Different kind of March Madness: Georgia Law’s Vis Moot Elite 8

Vis_editedThe team that the University of Georgia School of Law fielded in this year’s Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot in Vienna, Austria, bested a team from the University of Belgrade to advance to the quarterfinals, known as the Round of 8.

The impressive showing marked another excellent trip to Vienna for our students, who comprised one of the more than 300 teams that competed from all over the world in this 23d edition of the Vis Moot. The only U.S. teammembers to compete past the quarterfinals, they are, from left above: Ronald Chicken, coach Sara Burns, Emily Cox, Bethany Edmondson, and student coach Stephen Morrison.

So proud of our Elite 8 competitors!

Today in Brussels, from an alum & member of our Dean Rusk Council

David-Hull

David Hull, a member of our Dean Rusk International Law Council, today published his thoughts about this morning‘s terrorist attacks in the city with which he 1st became acquainted as a Georgia Law summer study abroad student in the early 1980s: Brussels, Belgium.

A partner and specialist in European Union law at the firm of Van Bael & Bellis, David wrote in the Atlanta legal paper, Daily Report, that he tends to be “sanguine” about bad news, but added that these attacks hit very “close to home,” even in “their sheer randomness.”

He expressed concern about “a tendency to conflate the refugee crisis with the terrorist threat,” and “hope that a settlement can be reached in Syria in the near future and a more stable situation achieved in the Middle East generally.” Both, he concluded, require “leaders with courage and vision to find workable and lasting solutions to unprecedented challenges.”

Our thoughts are with David, his family, and the many other members of the Georgia Law community in and around Belgium, a country with which we’ve partnered since the early 1970s.

Inaugural meeting, Dean Rusk International Law Center Council

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Associate Dean Diane Marie Amann reviews Center initiatives with Council members

We were delighted this weekend to welcome the alums, faculty, and friends who took part in the inaugural meeting of the Dean Rusk International Law Center Council. Some joined us for breakfast here in Athens, while others participated via videolink from as far away as the Willem C. Vis International Arbitration Moot in Vienna.

Topics included this past year’s many events and initiatives, with respect to faculty and curriculum, team-building, website and other outreach, study abroad at Leuven and Oxford, LLMs, international trainings, and research.

We concluded by giving thanks for the support and good counsel of our Council members:

Alumni/ae Division

► Charles A. Hunnicutt (JD 1975), Senior Counsel, Thompson Hine, Washington, D.C. (Chair)
► Charles A. “Chuck” Allen (JD 1982), Deputy General Counsel for International Affairs, U.S. Department of Defense, Washington, D.C.
► Jason Carter (JD 2004), Partner at Bondurant Mixson & Elmore and Chairman of The Carter Center Board of Trustees, Atlanta, Georgia

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From left, Joe Miller, Charlie Hunnicutt and Mary Chaffin

► Mary Chaffin (JD 1982), General Counsel, Accion, Cambridge, Massachusetts
► Ertharin Cousin (JD 1982), Executive Director of the U.N. World Food Programme, Rome, Italy (invited, not yet confirmed)
► Tess Davis (JD 2009), Executive Director, The Antiquities Coalition, Washington, D.C.
► Thomas J. Harrold Jr. (JD 1969), Partner, Miller & Martin PLLC, Atlanta, Georgia
► David Hull (JD 1983), Partner, Van Bael & Bellis, Brussels, Belgium
► Ashland Johnson (JD 2011), Director of Policy & Campaigns, Athlete Ally, Washington, D.C.
► Theodore W. Kassinger (JD 1978), Partner, O’Melveny & Myers, Washington, D.C.
► Kenneth Klein (JD 1976), Partner, Mayer Brown, Washington, D.C.
► Terry Smith Labat (JD 1977), Senior Policy Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Analysis in the International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C.
► June Lee (JD 1996), Partner, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, Atlanta, Georgia

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Tom Harrold and Tiana Mykkelvedt

► Tiana S. Mykkeltvedt (JD 2003), Associate, Bondurant Mixson & Elmore LLP, Atlanta, Georgia
► Anita E.J. Ninan (LLM 1991), Advocate, Bar Council of Delhi, India, and Of Counsel, Arnall Golden Gregory, Atlanta, Georgia
► Kannan Rajarathinam (LLM 1988), Head of Office, United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, Basra, Iraq
► Walter Ruiz (JD 1996), Commander, U.S. Navy, Office of the Chief Defense Counsel, Military Commissions Department of Defense, Pentagon, Washington, D.C.

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From left, Student Ambassador Taryn Arbeiter, Christof Siefarth, Laura Tate Kagel, Center’s Director of International Professional Education, and Anita Ninan

► Christof Siefarth (LLM 1986), Partner, GÖRG law firm, Cologne, Germany (ex officio election by LLM Alumni Association)
► Teri A. Simmons (JD 1989), Partner, Arnall Golden Gregory, Atlanta, Georgia
► Stephen O. Spinks (JD 1976), Managing Partner, Sidley & Austin, Brussels, Belgium
► Alan N. Sutin (JD 1984), Greenberg Traurig LLP, New York, New York
► Audrey Winter (JD 1980), Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for China, Washington, D.C.

