Dr. Upendra Dev Acharya, LL.B., M.C.L., LL.M., S.J.D.

Director, Global Legal Education; Professor of Law

Professor Upendra D Acharya is a professor and Norman & Rita Roberts Scholar at Gonzaga University School of Law. He served as an associate professor at the Faculty of Law, Tribhuvan University and practiced law in the Supreme Court of Nepal. He has...

Upendra D. Acharya

Contact Information

Education & Curriculum Vitae

S.J.D. University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School

LL.M. University of Utah College of Law

M.C.L. University of Delhi Faculty of Law, India

LL.B. Tribhuvan University Faculty of Law, Kathmandu, Nepal

Curriculum Vitae

Courses Taught

Constitutional Law 

International Law

Comparative Law

Human Rights

Administrative Law

International Business Transactions

International Environmental Law

International Law in U.S. Courts

Political Economy of Law and Development


Professor Upendra D Acharya is a professor and Norman & Rita Roberts Scholar at Gonzaga University School of Law. He served as an associate professor at the Faculty of Law, Tribhuvan University and practiced law in the Supreme Court of Nepal. He has represented landmark cases in the Supreme Court of Nepal, including a daughter’s right to inherent property, and the Godabary Marble case that resulted in the passage of the first Environmental Protection Act in Nepal. He has been visiting professor at several law schools, including in Brazil, France, China, India, Italy, Lebanon, Philippines, and Mexico. He is currently a vice president of Asian Society of International Law and a co-chair of the Planning Committee of the AsianSIL Biennial Conference 2019. He also serves as the chair of the Human Rights Special Interest Group of the Society. He is a founding member of Global Policy Forum for Nepal, a global think tank headquartered in London. Professor Acharya has presented papers on human rights, humanitarian law, international economic law and other areas of international law in North and South America, Middle East, Europe and Asia. He has written extensively on cutting-edge issues of international law, including terrorism, U.S. Foreign Policy, globalization, international economic law, and human rights and human security.

Book chapter titled "A Trinity of Culture, Law and Politics: Legal Anthropology of the Bonded Labor System in Nepal", Comparative Law and Anthropology, Edward Elgar Publisher.

Work in Progress: Military and Non-military Approaches to Human Security: A 21st Century Problem 

Future of Human Development: Right to Survive as a Fundamental Element of Tight to Development,  Denver Journal of International Law and Policy, 2015

Human Rights, Corporate Corruption and Good Governance, published in a book compiled by the Professors of the Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University (Chennai, India), 2014

Distinguishing Between Piracy and Terrorism: Somalia and International Law, published in a book compiled by Multinational Maritime Security Center of Excellence (Marmaris, Turkey), 2014

Globalization and Hegemony Shift: Are States Merely Agents of Corporate Capitalism? (Boston College Law Review and International and Comparative Law Review), 2013

International Aid and Assistance to Constrain Piracy in Somalia: Ignored Facts and the Political Delivery of Charity(Maritime Security and Piracy: Global Issues, Challenges and Solutions, ed. By Bimal N. Patel and Hitesh Thakkar, Eastern Book Company, Lucknow), January 2013

International Lawlessness, International Politics and Terrorism: A Conundrum of International Law and U.S. Foreign Policy (special issue–Denver Journal of International Law and Policy), April 2012

ICJ’s Kosovo Decision: Economical Reasoning of Law and Question of Legitimacy of the Court (Chicago-Kent Journal of International Law and Comparative Law), Spring 2012

ICJ and Maintaining International Peace and Security, Antonine University Conference Proceedings, Beirut, Lebanon, 2011

Interlocking Theory of International Law and International Policies, Conference  Proceedings, Athens, Greece, 2010

War on Terror or Terror Wars:  Problem in Defining Terrorism, 37 Denver Journal of International Law and Policy 4. (2009) (SSRN)

Is Development a Lost Paradise?  Trade, Environment and Development: A Traidic Dream of International Law, 45 Alberta Law Review 2 (2007) (SSRN)