7th Annual Alexander C. Cushing International Law Conference

The Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea (IMLOS), in collaboration with the Stockton Center for International Law (SCIL) of the U.S. Naval War College (USNWC) and Amador Research Services, hosted the 7th Annual Alexander C. Cushing International Law Conference, “Security at Sea,” on May 13–14, 2025, at the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law Bonifacio Global City (BGC) Campus in Manila, Philippines. The annual Alexander C. Cushing International Law Conference brings together world-renowned scholars and practitioners in international law and oceans law and policy to address pressing and emerging issues in maritime law, governance, and security at sea, drawing participants from international organizations, academia, the diplomatic corps, and military and government legal and operational communities worldwide.

Marking a historic milestone as the first Cushing Conference hosted outside the United States, the 2025 program centered on international legal frameworks governing naval, coast guard, and expeditionary Marine forces in the Indo-Pacific region, with distinguished contributors from Australia, France, Germany, Vietnam, Malaysia, Japan, India, Singapore, the Philippines, and the United States. Panels addressed issues including lawfare and maritime security in Southeast Asia; jurisdictional competition and territorial disputes in East Asia; undersea infrastructure and strategic competition; gray-zone challenges in the law of naval warfare; and peacetime and conflict-related maritime issues ranging from fishing and seabed mining to Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS), maritime trade, convoy law, and interoperability and force synchronization.