Anna Spain is the Assistant Director of the Burkle Center for International Relations and an Adjunct Professor at the UCLA School of Law where she teaches international dispute resolution. Her scholarship focuses on the intersection of international law and dispute resolution and on the study of international and cross-cultural conflict. 

A mediator with over 12 years of experience, Ms. Spain has successfully mediated over 40 disputes in the public, private and academic sectors. She has also trained and advised clients in mediation, negotiation and international law.

Prior to joining UCLA, Ms. Spain was an Attorney-Adviser at the U.S. Department of State.  She served as the U.S. delegate to the United Nations Compensation Commission in Geneva, represented the United States in two cases before the the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal in The Hague, and served as the State Department’s primary legal adviser for international investment disputes in Asia and the Pacific.

Prior to legal practice, Ms. Spain clerked for the Honorable Judge Raymond Finch in the U.S. District Court in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. She also has a policy background in international trade and climate change and participated in negotiating the U.S. – Chile Free Trade Agreement and the Kyoto Protocol during her tenure at the U.S. Trade Representative's Office and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Ms. Spain holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. in Environmental Studies and Economics from Denison University. She is a certified mediator in California, Washington D.C. and Ohio. Ms. Spain is a member of the American Bar Association, the American Society of International Law, the Pennsylvania Bar Association and is on the Board of Directors of Mediators Beyond Borders.