Month: April 2018

Associate Dean Lori Ringhand wins Fulbright Distinguished Chair at University of Aberdeen in Scotland

Delighted to announce that Lori A. Ringhand, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and J. Alton Hosch Professor of Law here at the the University of Georgia School of Law, has been awarded a Fulbright Distinguished Chair for Spring 2019, when she will be in residence at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. While overseas, she also will present a Fulbright Gresham College Lecture.

A scholar whose expertise includes comparative constitutional law, Ringhand earned a B.C.L. in European and Comparative Law from Oxford University in England, and a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School. She plans to spend the semester researching U.S. and British approaches to campaign finance regulation.

Visiting Scholar Piotr Uhma Delivers Lecture on International Law and Democracy

IMG_2095Last week, Georgia law faculty, students, and friends from other departments were treated to a lecture by Dr. Piotr Uhma, Visiting Research Scholar at the Dean Rusk International Law Center. Uhma presented his new paper, completed while in residence at the Center, What democracy is the value of international law? In it, he focuses on the linkages between democracy and international law, explores the shape of democracy in the context of a changing international order, and the issue of non-liberal democracy. In particular, he discussed Poland’s recent political changes and what they mean for democracy and the rule of law.

Uhma serves as a lecturer in international law and postdoctoral researcher at the Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Kraków University, located in Kraków, Poland. He formerly held multiple posts with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and worked as Director of the Legal and Corporate Communications Office of the Polish Electric Power Grid company, PSE Operator S.A. He has been visiting at the Center during the spring 2018 semester.

Professor Bruner’s book wins praise from two law journal reviewers

Winning accolades in two law journal book reviews is Re-Imagining Offshore Finance: Market-Dominant Small Jurisdictions in a Globalizing Financial World , a 2016 Oxford University Press volume by Christopher M. Bruner, J. Alton Hosch Professor of Law here at the University of Georgia School of Law:

► In a 19-page analysis entitled “Tax Havens as Producers of Corporate Law” and published in the Michigan Law Review, author William J. Moon, Acting Assistant Professor at New York University School of Law, describes Bruner’s book as

“a significant contribution to the literature that should become required reading for both consumers and producers of knowledge concerning the regulation of global financial transactions.”

► Beginning at page 312 of the “Book Annotations” section of a recent issue of the NYU Journal of International Law and Politics is a review by student Zachary S. Freeman. He describes Bruner’s work as “compelling,” and credits it for explaining

“a fundamental question of international finance: how are small jurisdictions able to compete with global powers?”

Georgia Law’s Chanel Chauvet, ILSA Student President, on 2018 Jessup moot

auChanel Chauvet, a member of the University of Georgia School of Law Class of 2018, Dean Rusk International Law Center Student Ambassador, and outgoing President of the International Law Students Association, reflects on the 2018 Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition in Washington, D.C., below (cross-posted from her website).

Congratulations to the team pictured above, from the University of Queensland, Australia, for winning the 2018 Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition!  This is the third time the University of Queensland has won the international competition. National Law School of India University (NLSIU) followed in second place. Program listed here.

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Notably, Isha Jain of NLSIU received the best oralist award (pictured second from left).

The 2017-2018 season marked the 59th year of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. Jessup is the world’s largest and most prestigious moot court competition, with participants from over 645 law schools in 95 countries. One team is allowed to participate from every eligible school. The Competition is a simulation of a fictional dispute between countries before the International Court of Justice, the judicial organ of the United Nations.

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This year’s Jessup problem involved interpretation of a fictional bilateral treaty and raised legal questions about the meaning and application of customary international law, the law of the sea and use of force. Teams prepared oral and written pleadings arguing both the applicant and respondent positions of the case.

There were also ample opportunities for the students to interact with each other during various Jessup events, including the National Dress Ball, Announcement parties, and the Closing Gala (see pictures below). Students also took time in between rounds to explore the District of Columbia, including Capitol Hill, which was a short walk away from the venue.

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For me (at right), it was a privilege and an honor to serve as Student President during the competition, alongside the International Law Student Association and its many volunteers. It was a great opportunity to support the organization in its work in administering this prestigious competition and creating a collegiate environment in which the students thrived. I was also thrilled to see the students who traveled from across the world to compete for the trophy, but perhaps gained something equally as valuable – life-long international friends and colleagues!

Center’s Laura Tate Kagel presents on integrating migrants in Germany

CES KagelOur Center’s Associate Director for International Professional Education, Dr. Laura Tate Kagel, presented her paper, “Integration Measures and Conceptual Limits: The Example of Germany,” at the recent 25th annual International Conference of Europeanists in Chicago.

Kagel’s timely paper examines the integration of migrants in Germany following the massive influx of refugees to the country.  She analyzes the legal and policy measures adopted in Germany to address the issue, provides an overview of the historical evolution of attitudes toward immigration in the German context, and discusses the tensions embodied in the current concept of migrant integration in light of the rise of populist politics.

The conference was sponsored by the Council for European Studies, which supports multidisciplinary research on Europe through a wide range of programs and initiatives.

Center to co-host launch of OUP book on trade by Director Emeritus Johnson

We at the Dean Rusk International Law Center are delighted to co-host the launch of The Wealth of a Nation: A History of Trade Politics in America (Oxford University Press 2018), by our Director Emeritus, C. Donald Johnson.

The event will take place 4-5 p.m. in Room 285 of the University of Georgia Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, with which our Center is co-sponsoring.

