carolyn Lamm & Peter Halle
Toby T. Landau QC
Robert Reyes Landicho & Peggy Li
Larson O'Brien LLP
Peter Leaver QC
Daniel Litwin
Lucinda A. Low & Daniel B. Magraw
Betty Lucas Golub & Stephen Golub
Lisa A. Mammel
Denise Matsuoka
Duncan Matthews QC
Margaret E. McGuinness
Campbell McLachlan
Donald McRae
Ariel Meyerstein
Saira Mohamed & Nels Bangerter
John Norton Moore
Michael & Helen Morin
David Mosey
Cian C. Murphy & Linda H. Griffin
Sean D. & Julie Murphy
James A. R. Nafziger
Joseph Neuhaus
Federico Ortino
Bernard H. Oxman
Kathleen Paisley
Cymie Payne
Matti & Irja Pellonpää
Andrea Peterson & Michael Rubin
Pascal Pichonnaz
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
Mona Pinchis-Paulsen
Neil A. F. Popovic
Michele Potestà
Peter Prows
Bruce C. Rashkow
Lucy F. Reed
Tom Reilly & Kevin James
Kenneth B. Reisenfeld
W. Michael Reisman & Mahnoush Arsanjani
Laurel Rematore
Alison Rieser & Les Watling
Andres Rigo Sureda
Kathy Roberts
Brad R. Roth
Arthur W. Rovine
J. William Rowley QC
Philippe J. Sands
Celina Schocken
Judge & Mrs. Stephen M. Schwebel
Gregory Shaffer
Jeremy K. Sharpe
Akiho Shibata
Milbert Shin
Esmé Shirlow
Elizabeth M. Silbert
Bruno Simma
Anne Marie Slaughter
David L. Sloss
Abby Cohen Smutny
Society of International Economic Law
Asa Solway & Sanja Popovic
Yann-huei Song
Susan L. Spencer
Kittinut Supsoontornkul
Linda Taylor
Ruth Teitelbaum
Anastasia Telesetsky
John M. Townsend
William Treanor
Anne Trebilcock
Epaminontas Triantafilou
Peter & Rhoda Trooboff
Beth Van Schaack & Brent Lang
Diane & Menno Valk
Molly & Robert Van Houweling
Carlos M. Vázquez
V.V. Veeder QC
Guglielmo Verdirame
Phil Verney
Hafez R. Virjee
Volterra Fieta
Judge Evan Wallach & Dr. Katherine C. Tobin
Mubarak Waseem
Philippa Webb & Eric Cloutier
Todd Weiler
Evelyn Welch & the A&S Team
Sir David A. R. Williams QC
Adrien K. Wing
David B. Winn
Jarrod Wong
Sir Michael Charles Wood
Tseming Yang




At the time he assumed the presidency, David was the C. William Maxeiner Distinguished Professor of Law at his alma mater, the University of California at Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law, where he had served on the faculty since 1987. Before joining the Boalt Hall faculty, he practiced with the San Francisco firm of Pillsbury Madison & Sutro. From 1985 to 1986, he was a senior research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public and International Law. A Fulbright Scholar and former navigator and salvage diver in the U.S. Coast Guard, David graduated from Boalt Hall in 1983. He then served as a legal assistant to Judges Richard Mosk and Charles N. Brower at the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal in The Hague. In 2013, David became Dean and Professor at Law at Dickson Poon School of Law at King's College London.

In 2015, David was appointed to succeed Judge Brower on the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal. At the time of his death, he was sitting not only as a judge on the Tribunal, but also as an ad hoc judge on the International Court of Justice and in several ad hoc arbitrations.
Among the most important innovations David introduced during his presidency of the Society was the ASIL Research Forum, which has since become the centerpiece of the Midyear Meeting held each fall. The event highlights exciting new work in the field of international law, featuring expert-led discussions of innovative papers on a broad range of current topics in international law, together with keynote programs, networking receptions, research workshops and professional development programs for students and new professionals considering careers in international law. The Forum is a wonderful opportunity for international law scholars, many of them just starting out in the field, to present draft papers and receive comments from leaders in the field.

In addition to fostering new scholarship and professional development, the Research Forum seeks to strengthen the Society's connections with scholars, practitioners, and students of international law and related disciplines in diverse regions. As a result of David's initiative, the Midyear Meeting and Research Forum have now been held in locations across America, including Miami, FL; Athens and Atlanta, GA; Los Angeles, CA; New York, NY; Chicago, IL; Washington, DC; Seattle, WA; and St. Louis, MO. On November 8-10, 2018, it will return to Los Angeles, the site of the first Research Forum on 2011, at which David presided.

In recent years, the Midyear Meeting has expanded to include a Practitioners' Forum, which furthers David's vision by enabling the Society to engage with all segments of the international law community.

The primary purpose of the David D. Caron Fund is to support, enhance and perpetuate the Society's Research Forum, which was created by David and remains one of his signature achievements. Among other things, the Fund will serve the following goals:

  • Fostering the professional development of the next generation of international lawyers, by expanding their access to the programs and resources of the Society;
  • Building bridges across the globe by increasing the participation of non-U.S. nationals in the Society's activities;
  • Promoting the development of regional and local communities of international lawyers within the United States;
  • Promoting knowledge of international law within and beyond the legal community; and
  • Enhancing understanding of international law by strengthening the Society's national, regional, and international presence.

The first $200,000 raised will be held as principal in the Fund. Annual earnings on the principal will be used to support, enhance and perpetuate the Research Forum (and the associated Midyear Meeting), including through the creation of two new named activities:

  • The David D. Caron Prize, to be awarded to the best paper presented at the Research Forum by a current student or recent graduate. The Prize would be accompanied by a travel stipend to enable the recipient to attend the Society's Annual Meeting to receive the Prize.
  • The David D. Caron Fellowships, to be used to help defray the travel expenses of students or recent graduates who have been selected to present a paper at the Research Forum but require financial assistance to attend.
Monies received into the Fund above $200,000 will be used as follows: 25% will be placed in the principal of the Fund; 75% will be available to carry on David's legacy through support for other Society activities.

The Society gratefully acknowledges generous commitments from Society Patron and Past President Charles N. Brower to match the first $100,000 in donations, and from the Spencer and Caron families to match the next $25,000 in donations.




"I had the pleasure of many years of friendship with David Caron, as well as the honour of sitting with him as a Judge. He was that rare man who was a distinguished international lawyer but who wore his distinction lightly, never taking himself too seriously. He will be missed as a lawyer, a judge, a teacher and a great friend to so many of us."

Sir Christopher Greenwood, Former Judge, International Court of Justice

"...an undoubted giant in the fields of international law and dispute resolution and should have had a long time before him to contribute even more to its development..."

The Honourable Charles N. Brower, Arbitrator

"David was a professional giant among the California redwoods whom I knew and greatly admired throughout most of his brilliant career of teaching, scholarship and other service. I was a beneficiary of several community-building workshops on issues of international law that he hosted in Berkeley for West Coast colleagues. His hospitality, often music-oriented, capped those occasions, may I say, beautifully."

James A.R. Nafziger, Willamette University College of Law

"As David became more and more involved in the governance of the American Society of International Law, we worked together closely. And we did so during his presidency of the Society when he took so much time away from his teaching and scholarship to ensure the Society's continued success. His presidency was a model of energy and ideas for his successors to follow..."

Peter Trooboff, Covington & Burling LLP
View more tributes here.