Executive Director
Center for International and Comparative Law
jlord@ubalt.edu
John and Frances Angelos Law Center, Room 526
Administrative Assistant: Latosha Davis
410.837.4689
John and Frances Angelos Law Center, Room 1006
Education
LL.M., International & Comparative Law, with highest honors, George Washington University Law School
LL.B. and LL.M, with distinction, University of Edinburgh (Scotland)
B.A., cum laude, Kenyon College
Areas of Expertise
International Public Law
International Human Rights Law
International Humanitarian Law
International Disability Rights
Human Rights and Conflict
UN Human Rights System
Law of Treaties
Comparative Disability Law
Inclusive Development
Lord was named executive director of the Center for International and Comparative Law in November 2023. Prior to coming to the University of Baltimore, she served as chief legal counsel to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She holds a senior research fellowship at the Harvard Law School Project on Disability where she works to address gaps in international law, policy, and practice on the rights of persons with disabilities and she teaches international disability law and international humanitarian law at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law.
She has spent her career as an international human rights lawyer working globally to advance the rights of persons with disabilities. A lead drafter of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, she provided legal counsel during the treaty negotiations to governments, the United Nations and civil society organizations throughout the five-year drafting process. She continues to provide legal counsel on international human rights law and inclusive development to the World Bank, the United Nations Office of Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protection, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Development Programme, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the United States Department of State, organizations of persons with disabilities and numerous other stakeholders.
Lord began her career working for the World Bank Group, where she served as legal counsel to the Bank’s International Administrative Tribunal and legal secretary to the Bank’s Appeals Committee. Thereafter, she served as legal advisor and advocacy director for an international non-governmental landmine survivor organization, where she worked to monitor the Mine Ban Treaty and led advocacy efforts on the rights of landmine survivors across the UN system.
Following the conclusion of the negotiations that led to the adoption of the Disability Convention, she served as co-founder, partner and practice lead for international human rights and inclusive development programs at BlueLaw International LLP, a veteran-owned, service-disabled international law and development firm. She built a diverse practice and worked to design, implement, monitor, and evaluate international human rights and inclusive development programs in more than 40 countries across five regions funded by multiple bilateral and multilateral donors. Much of this work pioneered new approaches to advance disability inclusion in human rights, democracy and rule of law programming and shaped bilateral and multilateral donor policies on disability inclusive development.
Lord’s pro bono work and service to the community includes support to litigants appearing before national courts and international human rights courts and mechanisms. She was appointed for two consecutive terms to the board of Amnesty International USA where, in her final two years of service, she was vice chair and chair of the board. She is currently serving on the board of the US International Council on Disabilities and on an expert advisory panel on political participation at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
She has published books, journal articles, book chapters and monographs on a variety of international public law, international human rights law, international humanitarian law and disability law issues. Her recent scholarship appears in the American Journal of International Law, the Harvard Journal of International Law, the Virginia Journal of International Law, the International Review of the Red Cross, and the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law.
She holds degrees from Kenyon College, the University of Edinburgh (Scotland), and the George Washington University Law School. In 2022, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by Kenyon College for her work in advancing international disability rights and disability inclusive development. She is a member of the New York Bar.
A Baltimore native, she lives in Baltimore City with her wife and two children.
Selected Publications
Books
The Right to Inclusive Education in International Human Rights Law (Cambridge University Press) (2019) (co-edited volume with Gauthier de Beco and Shivaun Quinlivan).
Active Citizenship and Disability: Implementing the Modernisation of Support (Cambridge University Press, 2014) (co-authored with Andrew Power & Allison deFranco).
Human Rights. YES! Advocacy and Action on the Rights of People with Disabilities (2d edition, University of Minnesota Human Rights Center 2012) (lead author with Katherine N. Guernsey, Joelle Balfe, Valerie Karr & Allison deFranco) (translated into Arabic, Spanish, French, Korean, Uzbek).
Articles
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities , UN Audiovisual Library of International Law (February 2023) (with Michael Ashley Stein).