In his presentation, Johnson, who served as our Center’s Director from 2004 to 2015, will examine the history of trade politics as a means to explore the question whether the United States is better served by a free trade agenda or protectionist measures.

It’s a subject on which Johnson has particular expertise: he served from 1998 to 2000 as Ambassador in the Office of the United States Trade Representative, and then specialized in international trade law as a partner at the Washington law firm Patton Boggs. Additionally, while serving from 1993 to 1995 as a U.S. Representative on behalf of Georgia’s 10th District, Johnson focused on national security and international economic policy, including legislation implementing North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization.

Last September, Johnson joined other experts in a panel entitled “Setting the Negotiation Agenda,” part of a daylong Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law symposium on “The Next Generation of International Trade Agreements.”

Johnson served as an Articles Editor for that journal while a student at the University of Georgia School of Law, from which he earned his J.D. in 1973. Thereafter, he studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science, earning an LL.M. degree in International Economic Law and International Relations.

Georgia Law students, Center take part in ASIL annual meeting in Washington

Many of us the University of Georgia School of Law Dean Rusk International Law Center took part last week in a whirlwind of activities at the American Society of International Law Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Supported by Louis B. Sohn Profession Development Fellowships awarded by our Center, Georgia Law students again volunteered at the meeting (prior posts here and here). Standing at either side of Center Director Kathleen A. Doty in the photo above, this year’s Sohn Fellows were Wade Herring and Hanna Karimipour. Flanking them, in turn, are Christine Keller, our Center’s Associate Director for Global Practice Preparation, and Dr. Piotr Uhma, our Visiting Scholar from the Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Kraków University, Poland. Also in D.C. were Georgia Law student Chanel Chauvet, who has just completed a term as Student President of the worldwide International Law Students Association, and Laura Tate Kagel, our Center’s Associate Director for International Professional Education.

Among those speaking at the Annual Meeting were Doty, who moderated a panel on the crisis in Yemen, and Professor Harlan Cohen, our Center’s Faculty Co-Director, who participated in a launch of his new coedited book. Their presentations were among the scores of Annual Meeting panels and speeches, by judges, scholars, and practitioners of international law from around the world.

Co-editor, Georgia Law Professor Cohen, to take part at ASIL in roundtable launch of CUP volume

An essay collection on international adjudication, Legitimacy and International Courts (Cambridge University Press 2018), will be launched in Washington, D.C., at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law. The event will take place during the meeting of ASIL’s International Courts and Tribunals Interest Group meeting, at 9 a.m. this Thursday, April 5, in the Sequoia Room, Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill.

A co-editor of the book (prior post) is Harlan Grant Cohen, the Gabriel M. Wilner/UGA Foundation Professor in International Law and Faculty Co-Director of the Dean Rusk International Law Center here at the University of Georgia School of Law. Cohen also serves on the Board of Editors of the American Journal of International Law, for which he is serving as Editor of the International Decisions section.

At the launch, Cohen and Baltimore Law Professor Nienke Grossman will introduce the book. She is a co-editor, along with Oslo Law Professors Andreas Føllesdal and Geir Ulfstein. Joining Cohen and Grossman for Thursday’s roundtable discussion will be Northwestern Law Professor Karen Alter.

Georgia Law students compete in Vis arbitration moot in Vienna

University of Georgia School of Law students traveled to Austria last week to take part in the 25th Annual Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot.

Pictured above in Vienna is the hardworking Georgia Law team that joined 366 other teams from across the world. From left: students Garret Drogosch, Wheaton Webb, Lanier Flanders, and Michael Ackerman, along with student coach Victoria Barker and attorney coach Sara S. Burns, an associate at the Atlanta office of King & Spalding.

“Arms Sales in Conflict: Examining the Impact on Yemen,” session April 4 during ASIL Annual Meeting in D.C.

Arms sales and the conflict in Yemen will be the focus of a panel at the American Society of International Law Annual Meeting in Washington D.C. from 2:30-4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 4, 2018.

The panel will examine why some states halt arms sales to countries in conflict, while others do not. Using Saudi Arabia’s support for the Yemeni government as a case study, this session will focus on why the United States has continued (and, in fact, increased) arms sales to Saudi Arabia while some European governments have halted such sales pending further review. The panel will examine the changes to US policy and regulations under the Trump administration, focusing on the use and development of international standards related to arms sales, in particular whether the Arms Trade Treaty has been an effective tool in stopping irresponsible arms sales.

 

 

Panelists will include: Brittany Benowitz, Chief Counsel at the American Bar Association’s Center for Human Rights (left); Dafna H. Rand, former Deputy Assistant Secretary, Department of State Bureau of  Democracy, Human Rights & Labor (center left); and Rachel Stohl, Managing Director of the Stimson Center, and Director of the Conventional Defense Program (center right). Moderating the panel will be our Center’s Director, Kathleen A. Doty (right).

The panel is presented jointly by two ASIL interest groups, the Nonproliferation, Arms Control and Disarmament Interest Group and the Lieber Society on the Law of Armed Conflict. The session is also co-sponsored by the Dean Rusk International Law Center, CIVIC, and the Stimson Center.

ASIL attendees and others in Washington are most welcome to join us and take part in the April 4 conversation, to be held in the Lexington Room of the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill, 400 New Jersey Avenue, NW. Please join us if you will be in Washington; light refreshments will be served.