Brian Cox

Professor Brian L. Cox is a doctoral candidate lecturer at Cornell Law School. He retired from the U.S. Army in 2018 after 22 years of service as an airborne infantry solider, combat camera operator, airborne infantry officer, and for the last seven years as a military lawyer. His combat deployments include Iraq from 2003-04 as a combat camera operator and Afghanistan from 2013-14 as an operational law attorney and then the chief of international and operational law for Regional Command-East. His military awards, decorations, and qualifications include the Ranger Tab, Senior Parachutist Badge, Pathfinder Badge, Air Assault Badge, Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, NATO Medal, Basic and Advanced Collateral Damage Estimation Certification, Weapons Law and the Legal Review of Weapons Certification, Joint Firepower Certification, Joint Intermediate Target Development Certification, Intelligence Law Certification, and Special Victim Unit Investigator Certification. Prof. Cox is a graduate of Queen's Law (LL.M.) and the University of North Carolina (J.D.) (B.A. International Studies).

Recent Publications:

• Representative Sara Jacobs and Senator Dick Durbin Take Aim at the DoD Law of War Manual—and Miss, Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 345-95, 2023 (link)
• Rhetoric and Warfare in the Age of Rights, Articles of War, Feb 21, 2024 (link)
• Killer Robots and Military Justice Innovation: Preparing Accountability Mechanisms for the Future of Autonomous Weapons, Revue Internationale de Droit Pénal, vol. 93, no. 2, pp. 203-31, 2022 (link)
• The Arbour Report and Supporting Effective Cultural Reform in the Canadian Armed Forces, CIDP Special Policy Reports, December 2022 (link)
• The Risk of Obsolescence: Reframing the Contemporary Use of Force Model to Achieve a More Holistic Application of the UN Charter Jus Ad Bellum Construct, Canadian Yearbook of International Law, vol. 58, pp. 263-330, 2020 (link)

Online:

Website: https://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/admissions/jsd-admissions/jsd-student-profiles/