Jan Wouters (legal scholar)


Jan Maria Florent Wouters is a Belgian academic. He is Jean Monnet Chair, and Professor of International Law and International Organizations at KU Leuven, where he is also Director of its Centre for Global Governance Studies and Institute for International Law.

Education

Wouters earned a Bachelor of Philosophy degree in 1984, and Lic. Juris in 1987, both at the University of Antwerp. In 1990 he obtained a Master of Laws at Yale Law School, and was Visiting Researcher at Harvard Law School. In 1996, he obtained a PhD in Law at KU Leuven, with a doctoral thesis focused on the freedom of establishment of business enterprises within the European Union.

Career

Wouters teaches public international law, international organizations, the law of the World Trade Organization and humanitarian and security law at KU Leuven. He is a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe, SciencesPo and LUISS University, where he teaches on the law of EU external relations. He also teaches in the Master of Laws in International Economic Law at the University of Barcelona and in the European Master’s in Human Rights and Democratisation. He was Référendaire at the European Court of Justice. In addition, he practises law at Linklaters, Brussels.

Honours and distinctions

In addition, he is Editor of the International Encyclopedia of Intergovernmental Organizations, and Deputy Director of the Revue Belge de Droit International. He regularly advises international organizations and trains international officials, and is coordinator of a large-scale FP7 Programme FRAME, “Fostering Human Rights Among European Policies” and of the InBev-Baillet Latour EU China Chair at KU Leuven.