Naz K. Modirzadeh
Professor of Practice

Naz K. Modirzadeh is a Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School. She writes and teaches primarily in the field of public international law, with a focus on non-use of force, armed conflict, the U.N. Security Council, and counterterrorism issues. In the Fall 2022 term, Modirzadeh is teaching Laws of War and Public International Law, as well as a reading group on International Lawyering.
Modirzadeh is the founding Director of the Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict (HLS PILAC). She is responsible for overall direction of the program, contributing to its cutting-edge research initiatives, briefing senior decision-makers, and advising governments, United Nations agencies, international humanitarian organizations, and NGOs.
Modirzadeh is on the Board of Trustees of the International Crisis Group and has served on a number of advisory boards for high-level U.N. and other initiatives. She is a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Lieber Institute for Law and Land Warfare at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Modirzadeh co-hosts ICG’s Hold Your Fire! podcast. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley and her J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Education
- B.A. Political Science University of California, Berkeley, 1999
- J.D. Law Harvard Law School, 2002
Representative Publications
- Dustin Lewis & Naz Modirzadeh, The U.N. Security Council Adopts a Standing Humanitarian “Carve-Out”, LawFare (Dec. 13, 2022).
- Dustin A. Lewis, Radhika Kapoor, and Naz K. Modirzadeh, Advancing Humanitarian Commitments in Connection with Countering Terrorism: Exploring a Foundational Reframing concerning the Security Council (Harv. L. Sch. Program Int'l L. & Armed Conflict, 2021).
- Naz K. Modirzadeh & Dustin A. Lewis, Humanitarian Values in a Counterterrorism Era, 103 Intl. Rev. Red Cross, 916-917, Oct. 6, 2021, at 403.
- Dustin A. Lewis & Naz K. Modirzadeh, Taking into Account the Potential Effects of Counterterrorism Measures on Humanitarian and Medical Activities: Elements of an Analytical Framework for States Grounded in Respect for International Law (May 2021).
- Naz K. Modirzadeh & Pablo Arrocha Olabuenaga, A conversation between Pablo Arrocha Olabuenaga and Naz Khatoon Modirzadeh on the origins, objectives, and context of the 24 February 2021 ‘Arria-formula’ meeting convened by Mexico, 8 J. on the Use of Force and Intl. L. no. 2, 2021, at 291.