Maya Steinitz
Professor Maya Steinitz teaches civil procedure, corporations, international business transactions, and international arbitration. Her research focuses on a wide range of topics including the intersection of civil litigation and corporate law, public and business international law, transnational dispute resolution, and the global legal profession. She is one of the nation’s leading experts on litigation finance.
Prior to joining the University of Iowa College of Law, Professor Steinitz held a dual appointment as an Associate-in-Law and Lecturer at Columbia Law School (2009-2011). She has taught courses in comparative law, international law, and international dispute resolution at Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School, Tel Aviv University, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Prior to joining academia, Professor Steinitz served as a litigator at Latham & Watkins, LLP (2003-2009) and Flemming, Zulack & Williamson LLP (2001-2002). She also clerked for the Hon. Esther Hayut, currently the Chief Justice of the Israeli Supreme Court (1998-1999). While in private practice, Professor Steinitz led the representation of the emerging government of Southern Sudan in drafting its national and sub-national constitutions and provided legal advice on various aspects of the Sudanese peace process in what The Deal described as “one of the most ambitious international pro bono undertaking ever by a commercial law firm.”
Today, Professor Steinitz remains active in international dispute resolution. She regularly serves as an arbitrator, expert, and counsel in international and domestic arbitrations and has served as a Member of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and of the Academic Council of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration. She served on the inaugural bench of the Israeli-Palestinian ICC Jerusalem Arbitration Center (JAC). She has also served as an expert witness and consultant to law firms, litigation finance firms, NGOs, and the United Nations on matters including litigation finance, international arbitration, and transitional justice.
Her articles have been published by leading law reviews and law journals published by Yale Law School, Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, University of Pennsylvania Law School, Vanderbilt Law School, Oxford University, and others. She has recently published a book about cross-border mass tort litigation titled “The Case for an International Court of Civil Justice” (Cambridge University Press 2019) and her next monograph, “Litigation Finance, Law Firm Ownership & The Future of the Legal Profession” has been accepted for publication by Cambridge University Press. Professor Steinitz’s doctoral work drew on her training in social psychology and legal philosophy, while her work in recent years focuses primarily on law and economics and comparative law. Her publications are available on Social Science Research Network.
Professor Steinitz has been interviewed and cited by scores of leading news outlets globally, including CBS 60 Minutes, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, NBC, NPR, The Atlantic, The Chicago Tribune, Reuters, Bloomberg, and the American Lawyer.
Practice and Teaching:
Courses Taught (Past and Present)
- Civil Procedure
- Complex Litigation
- Business Associations (Corporations)
- International Business Transactions
- International Commercial Arbitration
- Global Mass Torts Litigation
- Negotiation and Mediation
- Capstone (Deals)
- The Legal Aspects of the Israeli – Palestinian Conflict (with G. Fletcher)
- Comparative Conflict Studies
- Comparative Introduction to American Law
- Litigation Finance, and Law Firm Finance, and the Future of the Legal Profession
- Legal Philosophy
Affiliations:
- Member of the New York State Bar Association. Admitted to practice in the Federal District Courts of the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.
- Arbitrator on the rosters of the American Arbitration Association (AAA), the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), the International Chamber of Commerce International Court of Arbitration (ICC), the Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC), the Japan Commercial Arbitration Association (JCAA), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
