Introduction
Richard Albert is Professor of World Constitutions and Director of Constitutional Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. A counselor to multinational organizations, governments, and political parties, he is an expert in democratic innovation and constitutional reform. He has published over 20 books, including Constitutional Amendments: Making, Breaking, and Changing Constitutions (Oxford University Press 2019). He is the Founder and Director of the International Forum on the Future of Constitutionalism, whose mission is to marshal knowledge and experience to build a world of opportunity, liberty, and dignity for all. Born and raised in Ottawa, he is a former law clerk to the Chief Justice of Canada and a graduate of Yale, Oxford and Harvard. As of July 2021, he is Co-President of the International Society of Public Law, the world’s leading organization for the study and practice of public law.
Expert
Richard Albert is the William Stamps Farish Professor in Law, Professor of Government, and Director of Constitutional Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. He writes about democratic innovation and constitutional reform. He approaches these subjects from comparative, doctrinal, historical and theoretical perspectives. His publications have been translated into Bahasa, Chinese, French, Hungarian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. He has held visiting professorships at Yale University, the University of Toronto and the University of Ottawa in Canada, FGV Direito SP in Brazil, Externado University in Colombia, Universidad de Especialidades Espíritu Santo in Ecuador, the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya in Israel, and Airlangga University in Indonesia.
Professor Albert has organized over 100 international conferences, workshops, and symposia on subjects in public law. As founder of the International Forum on the Future of Constitutionalism, he created the Global Summit in Constitutionalism, whose first edition featured 100+ panels, 400+ speakers, and 4000+ attendees. And as Chair of the Younger Comparativists Committee in the American Society of Comparative Law from 2011-15, he transformed the organization from a committee into a global network of scholars in public and private comparative law. He created the annual YCC Global Conference in Comparative Law. As Chair, he developed scholarship, teaching and mentorship programs to support early-career scholars. He also created scholarship and teaching prizes to recognize early-career scholars in comparative law. In recognition of his service as Chair, the Richard Albert Scholarship Fund was endowed to support early-career scholars participating in the annual YCC Global Conference.
Born and raised in Ottawa, he is a former law clerk to the Chief Justice of Canada and a graduate of Yale, Oxford and Harvard. As of July 2021, he is Co-President of the International Society of Public Law, the world’s leading organization for the study and practice of public law.
Fields of expertise: Participation, Social change / social transformations