Accounting for Disability in International Humanitarian Law , 922 International Review of the Red Cross 60-98 (2022) [peer reviewed].
Addressing the Accountability Void: War Crimes against Persons with Disabilities , 922 International Review of the Red Cross 465-483 (2022) (with William Pons & Michael Stein) [peer reviewed].
Advancing Disability Rights-Based Asylum Claims , 62 Virginia J. Int’l L. 500 (2022) (with Michael Ashley Stein & Elizabeth Heideman).
Disability, Human Rights Violations and Crimes against Humanity, 116 American Journal of International 58 Law (2022) (with William Pons & Michael Stein) [peer reviewed].
Mobilizing Disabled Peoples’ Organizations to Implement Bangladesh’s Disability Law , 13 J. HUM. RTS. PRAC. 433-445 (2021) (with Matthew S. Smith, Michael Ashley Stein & Md. Rejaul Karim Siddiquee) [peer-reviewed].
Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration in Colombia: Lost Human Rights Opportunities for E x-Combatants with Disabilities , 21 J. Human Rights 18-35 (2021) (with Minerva Rivas Velarde, Michael Ashley Stein, Thomas Shakespeare) [peer-reviewed].
Transposing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Africa: The Role of Disabled Peoples’ Organisations. 27 African J. Int’l & Comp. Law 335-358 (2019) (with Michael Ashley Stein & Faraz Mahomed).
Pursuing Inclusive Higher Education in Egypt through the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities , 6 Social Inclusion 230 (2018) (with Michael Ashley Stein) [peer-reviewed].
Child Rights Trending: Accommodating Children with Disabilities in the Global Human Rights Framework and US Foreign Policy, 16 Whittier Journal of Child and Family Advocacy (2017).
Disability, Repressive Regimes, and Health Disparity: Assessing Country Conditions in North Korea
In: Hague Yearbook of International Law / Annuaire de La Haye de Droit International 27 (2014) (with Jae-Chun Won, Michael Ashley Stein and Yosung Song).
Peacebuilding and Reintegrating Combatants with Disabilities , 19 Int’l J. Human Rights 277-292 (2015) (with Michael Stein) [peer reviewed].
Law and People with Disabilities , Int’l Ency. Soc. & Beh. Sci. (2d ed., Vol. 13, Oxford: Elsevier, 2015), pp. 497-503 (with Deepti Samant & Peter Blanck).
Democratic Life of the Union: Toward Equal Voting Participation for People with Disabilities , 55 Harv. J. Int’l L. 71 (Winter, 2014) (with Michael A. Stein & Jan Fiala).
Facilitating an Equal Right to Vote for Persons with Disabilities , 6 J. Human Rights Practice 115-134 (2014) (with Michael A. Stein & Jan Fiala) [peer reviewed].
Prospects and Practices for CRPD Implementation in Africa , in 1 African Y.B. Disability Rights 2013 (with Michael A. Stein).
Disability and Global Development , 5 Disability & Health J. 132 (2012) (with Joan Durocher and Allison de Franco).
Beyond the Orthodoxy of Rule of Law and Justice Sector Reform: A Framework for Legal Empowerment and Innovation through the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities , World Bank L. Rev. 85 (2012) (with Deepti Samant and Peter Blanck).
Enabling Refugee and IDP Law and Policy: Implications of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities , 28 Arizona J. Int’l L. 401 (2011) (with Michael A. Stein).
Shared Understanding or Consensus-Masked Disagreement? The Anti-Torture Framework in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities , 33 Loy. J. Int’l & Comp. L. 27 (2011).
Lessons from the Experience of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Addressing the Democratic Deficit in Global Health Governance , 38 J. Law. Med. & Ethics 564 (2010) (with David Suozzi & Allyn L. Taylor) [peer reviewed].
Monitoring the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Innovations, Lost Opportunities, and Future Potential , 32 Hum. Rts. Q. 691 (August 2010) (with Michael A. Stein) [peer reviewed].
