Profile

Professor Maya Steinitz (LL.B., LL.M., JSD) teaches and practices public and commercial international law with a focus on cross-border civil litigation, international commercial and investment arbitration and sovereign litigation.

Currently, Maya holds a dual appointment as Associate-in-Law and Lecturer-in-Law at Columbia Law School and she has accepted a position as an Associate Professor at the University of Iowa College of Law (starting July 2011). She has taught courses in comparative and international law, including courses on international litigation and arbitration, at Columbia Law School, Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her most recent research and publications have focused on third-party funding of litigation and arbitration.

Maya also serves as an arbitrator and arbitration counsel in international and domestic arbitrations. Her current matters include serving as an arbitrator in a $500 million securities arbitration and as special counsel in an LCIA arbitration.

Prior to joining Columbia Law School, Maya served as an Associate at Latham & Watkins LLP (2003-2009) and a law clerk at Flemming, Zulack & Williamson LLP (2001- 2002). She also clerked for Israeli Supreme Court Justice Esther Hayut (1998-1999).

Maya's academic publications on issues such as third-party litigation funding, sovereign wealth funds and the international criminal courts have been published in leading publications including the Minnesota Law Review, Yale Journal of Human Rights and Development Law; University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law, Oxford Journal of International Criminal Justice and Oxford University Press.

Current research

Third party litigation funding-for-profit, non-recourse funding of litigation by specialized investment firms and hedge funds-is a burgeoning, and controversial, phenomenon. In A Model Litigation Finance Contract (www.litigationfinancecontract.com) Prof. Maya Steinitz and associate editor, Abigail Caplovitz Field, will propose contract provisions, and ultimately a full contract, that take on tangible issues such as managing conflicts of interest; striking a balance between a plaintiff's right to control her claim and an investor's need to manage risk; and the overall systemic issues of access to justice, the risk of frivolous claims, champerty and usury. Building on her work to date, Prof. Steinitz based the contract on venture capital contracts.