Nationality: USA

Country of Residence: Canada

Nominator: Lesley Jane Smith

Supporters: Diane Howard, Nathan Johnson, Tanja Masson-Zwaan, Charles Stotler, Isavella Maria Vasilogeorgi

Professional path (including present position)
I currently serve as the Co-Director of the Institute of Air and Space Law (IASL) and Associate Professor in the McGill University Faculty of Law, where I am responsible for management of IASL activities, developing and teaching space law courses, overseeing space content in our curriculum including that taught by sessional lecturers, conducting research and leading IASL research programs, supervising student research, applying for grants and raising funds for the IASL, developing additional educational programming, and providing service to university and the broader space law community. My courses include General Principles of Space Law, Space Security, and Government Regulation of Space Activities. I have served for several years as a member of the editorial board for the McGill Annals of Air and Space Law and am serving as Co-Editor-in-Chief from 2024. I am also a member of the editorial boards of New Space and the American Bar Association publication The Air and Space Lawyer as well as providing peer review for numerous other publications including Acta Astronautica and Space Policy. I am a licensed attorney in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I also developed and teach the International Space Law & Policy course in the Space Resources Program for the Colorado School of Mines, where I have worked in an adjunct professor capacity since 2019.

I previously served as Dean of Space Education at Air University for the United States Space Force (USSF), where I was responsible for overseeing the West Space Seminar and Schriever Space Scholars, as well as leading Guardian Education development efforts for USSF Space Delta 13. In that role, I led the establishment of ground-breaking USSF academic programs in Washington DC through Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. Prior to that role, I served as Chair of the Department of Spacepower and Director of the Schriever Space Scholars concentration at Air Command and Staff College (Air University), where I was a Full Professor of Military and Security Studies. There I taught International Space Law and Policy, International Security, and Science Fiction & Military Culture.

Prior to joining Air University, I served as the Associate Director of the Air and Space Law Programs at the
University of Mississippi where I was a full-time faculty member. In that capacity, I taught International Space Law, US Domestic Space Law, International Private Air Law, US National Aviation Law, and Remote Sensing Law. I was also responsible for various aspects of managing the LLM and JD concentration programs, as well as initiating development of a certificate program open to non-lawyers. In my role at UM, I also conducted research, supervised students, acted as a liaison to the central university for the law school’s air and space programs, and carried out other relevant service. In academic year 2022-2023, I also taught Comparative Space Law in an adjunct professor capacity for the University of Mississippi School of Law.

I have also been Associate Chair for the Policy, Economics, and Law Department for the International Space University’s 2018 Space Studies Program in Delft (the Netherlands) and Teaching Associate in the same department in 2016 in Haifa (Israel). I have previously served as Jr. Project Manager for Secure World Foundation, and researcher on projects for the US Federal Aviation Administration’s Center of Excellence for Commercial Space Transportation, the International Society for the Advancement of Space Safety (IAASS), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and the Space Security Index, among others. Prior to transitioning to air and space law, I was active in the insurance and financial compliance fields.

Education and degree

  • Doctor of Civil Law (PhD equivalent) in Air and Space Law, McGill University, Canada
  • Master of Laws in Air and Space Law, McGill University, Canada
  • Juris Doctor, University of Connecticut School of Law, USA
  • Master of Science in European Politics and Governance, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom
  • Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and History, Boston University, USA

Main publications in English
Selected publications:

  • “Due Regard as the Prime Directive for Responsible Behavior in Space,” in Loyola University Chicago International Law Review Volume 20: Issue 1 (2023)
  • Space Insurance and the Law: Maximizing Private Activities in Outer Space Edward Elgar Publishing, ISBN 1839105852 (2021)
  • “Insurance as Governance for Outer Space Activities” in Astropolitics, Volume 18: Issue 2 (2020)
  • “Preserving Humanity’s Heritage in Space: 50 Years after Apollo 11 and Beyond” in Journal of Air Law and Commerce, Volume 84: Issue 3 (2019)
  • “Legal and Regulatory Challenges to Leveraging Insurance for Commercial Space” in Journal of Space Law, Volume 41: Issue 1 (2017)
  • “The Relationship Between the Remote Sensing Principles and Customary International Law” in Proceedings of the 59th (2016) Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space, Eleven International Publishing, ISBN 9789462367876 (2017)
  • The Definition and Delimitation of Outer Space in the Annals of Air and Space Law, Volume XXXIX (2014)

Membership and professional affiliation

  • International Institute of Space Law (IISL), Individual Member
  • International Aviation Womens Association (IAWA), Full Member
  • International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety (IAASS), Deputy Chair of the Space Safety Governance Committee & Fellow Member
  • For All Moonkind, Legal Council Member
  • Annals of Air and Space Law, Editorial Board Member
  • New Space Journal, Editorial Board Member
  • The Air and Space Lawyer (associated with ABA Air and Space Law Forum), Editorial Board Member

Awards and other accomplishments
Selected awards and prizes:
2023, Award for Meritorious Civilian Service, US Department of the Air Force (nominated by USSF Delta 13 Commander)
2022, British Insurance Law Association (BILA) Annual Book Prize
2018, George S. and Anne K. Robinson Space Law Prize
2015, P.E.O. Scholar Award
2013, Setsuko Ushioda-Aoki Prize for academic merit
2012-2016 Erin J.C. Arsenault Fellowship in Space Governance

Space law expertise
I hold both a Master of Laws and a doctoral degree in Air and Space Law and have worked as full-time faculty with course offerings and scholarship focused on space law and policy for the past nine years. I also hold degrees in international relations and governance and have conducted teaching and research activities in those fields with a focus on space and continue to include interdisciplinary work in my teaching and research at the McGill University Faculty of Law. In particular, my areas of expertise include international space law and public international law with a focus on treaty interpretation, space insurance, international space security, comparative space law, applications of cultural heritage protection to space, and the relationship between science fiction and space governance.