The Law and Politics of US Participation in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2 European Y.B. Disability L. 29 (2010) (Lisa Waddington & Gerard Quinn, eds.) (with Michael A. Stein).
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Voice Accountability and NGOs in Human Rights Standard Setting , 5 Seton Hall J. Dipl. & Int’l R. 93 (Summer/Fall 2004).
A Participatory Framework for NGO Engagement in the International Legal Process , Proc. Am. Soc’y Int’l L. (2001).
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: Challenges and Opportunities , 17 Loy. Int’l & Comp. L. J. 329 (1995).
Legal Restraints in the Use of Landmines: Humanitarian and Environmental Crisis , 25 Cal. W. Int’l L. J. 311 (1995).
Book Chapters
Enabling Culture in the CRPD in Disability Social Rights ___ (Malcolm Langford & Michael Ashley Stein, Cambridge University Press, 2024) (forthcoming).
Disability, Food Insecurity, and Health: Examining Linkages between International Humanitarian Law, Human Rights, Disability Assistance and Food Aid in the Yemini Context in Handbook and Health & Disability __ (with Bryce Austin Hollander & Michael Ashley Stein) (2024 forthcoming).
The Flow of a Treaty Practice: Article 11 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Disasters in M. H. Rioux et al. (eds.), Handbook on Disability (Springer, 2022).
A Human Rights Perspective on Disability Inclusive Development in Critical issues on human rights and development 86 (Stephen Marks & Balakrishnan Raj. eds., 2022).
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), in ELGAR ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HUMAN RIGHTS (Manfred Nowak, Christina Binder, Jane A. Hofbauer & Philipp Janig eds. 2021) (with Michael Ashley Stein) [peer-reviewed]
Advancing Disability-Inclusive Peacebuilding and Development , in Untapped Power: Leveraging Diversity and Inclusion for Conflict and Development 179 (Carla Koppell, ed. 2021) (with Michael Ashley Stein) [peer-reviewed]
The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in The United Nations and Human Rights: A Critical Appraisal ___ (Philip Alston & Frédéric Mégret eds., Oxford University Press, 2d ed., 2022) (with Michael Ashley Stein) (forthcoming 2022).
Preamble, in The UN Convention on The Rights of Persons with Disabilities: A Commentary (Oxford University Press 2018) ___ (eds. Ilias Bantekas, Dimitris Anastasiou & Michael Ashley Stein).
Article 32: International Cooperation, in The UN Convention on The Rights of Persons with Disabilities: A Commentary (Oxford University Press 2018) 955 (eds. Ilias Bantekas, Dimitris Anastasiou & Michael Ashley Stein) (with Michael Ashley Stein).
Charting the Development of Human Rights Law through the CRPD, in The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: A Commentary 731(Giuseppe Palmisano, Valentina Della Fina & Rachele Cera eds. 2017) (with Michael Ashley Stein).
ICTs and Political Participation in Global Inclusion: Disability, Human Rights, and Information Technology ___ (Jonathan Lazar & Michael Ashley Stein, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017).
International Humanitarian Law and Disability: Paternalism, protection or rights? in Disability, Human Rights and the Limits of Humanitarianism, ed. Michael Gill and Cathy Schlund-Vials 155-178 (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2014).
Critical Social and Economic Issues of Development and Human Rights: Disability, in RESEARCH HANDBOOK ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEVELOPMENT (Stephen P. Marks & Balakrishnan Rajagopal eds. 2016) (with Michael Ashley Stein).
Accessing Socio-Economic Rights: The Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in EQUALITY AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC RIGHTS: INTERNATIONAL LAW IN CONTEXT (Malcolm Langford & Eibe Reidel eds. 2016) ((with Michael Ashley Stein).
Deaf Identity and Rights in Africa: Advancing Equality through the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in CITIZENSHIP, POLITICS, DIFFERENCE: PERSPECTIVES FROM SUBSAHARAN SIGNED LANGUAGE COMMUNITIES 200 (Audrey C. Cooper & Khadijat K. Rashid eds. 2015) (with Michael Ashley Stein).
