Chantal Thomas focuses her scholarship on international economic law, law and development, international migration law, international legal theory, law and political economy. 

At the Cornell Law School, she is a professor of law and directs the Clarke Initiative for Law and Development in the Middle East and North Africa. She teaches in the areas of Law and Development and International Economic Law.

Prior to joining Cornell, Professor Thomas chaired the Law Department of the American University in Cairo and served on the University of Minnesota and Fordham University law faculties. She has been a Visiting Professor teaching international economic law at institutions such as Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, the Center for Transnational Legal Studies in London, and Soochow University in China.

Professor Thomas has consulted for the USAID Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Affairs, and she served on the U.S. State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Law, and on the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law.

Her writings include articles in Law and History Review, Cornell Law Review and the American Journal of Comparative Law. She co-authored several books including Shaping the Definition of Trafficking in the Palermo Protocol; Transnational Migration, Globalization and Governance, Handbook on International Legal Theory; and Developing Countries in the WTO.

Professor Thomas received her undergraduate degree at McGill University, her J.D. at Harvard Law School, and her Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge.