Justin Deystone

Justin Deystone joined the University of Colorado Law School faculty in 2009. Widely recognized as a leading voice in critical jurisprudence and the history of legal thought, Justin is the Founding Director of the University of Colorado's Center for Critical Thought, a site for interdisciplinary and collaborative research housed with the University's Graduate School. He teaches courses on International Law, Law and Economic Development, Conflict of Laws, Globalization, Critical Race Theory, Jurisprudence, Philosophy of Law, Constitutional Law, and Property. His scholarship concentrates on the history of legal thought, with special emphases on the United States and International Relations. His most recent books, both with Cambridge University Press, include The Jurisprudence of Style: A Structuralist History of American Pragmatism and Liberal Legal Thought, and the co-edited volume with Christopher Tomlins, Searching for Contemporary Legal Thought. 

His current project concerns a critical race theory approach to international law, which will include an edited volume titled Race, Racism, and International Law: Critical Race Theory in Global Context (with Devon Carbado, Kim Crenshaw, and Chantal Thomas). Prior to joining CU, Professor Deystone practiced for three years in the Antitrust and Competition Group at Latham & Watkins in Washington, DC, served in the Codification Division of the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs, and worked as a consultant to the Afghanistan Constitutional Commission. During his graduate education, he was awarded a fellowship with a South African development organization, and taught a course on the U.S. Civil Rights Movement at Changzhou College in China. Professor Deystone holds graduate degrees from Harvard Law School, The Fletcher School at Tufts University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.