Contingent Participation and Coercive Care: Feminist and Communitarian Theories Consider Disability and Legal Capacity, in COERCIVE CARE: LAW AND POLICY 31 (Bernadette McSherry & Ian Freckelton eds. 2013) (with Michael Ashley Stein).
Equal Access to Health Care under the UN Disability Rights Convention, in MEDICINE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE: ESSAYS ON THE DISTRIBUTION AND CARE 245 (Rosamond Rhodes, Margaret Battin & Anita Silvers eds. 2d ed. 2012) (with Michael Ashley Stein & Dorothy Weiss Tolchin).
United States Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Would it make a Difference?, in ADVANCING THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES: A US-IRAN DIALOGUE ON LAW, POLICY AND ADVOCACY 21 (Allen Moore & Sarah Kornblet eds. 2011) (with Michael Ashley Stein).
Accommodating Genes : Disability, Discrimination and Human Rights Law . in Genetic Discrimination: Transatlantic Perspectives on the Case for a European Level Legal Response (Gerard Quinn, Aisling de Paor, Peter Blanck eds., Routledge, 2014).
Education and HIV/AIDs: Disability Rights and Inclusive Development, in Millennium Development Goals and Human Rights: Past, Present and Future 274 (Malcolm Langford, Andy Sumner & Alicia Ely Yamin eds. 2013).
Participation in International Agreements as Transformative Social Change: The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in Making Rights Real 27 (Jody Heymann ed., Cambridge University Press, 2012) (with Michael A. Stein).
The United States, Disability Law and Policy, and the CRPD, in On the Road to Inclusion: Implementing the UNCRPD in G20 Countries 319 (Helmut Reifeld & Maria Michalk eds., 2012) (with Michael A. Stein).
Human Rights and Humanitarian Assistance for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons with Disabilities in Africa in Aspects of Disability Law in Africa 33 (Pretoria University Law Press, 2011) (with Michael A. Stein).
The Role of Reasonable Accommodation in Securing Substantive Equality for Persons with Disabilities: The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Critical Perspectives on Human Rights and Disability Law 273 (Marcia Rioux, Lee Ann Basser & Melinda Jones, eds., Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2011) (with Rebecca Brown).
Participatory Justice, the UN Disability Human Rights Convention, and the Right to Participate in Sport, Recreation, and Play, in The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Multidisciplinary Perspectives 236 (Jukka Kumpuvuori & Martin Scheinin eds., VIKE – The Center for Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Finland, 2009) (with Michael A. Stein).
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as a Vehicle for Social Transformation , in National Monitoring Mechanisms of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 109 (Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos de México, Network of the Americas & Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights eds. 2008) (with Michael A. Stein) [English original, with Spanish and French translation], reprinted in Disability and Human Rights in Bangladesh 18 (Action on Disability & Development 2008).
Disability Inclusive Development and Natural Disasters in Law and Recovery from Disaster: Hurricane Katrina 71 (Robin Paul Malloy, ed., 2008) (with Michael A. Stein and Michael Waterstone).
Human Rights Education and Grassroots Peace Building in Human Rights and Conflict: New Actors, Strategies and Ethical Dilemmas (Julie A. Mertus & Jeff Helsing, eds., United States Institute of Peace, 2006) (with Nancy Flowers).
Drafting of a Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities: A Simulation Activity in Active Learning Sourcebook (Kumarian Press, 2004) (with Nancy Flowers).
Genocide, Crimes against Humanity and Human Rights Abuses against People with Disabilities in Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes against Humanity, (Dinah L. Shelton, ed., Macmillan Reference USA, 2004).
International Norms and Standards relating to the Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities in International Disability Rights Compendium 2003 (Center for International Rehabilitation, 2003) (with Katherine N. Guernsey).
The Participation of Taiwan in International Organizations: The UN Security Council in The International Status of Taiwan in the New World Order: Legal and Political Considerations (Jean-Marie Henckaerts, ed., Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1996).