Claire Finkelstein
PhD (philosophy) - University of Pittsburgh
Algernon Biddle Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy
University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
3501 Sansom Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
215.898.7483
Claire Finkelstein is the founder and faculty director of the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law (CERL), a non-partisan interdisciplinary institute affiliated with Penn Carey Law, where her research focuses on national security law and policy, democratic governance, and professional ethics. An expert in the law of armed conflict, military ethics, national security law, and professional ethics, Finkelstein is a co-editor of The Oxford Series in Ethics, National Security, and the Rule of Law and has edited six of its volumes covering topics ranging from targeted killings and cyber warfare to sovereignty, cultural heritage preservation, and hybrid legal frameworks for asymmetric conflict. She has published extensively on national security and democratic governance and recently led a working group of over 30 national security professionals to produce a report with recommendations for closing Guantanamo Bay Prison. Finkelstein serves as a sought-after consultant on national security matters, briefing Pentagon officials, U.S. Senate staff, and JAG Corps members, and is regularly consulted on issues of personal and professional ethics. A frequent commentator in radio, podcasts, broadcast, and print media, she has published op-eds in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, and Newsweek. Her broader scholarly interests encompass criminal law theory, moral and political philosophy, jurisprudence, and rational choice theory.