P.S. Rao was educated at Andhra University, Waltair, India, and at Yale Law School. He earned a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Laws degree with specialization in international law from Andhra and also an LL.M. and J.S.D. from Yale. Professor Rao worked as a Post Doctoral Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C., and at the Marine Policy Center of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts. He published Public Order of the Ocean Resources and has contributed several articles on the negotiation of the Law of the Sea Convention,1982. Rao participated in its negotiations from 1976-1984. He headed the Legal and Treaties Division, Ministry of External Affairs, India, and was the chief legal advisor of India on international law matters from 1985 to 2002. Also, Rao has been a member of the International Law Commission since 1987 and a Special Rapporteur for the subject of Prevention and Liability. He is presently working as a consultant at The World Intellectual Property Organization, Geneva.