Professor Helfer joined the Vanderbilt Law School faculty in 2004 was named director of the law school's International Legal Studies Program in 2005. He has authored numerous publications and lectured widely on his diverse research interests. His articles have appeared in leading American law reviews, including the Yale Law Journal, the Columbia Law Review, the California Law Review, the Virginia Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and the Vanderbilt Law Review, as well as in numerous specialized international law journals.

After graduating from law school, Professor Helfer clerked for Chief Judge Dolores K. Sloviter, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and served as a Bigelow Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School. He then practiced with the law firm of Rabinowitz, Boudin in New York City, before moving to Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, where he taught for seven years and most recently held the position of Professor of Law and Lloyd Tevis Fellow. Professor Helfer is a member of the editorial board of the peer-reviewed Journal of World Intellectual Property and serves as an expert advisor to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. He recently received an International Research Incubator grant from the Center for the Americas at Vanderbilt to support an interdisciplinary research project on “The Politics of Intellectual Property Disputes in the Andean Community.” Professor Helfer also provides advice and assistance to non-governmental organizations that engage in human rights advocacy. He is a Visiting Professor of Law and the John Harvey Gregory Lecturer on World Organization at Harvard Law School during Spring 2008.