Peter W. Adler is an American-British attorney, law professor, and one of the leading legal scholars on children’s rights and international human rights. As Intact Global’s Secretary, he brings decades of experience in legal practice, scholarship, teaching, international business, and advocacy to the organization’s mission of securing equal protection and bodily autonomy for every child.

Peter graduated with honors in philosophy from Dartmouth College and earned a Master of Arts from Cambridge University. He received his Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served as an editor of both the Virginia Law Review and the Virginia Journal of International Law.

Peter has published more than ten law review articles and a book, with much of his scholarship focused on children’s rights under U.S. law and international human-rights law. His research examines the legal and ethical implications of performing medically unnecessary genital procedures on children who cannot consent. In particular, his work has explored bodily integrity, tortious battery, physicians’ fiduciary obligations, informed consent, equal protection, and the application of international human-rights principles to non-therapeutic genital cutting.

As a professor, Peter teaches International Law, Business Law, and International Business at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He has also taught International Law at Vermont Law and Graduate School and has led UMass Lowell’s international study-abroad program in Copenhagen. Through his teaching, Peter helps students understand how legal rules, commercial institutions, and human-rights principles operate across national borders.

Before entering academia, Peter was a partner in a Boston-area law firm responsible for corporate law and civil litigation. His business career has included serving as a vice president in the European division of an international bank. He also founded and operated one of the earliest e-commerce companies, sold it to a Fortune 500 corporation, and subsequently joined the acquiring company’s senior management team to help develop and operate its e-commerce division.

Peter’s scholarship and advocacy reflect his conviction that children are independent human beings entitled to bodily integrity, meaningful legal protection, and equal treatment regardless of sex. Through Intact Global, he works to transform those principles into lasting legal and cultural change so that every child is protected from nonconsensual genital cutting.