Background

Charlie Trumbull joined the University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law in 2024. He teaches Public International Law, International Criminal Law, the Law of Armed Conflict, and National Security Law. His current scholarship focuses on the law and ethics of armed conflict, the use of autonomy in weapon systems, and how the laws of war have evolved to regulate modern conflicts.  He has published extensively in the top international law journals.

Prior to joining the University of South Carolina School of Law, he served as an attorney-adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State.  Among other positions, he was the Legal Adviser to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, the Deputy and Acting Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure, and the Legal Adviser to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.  

Professor Trumbull earned a B.A. in Philosophy from Dartmouth College and a J.D. from Vanderbilt Law School.  He clerked for Judge Michael on the 4^th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Recent Publications

• Collateral Damage and Individual Rights in Armed Conflict, 48 Fordham Int’l L.J. 521 (2025).  
• Proportionality, Double Effects, and the Innocent Bystander Problem In War, 59 Stan. J. Int’l L. 35 (2023). 

Education

• J.D. Vanderbilt University
• B.A. Dartmouth College

Teaching

• Use of Force and the Law of Armed Conflict (LAWS 755)
• Public International Law (LAWS 784)
• Contemporary Topics in National Security and International Law (LAWS 813)
• International Criminal Law (LAWS 817)