IISL Position applied for
Director

Specify your relationship with the IISL
I have been an individual member of the IISL since approximately 2016 and currently serve as the point of contact for McGill University Institute of Air and Space Law as an Institutional Member. I have actively participated in regular annual meetings and other IISL events including the International Astronautical Congress and the annual Eilene M. Galloway Symposium on Critical Issues in Space Law. I have coached teams for the North American Region of the Manfred Lachs International Space Law Moot Court since the 2014 competition and served as the faculty advisor representative to the North American region’s advisory board from 2018. I have contributed presentations/papers to the IISL’s E7 track at IAC and the IISL’s proceedings. In 2023 in my capacity as McGill IASL Co-Director, I co-sponsored the Galloway Symposium in Washington DC and provided critical logistical/administrative support from myself and three doctoral candidates. From 2024, I am serving as one of the editors of the IISL Proceedings and as Deputy Convenor of the IISL’s SETI Working Group.

Specify the reason for applying for the postition and how you can serve IISL
In my time as a member of the international space law professional and academic community, I have always seen the IISL as the critical gathering point for members of the profession and have directed students and colleagues to participate. As such a small community, it is essential that those of us engaged in space law and policy work have an opportunity to meet, collaborate, and share ideas with other community members, to advance the state of space law scholarship, and to build capacity to support the expanding space sector. The IISL is the central international forum for those opportunities. It is my desire to contribute professionally and personally to the continued relevance and importance of this organization and to advance its development into the future. The IISL’s activities in the form of IAC, the Manfred Lachs International Space Law Moot Court Competition, and the Galloway Symposium have been central annual events in my career as a space law scholar, establishing the regular rhythm of community engagement.
In particular, it is my objective to maintain and further develop a productive relationship between the McGill University IASL and the IISL, providing support to the IISL’s activities and events through the IASL and integrating IASL student, researcher, and alumni efforts into the broader mission of the IISL. If elected to the Board of Directors, I hope to constructively contribute to organization’s leadership in the space law community as a positive force attracting highly skilled professionals, scholars, and students to our small but robust community and managing the organization through the continuing evolution of both space law and the space community now and into the future. To this role, I would bring my extensive management and leadership experience in addition to my dedication to space law scholarship. While expertise in space law is certainly an essential competency for an IISL Director, administrative and organizational leadership skills are critical to the efficacy and success of the organization. It would be my honor to bring my capabilities to the IISL Board of Directors to serve our community.

Name, Surname of Nominator
Lesley Jane Smith

Nominator's reasons for nominating the nominee
Nomination of Andrea J. Harrington

Andrea Harrington is an outstanding scholar, expert and professional in the field of space law. Her curriculum vita shows a singular exposure to the theory and practice of space law within the various sectors that it spans; education, regulatory, and training, including the practical level where access to space is given. Not only has Andrea achieved the highest degrees in her legal studies at the most renowned Northern American institutes specializing in space law (Doctorat en droit civil, Master of Laws and Juris Doctor), she has now ascended to the position of tenured Co-Director of what is unquestionably the world’s leading educational institute in the law of outer space at the McGill University Institute of Air & Space Law, Montreal, Canada.

American by birth, and by profession now settled and residing within Canada, Andrea brings with her a vital interdisciplinary background across the field of space activities and regulation that harvests highly relevant insights. Her education at the leading academic institutions (supra) is accompanied by teaching and management experience in the context of the University of Mississippi School of Law and the US Air University (Montgomery) for the Air Force and Space Force, as well as periods of input for the International Space University (ISU). She demonstrates a remarkable breadth of skills, from the ability to develop and oversee state of the art educational curricula in the field of space regulation, to its monitoring and application in practice. Her vita also includes periods of professional work experience with core financial institutions, in the practice of legal drafting and compliance review, as well as project management for highly respected NGOs in the space domain.
Andrea’s rich and varied list of publications is witness to her ongoing ability to apply the theory to a new subject, as it enters on stage; her authority and engagement at the level of discourse relevant in the field of space and regulatory issues can be seen from her schedule as a frequent guest speaker, broadcaster and contributor to dedicated conferences and panels. Andrea Harrington’s insight, expertise and accessibility to those within the community and those requiring to learn more are unchallenged.

Andrea Harrington has a profound knowledge of her subject. Her memberships in professional legal, space and expert professional communities, including her involvement in major publications as a peer reviewer and editorial board member, stand alone as testimony of her knowledge, interest and dedication.

Andrea Harrington comes with proven leadership and management qualities, an expertise concomitant with the requirements for position of Board Director of the IISL; these require an accessibility to a broad global community of educators, industrials, regulatory bodies and not least, towards the next generation incomers of lawyers and policy experts seeking further insight and knowledge.

As the new Co-Director, McGill, the renowned space educational institution with the greatest prestige, Andrea is not only an outstanding candidate for Election by virtue of her own qualifications; she is in a position to contribute to accompanying the IISL over the coming years as it searches for responses and solutions to the demands for (re-)formulation of space law as a recognised body of international treaty and national rules. Andrea Harrington, with her vast exposure to civilian and military insights into space law, has the ability and personality to address and formulate the future discourse surrounding the technical, environmental and geo-political challenges that the global community now faces across a widening community of stakeholders.

Lesley Jane Smith
Vice President
International Institute of Space Law

Supporters:

Diane Howard

Nathan Johnson

Tanja Masson-Zwaan

Charles Stotler

Isavella Maria Vasilogeorgi