Boston College Law School is welcoming two new faculty for the 2026-2027 academic year, Alexandra Walker and Afonso Seixas-Nunes, SJ. These latest additions follow five new hires from last year and eight from 2024. The newcomers add expertise in contemporary societal challenges around the interplay between tax law and changing external factors, and the ethical and human rights issues being raised by new technologies related to warfare.
“We are thrilled to welcome Alex and Fr. Afonso into our community,” said Odette Lienau, The Marianne D. Short, Esq., Dean at BC Law. “Their commitment to teaching and to cutting-edge scholarship on pressing issues of law and society will greatly benefit both our students and the wider scholarly community. As we prepare our future lawyers to engage with evolving challenges, these two new colleagues will strengthen key areas of our program.”
Alexandra Walker joins BC Law from New York University Law School, where she was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law. Walker’s interests lie in the dynamic relationship between tax laws and extra-legal factors, such as constant evolutions in business, society, politics, and human behavior. She aims to use a deep understanding of these factors to design pragmatic, practicable changes to the tax code that can prove durable and effective amidst this perpetual churn.
“I’m ecstatic to be joining the incredible faculty, staff, and students at BC Law,” said Walker. “When I visited campus, I was impressed by the balance of intellectual curiosity, collaboration, and commitment to justice exhibited throughout the community. I’m looking forward to contributing to this culture both in the classroom and through my scholarship.”
Walker taught corporate tax and tax procedure at NYU Law, and her work has been published in the New York Law University Law Review. She received her JD and an LLM in taxation from New York University.
Afonso Seixas-Nunes, SJ, joins BC Law from the Saint Louis University School of Law, where he was an associate professor specializing in international public law. His research concerns the challenges that new technologies of war, such as cyber technologies and autonomous systems, will introduce to the battlefields of the future.
“As a Jesuit priest, I have been developing research on autonomous weapons systems and the implications of private corporations exploring outer space,” said Seixas-Nunes. “These issues raise important concerns about transparency, state and corporate responsibility, and, of course, human rights. They are also at the cutting edge of legal scholarship, and finding an academic community like Boston College is truly a dream come true. I have never felt more welcomed in an academic setting than I have by the students, staff, and faculty here. I am deeply grateful.”
Alongside the above work, his research also focuses on the protection of human rights in the context of war, internal conflicts, or forced displacement.
Seixas-Nunes previously served as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict at the Blavatnik School of Government. He holds a PhD in Law from the University of Essex and a Master of Science in Human Rights from the London School of Economics. He was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 2010.