Ambassador Beth Van Schaack is a distinguished fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Strategic Litigation Project. From 2022 to 2025, Ambassador Van Schaack served as ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice in the US Department of State office where she once served as deputy. As ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice, she advised the secretary of state and the under secretary of state for civilian security, democracy, and human rights on issues related to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

Prior to returning to public service, Ambassador Van Schaack was the Leah Kaplan visiting professor in human rights at Stanford Law School, where she taught international criminal law, human rights, human trafficking, and a policy lab on Legal & Policy Tools for Preventing Atrocities. In addition, she directed Stanford’s International Human Rights & Conflict Resolution Clinic. Earlier in her career, she was a practicing lawyer at Morrison & Foerster, LLP; the Center for Justice & Accountability, a human rights law firm; and the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague. Ambassador Van Schaack is a graduate of Stanford University (BA), Yale University (JD), and Leiden University (PhD).