Tulane Law School - Study Abroad

Faculty
	John W. deGravelles is a practicing attorney with extensive experience in international and domestic maritime tort law. In 2001, he was named a Fulbright Scholar and taught maritime private international law at the Aristotle University School of Law in Thessaloniki, Greece. He is a member of the Adjunct Faculty at Louisiana State University Law School. He is a Past President of the Louisiana Trial Lawyer’s Association, a Past President of the Louisiana Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates and a Past Member of the National Board of Governors of the Association of Trial Lawyer’s of America. He is a member of the Maritime Law Association and is past chairman of the Admiralty Section of the American Association of Justice (formerly ATLA) and is a Fellow in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers. He is a partner in the firm of deGravelles, Palmintier, Holthaus & Frugé.
	Richard J. Dodson. (J.D., Louisiana State University) is a member of the Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association, American Bar Association, and the Maritime Law Association of the United States. He has taught courses in admiralty and offshore personal injury litigation at Southern University Law School and in Tulane’s Summer Session in Greece and has also lectured widely in maritime law seminars.
	Günther Handl (Drjur, 1968, Dipl Dolm, 1969, University of Graz (Austria); LLB, 1973, Cambridge University; JSD, 1978, Yale University) is the Eberhard Deutsch Professor of Public International Law at Tulane Law School. Professor Handl joined the Tulane faculty as holder of an endowed chair in January 1996. An expert in international law, he has also taught at law schools in the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan. Professor Handl has published extensively in US and European journals. He is the recipient of the 1997 Elisabeth Haub Prize for exceptional accomplishments in the field of international environmental law. Professor Handl is the founder and former Editor-in-Chief of the Yearbook of International Environmental Law. He has served as consultant to various international organizations and governmental agencies and was a special adviser in the Legal Adviser's Office of the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His principal teaching and research interests are public international law, international environmental law, and law of the sea. Professor Handl teaches the basic course in International Law, as well as courses in International Environmental Law and Law of the Sea.
	Litsa Kozyris holds a B.S. and an M.A. from Ohio State University. She taught for many years and served as the Superintendent of the Greek Language School in Columbus, Ohio.
	Judge (Rtd) Steven Plotkin (Guest Lecturer) (J.D., Tulane University; LL.M., University of Virginia) served on the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal from 1988-2002. Before serving on the Court of Appeal, Judge Plotkin was a District Court Judge in Orleans from 1979-1988. Prior to taking the bench, Judge Plotkin was a senior partner in his own law firm for twenty years. During this time, Judge Plotkin was a trial lawyer and an assistant district attorney. He was inducted into the Order of the Coif from Tulane Law School in 1988. Currently, he shares his expertise and knowledge teaching at the Tulane Law School . His courses include Civil Law Torts, Comparative Law & Judicial Process, and Louisiana Civil Procedure. He is presently part of the Harvard Faculty for Trial Advocacy. In addition, Judge Plotkin lectures for Loyola University 's Law School. Having been awarded several teaching Fulbrights, he teaches courses abroad in Eastern and Western Europe, as well as parts of Asia for various universities, and other academic institutions. Judge Plotkin's memberships and affiliations include: the American Law Institute, New Orleans Bar Association, Louisiana State Bar Association, American Trial Lawyers Association, Louisiana Judicial College as a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee (1987 to 1991), Dean's Council of Tulane Law School (1989 to date), and the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists serving as the National Vice President American Section, National Board of Governors, and the Chairman of the Louisiana Branch (1987-1992). He is the author of twenty-seven legal articles and books and the host of the television series, “It’s the Law”.
	Dr. Nikos Skourtos is Director of the Aegean Institute of the Law of the Sea and Maritime Law. He completed legal and sociological studies at the University of Gottingen, Federal Republic of Germany (Dr. jur., University of Gottingen). He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Bar Association of Rhodes, president of the Human Rights Committee of the Bar Association of Rhodes, and a delegate to the Human Rights Coordinating Committee of the Greek Bar Association.
	Justice (Rtd.) Jack Crozier Watson (National College of State Trial Judges, LL.B. Louisiana State University Law School, B.A. University of Southwestern Louisiana) served 32 years on the bench in Louisiana, including the district court, the court of appeal, and the last 17 on the Louisiana Supreme Court. He had previously served as city prosecutor for the City of Lake Charles, and then Assistant District Attorney for the district. He taught admiralty and comparative torts several years from 1984 to 2000 at the Tulane Summer Law Program in Greece. He has also taught at Southern University Law School for two years since retirement. He will teach a course in mediation and present lectures on law practice, appellate practice and torts. He is now of counsel to the Lake Charles firm of Baggett, McCall, Burgess, Watson and Gaughin. Justice Watson is listed in several national legal directories as well as in Who's Who in America.
	Sue Carter Watson (LL.M. in Admiralty, Tulane University Law School, J.D. Louisiana State University Law School) is a lawyer in Lake Charles, Louisiana. She will serve as a faculty advisor in the summer program.
	A.N. Yiannopoulos (Diploma in Law, University of Thessaloniki; M.C.L., University of Chicago; LL.M., J.S.D., University of California at Berkeley; Dr. Jur., University of Cologne; Dr. H.C., University of Thessaloniki) is Eason-Weinmann Professor of Comparative Law at Tulane Law School. Professor Yiannopoulos is an internationally renowned scholar of civil law, comparative law, and maritime law. He came to Tulane in 1979. He has been in charge of the revision of the Louisiana Civil Code as reporter for the Louisiana State Law Institute and has been the editor of West’s Pamphlet Edition of the Louisiana Civil Code since 1980. He has also authored three volumes of the Louisiana Civil Law Treatise series, now in the fourth edition. Professor Yiannopoulos has published widely in the fields of civil law, comparative law, conflict of laws, and admiralty. He has directed the Law School's summer programs in Greece since 1980. He is currently revising portions of the civil code, collecting materials for an admiralty textbook, and working on the next edition of his property treatise. His revision of the Civil Code provisions on quasi-contracts became law in 1996, on representation and mandate in 1998, on deposit and sequestration in 2003, and on loan in 2004. Professor Yiannopoulos is a member of the International Academy of Comparative Law (The Hague) and of the American Law Institute. He retired from the full-time faculty at the end of the 2007-08 academic year, but continues to teach one course each year in his area of expertise. He has published widely in the fields of admiralty, property, and conflict of laws. [ return to top ]