Faculty and Administration Profiles

Thomas F. McInerney

About

Thomas F. McInerney is an international lawyer, scholar, and strategist with a background in international and corporate law, global governance, regulation, and development. He has over twenty years' experience in practice, research, scholarship, and teaching in the field of rule of law internationally. Prof. McInerney's legal experience spans anti-corruption, corporate finance, environmental law and policy, food and agriculture, human rights, international organizations, international investment, labor, land and natural resources, organizational compliance and ethics, public international law, and securities.

McInerney’s scholarship centers on multilateral treaties for sustainable development, rule of law and development, and regulation. He has developed an original multidisciplinary approach to research on multilateral treaties that combines international law, international development, regulatory theory, organizational theory, and strategic management, which can be applied across diverse sectors. In his book, Strategic Treaty Management: Practice and Implications (Cambridge University Press 2015), he developed a novel framework for devising strategies, managing operations, gathering scientific data, and measuring the performance of multilateral regulatory agreements relating to arms control, the environment, global public health, human rights, and labor.

McInerney has advised international organizations, governments, and international NGOs including the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), UN Environment (UNE), Bioversity International, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the International Land Coalition, on developing and implementing innovative strategies and solutions to enhance the performance of global regulatory systems. From 2013 to 2015 he was outside counsel to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Since 2021, he has been a member of the Legal, Ethics, and Governance Subgroup of the Geneva-based Group on Earth Observations’ Data Sharing Working Group.

From 2009 to 2012, McInerney served as Director of Research, Policy, and Strategic Initiatives for the International Development Law Organization (IDLO) in Rome. In this capacity he launched the research function, developed, and managed eight international research projects, drafted and secured unanimous member state approval for IDLO’s first strategic plan as part of an organizational change process, and was responsible for creating partnerships with UN agencies and providing knowledge inputs to UN processes. From 2002 to 2009, he served as General Counsel and Secretary for IDLO where he managed global legal affairs and compliance for the organization. From 1999 to 2002, as Program Manager with Social Accountability International, McInerney conducted research, drafting, and fundraising for the Business Principles for Countering Bribery, a leading corporate anti-corruption management system and predecessor to the World Economic Forum Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI) and the ISO 37001 Anti-Corruption Management System. Prior to joining Social Accountability International, he practiced corporate and securities law with Dorsey & Whitney LLP and Ross & Hardies in New York.

McInerney has trained and worked with hundreds of public officials, regulators, lawyers, and judges throughout the world on corporate governance, anti-corruption, private sector regulation, international law, and rule of law development.

He regularly writes and speaks on topics including sustainability, international law, global governance, regulation, and international development.

Based in Bangkok, Thailand, McInerney is admitted to practice in the State of New York in the United States.

Degrees

BA, Philosophy and Government, College of William and Mary
MA, Philosophy, Loyola University Chicago
JD, DePaul University College of Law
PhD in Development Studies, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex

Courses Taught

History, Theory and Practice of Law for Development
International Development Architecture
Rule of Law Capstone Project

Selected Publications

Thomas F. McInerney, The Emergence of Intelligent Treaty Systems and the Future of International Law, Illinois Journal of Law, Technology & Policy (2022)

Thomas F. McInerney, Factors Contributing to Treaty Effectiveness: Implications for a Possible Pandemic Treaty, Global Health Centre Policy Brief (2021)

Thomas F. McInerney, Justice, Complexity and Effective Governance in the Twenty-First Century, Problema Anuario de Filosofía y Teoría del Derecho (2021)

Strategic Treaty Management:  Practice and Implications (Cambridge University Press 2015)