LUZ ESTELLA NAGLE
Professor of Law

LL.D., Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana
J.D., The College of William & Mary
LL.M., University of California, Los Angeles
M.A., University of California, Los Angeles (Latin American Studies)

Professor Nagle began her career as a criminal defense lawyer and counsel for an agribusiness corporation in Medellín, Colombia. From 1983 to 1986 she served as a judge in Colombia's court of general jurisdiction, presiding over civil and criminal cases, coordinating law enforcement operations in prosecution of the war on drugs, arbitrating labor and property disputes, and resolving domestic relations cases. Compelled to leave Colombia following assassination attempts and repeated death threats, Professor Nagle worked as an undercover private investigator while attending the University of California, Los Angeles, where she earned Master's degrees in Latin American studies, and Comparative Law. Her research while at UCLA focused on NAFTA environmental controls in maquiladora industries along the U.S./Mexico border, and on extradition of international drug traffickers between Colombia and the United States.

While pursuing her J.D. at the College of William & Mary, Professor Nagle clerked for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Norfolk, Virginia, consulted at the National Center for State Courts as a liaison for visiting Latin American judges, and was a regular guest lecturer on doing business in Latin America at William & Mary's Graduate School of Business Administration. Following graduation, she served as a law clerk to the Supreme Court of Virginia and was active in the Metropolitan Richmond Women's Bar Association and the St. Thomas More Society. Professor Nagle was also a Distinguished Visitor at William & Mary Law School, delivering lectures on human rights violations by Colombian guerrillas, and foreign policy in the prosecution of the drug war.

Following her judicial clerkship, Professor Nagle joined Microsoft Corporation's Latin American Group in Ft. Lauderdale, where she worked on international software licensing, distributor contracts, and anti-piracy issues. She was also Of Counsel in the Colombian law firm of Arrubla, Devis, & Tamayo, advising the firm on international business transactions and representation of foreign clients in Colombia.

Professor Nagle specializes in international law, international criminal law, and national security law as it pertains to terrorism, narco-trafficking, human trafficking, and guerrilla insurgency, and Latin American business law with an emphasis on regional trade. She teaches International Law, International Criminal Law, Comparative Commercial and Business Law, International Dispute Resolution, Regional Trade, and Latin American Business Law, which has become a model for similar courses taught in American law schools. Professor Nagle has taught in Stetson's summer programs in Spain and Argentina, and she developed Stetson's CLE courses on doing business in Latin America and doing business in Cuba. She also co-developed and taught courses in Spanish on international negotiation for visiting Peruvian MBA students at the University of Tampa's Institute for World Commerce. Professor Nagle has returned to Colombia on several occasions to deliver university lectures on mutual legal assistance and Plan Colombia, and has been a Guest Lecturer in the post-graduate business law curriculum at Universidad de los Andes.

Professor Nagle's publications and presentations cover a broad range of topics in international law and foreign policy and probe the realities of the rule of law in the Americas from a critical perspective that reflects her training and experience in both the Anglo-American and continental law systems. She serves as an expert witness and foreign law consultant for cases involving corporate litigation, international child abduction, drug trafficking, and political asylum. She is also involved in various USAID-sponsored rule of law and judicial reform programs throughout Latin America.

Professor Nagle is an External Researcher on national security and U.S. foreign policy in the Americas at the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College, and serves as a consultant and adviser with the Foreign Military Studies Office of the U.S. Army at Ft. Leavenworth, and with the Office of the Judge Advocate of the U.S. Southern Command where she participates in training Colombian military commanders and lawyers at the division level in compliance with international humanitarian law and human rights protocols.

Professor Nagle is active in a number of local, national, and international law organizations, and holds elected memberships in the International Association of Penal Law (AIDP), the College of Lawyers in Colombia, and in the Mexican Academy of Private International and Comparative Law.

Luz Estella Nagle
Stetson University College of Law
1401 61st Street South
St. Petersburg, FL 33707
nagle@law.stetson.edu

Publications

Comparative Transnational Criminal Law
Housed on Intranet EAB- Login Required

Another Reason to Clarify who is a Terrorist

Lawyers be Aware