Nina Mileva is an Assistant Professor of Public International Law at the Faculty of Law. Below is a short interview, inquiring about her research and teaching role in the Faculty.

What is your specific academic background, and what are your research interests? Do you currently work on any specific research projects?

My academic background is in the field of public international law. I obtained my bachelor in Liberal Arts and Sciences with a specialization in international law at the Amsterdam University College. After this, I obtained an LLM in Public International Law at Utrecht University, and finally a PhD in Public International Law here at the University of Groningen. So academically, I would say that I have a public international law background, with a dash of interdisciplinarity from my university college days.

Before I went into academia, I briefly worked in the field of international criminal law. Specifically, I spent 2 years as a legal intern and legal assistant to the defense at the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), 10 months with the Office of Public Counsel for the Defense at the International Criminal Court (ICC), and 6 months with Amnesty International. These experiences were hugely inspiration and enriching, but at the same time they made me realize that my professional passion lies elsewhere. After my last engagement with the ICC, I got a job as a researcher at Utrecht University, and this set me on my academic path.

I arrived at the University of Groningen as a PhD researcher of the TRICI-Law project, under the supervision of Prof. Panos Merkouris. This was a project financed by the European Research Council, and it is currently being wrapped up. While my direct engagement with the project ended when I defended my PhD in September 2023, I will always consider TRICI-Law as my academic origin story. It was during this research that I discovered my love of general international law and that I settled in my profile as a “generalist”. Moreover, it was during my PhD that I also found my passion for critical approaches to international law, and this is something that has also spilled over in my post-PhD research.

Currently, I am working on developing a research project which examines the role of interpretative arguments in the construction of international law. In particular, I am curious about how arguments about the interpretation of existing legal rules are deployed in international litigation, why they are accepted or not by relevant dispute settlement bodies, and how this affects the long-term development of international law. I am also looking into how interpretative arguments which are based on a critical approach to international law fare in this context. I am particularly lucky that I get to explore some of these questions not only in my research, but as of recently also in my teaching.

What courses do you teach within the Faculty? 

At the master’s level, I teach the seminar International Law in the 21^st Century, and in the past I have also taught the seminar Human Rights and been part of the teaching team for the course Advanced International Law. On the bachelor level, I teach the courses Introduction to International and European Law and Research Seminar, as well as the course International Law at the University College Groningen (UCG). In addition to these, I also supervise bachelor and master’s theses.

What do you enjoy teaching about these courses?

What I enjoy most is exploring different ways of thinking about the discipline of international law with my students.

In all the courses that I teach, the beginning is usually dedicated to setting the foundations of the discipline and learning to think and speak in the “language of the law”. Once this is done, I try to encourage my students to get creative with their skills, and test the limits of this language that they have just learned. This includes identifying the legal dimensions of a particular problem, developing legal arguments, exploring new or different interpretations of the law, but also understanding that not all problems have legal solutions. I enjoy guiding students in discovering their own style of legal argumentation, and sharpening their legal analytical skills.

Finally, I also greatly enjoy learning from my students in this process. As someone who has spent more than 10 years in the study and practice of international law, I am also sometimes prone to familiar patterns of argumentation and thinking. The perspectives we explore jointly with the students can be very refreshing and make me rethink some of my own views.

How are the (degree) programmes you teach in unique compared to similar programmes elsewhere? 

One distinguishing aspect of our bachelor program in International and European Law is that it is among the few programs available in the Netherlands that allows students to jump into the study of international law already at the bachelor level. Traditionally, one becomes an international lawyer by first studying domestic law and then pursuing a master’s program in international law. This takes many students away from the path of international law altogether, since they are not really interested in national law as the first step. Our LLB in International and European Law allows students to jump directly into the study of international law, and explore the many different trajectories and sub-regimes of this field.

As for our master’s program, if I would have to pick one thing that makes it unique compared to similar programs, it would have to be our focus on developing innovative modes of teaching and assessment. Public international law has developed very quickly in the past decade, and this has required innovation in the way we teach it. I am glad to say that together with my colleagues, we are constantly working on creative new modes of teaching, while simultaneously keeping a stable core of legal education. For example, in the seminar ‘International Law in the 21^st century’ this year we are working with a student-led classroom, where, after 4 introductory lectures on core themes of international law by the teaching team, the students get to take over the classroom and teach 4 workshops on the same themes. This way, students get to own their learning process and co-design the material together with the teachers, while at the same time still obtaining a strong foundational knowledge of the field. In that same course, we have also dedicated a week to examining the challenges posed by AI tools such as ChatGTP to the study of international law. In this week, teachers and students jointly examine the benefits and limits of ChatGTP as a tool in the educational process, and reflect on the ethical dilemmas posed by it.

Beyond these two examples, I am currently also taking part in the design of experimental moot courts, simulations of treaty negotiations, and the re-enactment of historical legal events. These exercises are being designed as modes of teaching and assessment for both the bachelor and the master’s level, and I can’t wait to put them in practice in the upcoming blocks.

What career prospects do you think there could be for students who pursue careers in your specific legal field of expertise?

Students who pursue a career in public international law can occupy a lot of different positions in the private and public sector. The “usual suspects” among positions are of course governmental advisors, members of the ministry of foreign affairs, legal advisors to the military, or various positions in international organizations such as the United Nations or the European Commission. Yet others include advocacy groups, national human rights institutions, NGO’s, or academic positions around the universities of the world. Finally, students may also decide to become practicing lawyers before international or domestic courts. We live at a time when many cases are either squarely withing the field of public international law, or combine international and domestic law components.    

One important thing to keep in mind however is that if students would like to pursue a career of practicing international law as a lawyer, this will likely require them to obtain a qualification from a national bar association. Positions such as counsel in the international criminal courts or lawyer in an international law firm still dominantly require for the person to be licensed to practice law. This requirement is even more explicit if the student would like to pursue a “traditional” career as a lawyer in a specific country, even when that career might involve dealing with cases of international law in domestic courts. I think this is an important thing for students to know before they embark on this educational trajectory, because it might require an extra few years before they are able to pursue their career of choice.

Do you have any advice for students interested in pursuing your same field of legal expertise? (this doesn't mean academia specifically, but in your field overall)

If I would have to pick one (or two) pieces of advice for students pursuing public international law, it would be to remain curious and to remain kind.

Curiosity is a key force that drives innovation and improvement in any field. This is no different for the field of public international law. Moreover, curiosity sometimes takes us in the unlikeliest directions, and leads to phenomenal outcomes.

Kindness on the other hand is something that we underestimate as a professional skill, but whose lack can be acutely felt in the field sometimes. To me, kindness can be anything ranging from an understanding for the fact that we all come from a different social or professional background, to a commitment to hold space for others and make their path easier within the available circumstances. I have found that any professional environment is instantly more pleasant when we take a moment to reflect on this.

- Interview by: Dr. Chris Brennan, Marketing Advisor, Faculty of Law

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