Faculty - Madrid, Spain

RESIDENT DIRECTOR for entire four-week program:  Prof. Rocío Álvarez Aguayo, Madrid, Spain

WEEK 1: (June 2-5, 2025):   CYBERLAW   (1 credit)

INSTRUCTOR:   Roy Balleste, Professor of Law, Director of International Initiatives, and Director of the Dolly & Homer Hand Law Library, Stetson University College of Law, Gulfport, Florida. 

Roy Balleste is a tenured Professor of Law and the Director of the Dolly & Homer Hand Law Library. He teaches cyberlaw and space law and has concentrated his scholarship on the areas of internet governance, cybersecurity law, space law, space cybersecurity, and astronautical ethics. Balleste holds a J.S.D. in Intercultural Human Rights (St. Thomas University); M.S. in Cybersecurity (Norwich University); LLM in Air and Space Law (McGill University); LLM in Intercultural Human Rights (St. Thomas University); and a JD (St. Thomas University).  He is a doctoral candidate (PhD) in space cybersecurity at Capitol Technology University (expected fall 2024). Balleste holds a certificate in cybersecurity (in policy and technology) from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Balleste also participates in the Chief Information Security Officer Graduate Certificate Program at the National Defense University, College of Information and Cyberspace. 

Professor Balleste also serves as Director of International Initiatives at the Office of International and Graduate Programs. The international initiatives efforts within the Office of International and Graduate Programs aim to enhance the College of Law’s global engagement through various programs and initiatives designed to empower students and faculty to collaborate with the international community. Professor Balleste is a member of the International Institute of Space Law and Upsilon Pi Epsilon Association (the only National Honor Society for the computing and information disciplines). Balleste has participated in discussions at the United Nations on internet governance and space law matters. He is a core expert and editorial board member of the Manual on International Law Applicable to Military Uses of Outer Space (MILAMOS). Balleste was the 2017 Nicolas Mateesco Matte Space Law Prize recipient at McGill University and the 2016 Jean Key Gates Distinguished Alumni Award at the University of South Florida School of Information. 

Professor Balleste served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Non-Commercial Users Constituency (NCUC) of the Generic Names Supporting Organization (ICANN GNSO) as the Representative for North America (December 2013 - December 2015) and a member of ICAAN’s ‘Thick’ Whois Policy Development Process Working Group (November 2012- November 2013). The Policy Development Process (PDP) Working Group (WG) was chartered to provide the Council of the Generic Names Supporting Organization with a policy recommendation regarding the use of ‘thick’ Whois by all gTLD Registries, both existing and future. Balleste was an active NCUC member until November 2017. He also served as Assistant Editor of the Annals of Air and Space Law (2016-2017) at the Center for Research in Air and Space Law, McGill University. 

In November of 2017, Balleste participated at the United Nations High-level Forum on Space as a driver for sustainable socio-economic development. Balleste also participated in the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (UN IGF) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2007 and Vilnius, Lithuania, in 2010. In October of 2012, Balleste participated—at the invitation of the U.S. Air Force Research Institute—in the second cyber power conference at Maxwell’s Officer Training School. From 2006 to 2009, Professor Balleste was head of IT at the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law and library director, where he collaborated with the university’s CIO and CFO. From 2009 to May 2020, Balleste supervised the law library and media department at St. Thomas University School of Law.

WEEK 2:  (June 9-12, 2025):   FREEDOM, EQUALITY, AND CHOICE:  HUMAN RIGHTS ACROSS THE ATLANTIC   (1 credit)

INSTRUCTOR:   Adam Dubin, Assistant Professor of Law, Universidad Pontificia Comillas and Adjunct Professor of Law, New York University (Madrid Campus), Madrid, Spain 

Adam Dubin, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Law at Universidad Pontificia Comillas ICADE) in Madrid, Spain, where he specializes in comparative human rights, development, and Sub-Saharan Africa. He also serves as the Director of the LLM program in International and European Business Law at ICADE and holds an adjunct faculty position at New York University (Madrid), where he lectures on Comparative U.S. and European Human Rights. Dr. Dubin teaches across undergraduate (LL.B.), postgraduate (LLM), and doctoral (PhD) levels.

Dr. Dubin’s scholarly work focuses on the nexus of development and human rights. He has published numerous articles and book chapters with leading international publishers. He is the author of a forthcoming article in the African Law Journal (Cambridge University Press) that examines maternal health rights in Uganda and has served as guest editor for a special issue of a prominent South African journal addressing access to justice and poverty. Additionally, he is the co-editor of Gender, Poverty and Access to Justice: Policy Implementation in Sub-Saharan Africa (Routledge, 2021), the first major publication to focus on access to justice in this region, and two forthcoming book chapters on reproductive rights access for migrants in India. His research also extends to LGBTQIA+ rights; he created the first law school course in Spain exclusively dedicated to LGBTQIA+ comparative jurisprudence and is co-editing a forthcoming book on LGBTQIA+ rights in Africa with Palgrave Macmillan.

Dr. Dubin also explores the intersection of human rights and popular culture in his research. He is the co-editor of The Eurovision Song Contest as a Cultural Phenomenon: From the Concert Halls to the Halls of Academia (Routledge, 2022) and Indian Cinema and Human Rights: An Intersectional Tale (Springer, 2024).

In addition to his academic contributions, Dr. Dubin has conducted extensive human rights work focusing on the protection of women and children in countries such as India, Kenya, Uganda, and Angola. His work includes collaborations with the Angolan Ministry of Justice, supported by UNICEF, to train prosecutors and judges on implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Dr. Dubin has served as a Visiting Professor at several institutions worldwide, including Nirma University (Gujarat, India), the National University of West Bengal (Kolkata, India) as an Indian Government Scholar under the GIAN Program, the University of Strasbourg (France), the University of International Business and Economics and the Chinese University of Politics and Law (Beijing, China), and the Catholic University of Porto (Portugal).

Dr. Dubin earned his Bachelor’s degree in Literature and Political Science from the University of Vermont (USA), a Master’s degree in Development Policy from the University of Manchester (England), a Juris Doctorate from Pace University (New York, USA), and a PhD in Law from Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain).

WEEK 3: (June 16-19, 2025):      (1 credit)

INSTRUCTOR:   Melanie Regis, Assistant Professor of Law and Co-Director, Center for Diversity in the Legal Profession, Charleston School of Law, Charleston, South Carolina

Melanie Regis is an Assistant Professor of Law at the Charleston School of Law in Charleston, South Carolina.  After working as a public defender for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for ten years, Melanie relocated back to her hometown of Charleston to start a solo practice handling criminal appeals and post-conviction work.  It was during this time that Melanie became an adjunct professor at Charleston law and developed a spark for teaching.  Melanie has taught Trial Advocacy, Civil Procedure, Criminal Procedure- Adjudication, Criminal Procedure- Police Investigations and created a course on criminal motions practice.  Prior to becoming a full-time professor at Charleston, Melanie was a visiting assistant professor for one semester at UMass-Dartmouth.


WEEK 4 (June 23-26, 2025):   I (1 credit)
INSTRUCTOR:   Joseph Morrissey, Professor of Law and Leroy Highbaugh Sr. Research Chair, Stetson University College of Law, Gulfport, Florida

Professor Morrissey received his B.A. from Princeton University and his JD from Columbia University School of Law. He practiced corporate and securities law for Mayer, Brown & Platt, and later Kirkland & Ellis. He also spent several years overseeing a Russian asset portfolio for an investment company in Switzerland. His practice led him to run offices in Tashkent, Uzbekistan; Geneva, Switzerland; and Moscow, Russia.