Counselors

► W. Benjamin Barkley (JD 1991), partner, Kilpatrick Townsend, Atlanta, Georgia
► Kevin Conboy (JD 1979), Visiting Professor of Law, James L. Clayton Center for Entrepreneurial Law, University of Tennessee College of Law, Knoxville, Tennessee
► Johnny Isakson, U.S. Senator for Georgia, Washington, D.C.
► C. Donald Johnson (JD 1973), Director Emeritus, Dean Rusk International Law Center
► Adalberto Jordan, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
► Jim Marshall, Immediate Past President, U.S. Institute of Peace, Macon, Georgia
► Philip Ray (JD 1978), Principal, PhilRay-IDR International Dispute Resolution, Nürnberg, Germany
► Peter White, President, Southern Center for International Studies, Atlanta, Georgia

Faculty Division

► Diane Marie Amann, Associate Dean for International Programs & Strategic Initiatives and Emily & Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law; Special Adviser to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on Children in & affected by Armed Conflict (public international law, international criminal law, laws of war, children’s rights)
► Mehrsa Baradaran, J. Alton Hosch Associate Professor of Law (banking law, financial services regulation)

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Kathleen Doty, Center’s Associate Director for Global Practice Preparation, and Kent Barnett

► Kent Barnett, Assistant Professor of Law (administrative law, international sales of goods)
► Jason Cade, Assistant Professor of Law and Director of Community Health Partnership Clinic (immigration law)
► Harlan G. Cohen, Associate Professor of Law and Managing Editor, AJIL Unbound (global governance, foreign relations law, human rights, international trade)
► Joseph S. Miller, Professor of Law and Director of Oxford Spring Semester Study Abroad (intellectual property, antitrust, telecommunications)
► Usha Rodrigues, Associate Dean for Faculty Development and M.E. Kilpatrick Chair of Corporate Finance & Securities Law (corporate governance, business ethics)
► Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge, Dean & Herman E. Talmadge Chair of Law (international litigation, international arbitration, international business transactions)
► James C. Smith, John Byrd Martin Chair of Law and President of the global Association for Law, Property and Society (property, real estate)
► Larry D. Thompson, John A. Sibley Professor in Corporate & Business Law, former General Counsel of Pepsico, and former U.S. Deputy Attorney General (corporate responsibility, white collar crimes, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act)

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Mike Wells and Taryn Arbeiter

► Michael Wells, Marion and W. Colquitt Carter Chair in Tort & Insurance Law and former co-director of Brussels study abroad

Georgia Law LLMs benefit from Atlanta professional development trip

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Xiao Zhang at U.S. Courthouse

Professional development took an Atlanta turn this week when our LLM Class of 2016 traveled to our state capital to learn more about the judiciary and private-sector law.

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Justice Hines talks with students

The day began with a visit to the Supreme Court of Georgia, founded more than a 170 years ago. There, Presiding Justice P. Harris Hines talked with the students about the jurisprudence produced by him and his 6 colleagues on the high bench.

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Judge Martin talks about CA11

Accompanied by Dean Rusk International Law Center staffers Laura Tate Kagel and Kathleen A. Doty, the LLM students then went to the U.S. Courthouse. They

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Mahemud Tekuya & Elisha Atulomah at U.S. Courthouse

toured the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and heard from our 1981 JD alumna, Judge Beverly B. Martin.

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Mark J. Newman, partner at Troutman Sanders LLP, talks with LLMs

The day ended with lunch and practice briefings at the Atlanta office of the global law firm Troutman Sanders LLP, where they were treated to lunch and briefings on legal practice by Mark J. Newman and others.

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From left, Socorro Moctezuma Flores, Miguel Medina Cordoba, Oluwakemi Kusemiju, and Simon Wolffram at U.S. Courthouse

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Huajin Tang, Gladys Ashiru & Tingting Tang at U.S. Courthouse

Our thanks to all who made this day a great success.

Georgia Law team earns Jessup awards

JessupNOmar2016 - CopyCongratulations to our 2016 Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court team, which advanced to the semifinals and brought home some awards at the recent Regional Rounds in New Orleans.

The team – from left, student coach Leah Davis, along with competitors Rachel Bishop, Michael Alfano, Robert Poole, and Caitlin Amick – were recognized for the 4th Best Brief. Meanwhile, Poole earned the Best Oralist award; Amick, 3rd Best Oralist; and Bishop, 9th Best Oralist award. Great effort, and thanks to faculty, alums, and friends of Georgia Law who helped prepare them for the meet.

Georgia Law comments on Geneva Commentaries begin 30 March in D.C.

We’re honored to play a part of the International Committee of the Red Cross launch of its new Commentary on the First Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in the Field, a volume due for release next Tuesday, March 22.

commentaryA week later, the head of Georgia Law’s Dean Rusk International Law Center, Diane Marie Amann, will take part in a panel discussion of the new Commentary at 2 p.m. Wednesday, March 30. Later in the year, we anticipate a Georgia Law conference on the same subject: it will be held on Friday, September 23, 2016.

The March 30 panel discussion will take place in the Columbia Ballroom of the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill, 400 New Jersey Ave N.W., Washington, D.C. That’s the same hotel hosting the annual meeting of the American Society of International Law from March 30 to April 2. This is a side event, though ASIL and its international humanitarian law interest group, the Lieber Society on the Law of Armed Conflict,  are cosponsors of this event, hosted by the ICRC’s D.C.-based Regional Delegation for the US and Canada.

The Commentary is the 1st in a series of volumes intended to update earlier versions, some of which are pictured above: 4 circa-1952 volumes on the 4 Geneva Conventions of 1949, edited by Jean S. Pictet, plus a circa-1987 volume on Additional Protocols I & II of 1977, produced by multiple editors. In the words of the ICRC:

“Since their adoption, the Conventions and Protocols have been put to the test, and there have been significant developments in how they are applied and interpreted. The new Commentaries seek to incorporate these developments and provide an up-to-date interpretation of the law.”

This initial update carries particular significance because it contains commentary on Articles 1, 2, and 3 Common to all 4 Geneva Conventions. Common Article 2 and Common Article 3 have endured significant re-examination in the counterterrorism climate that’s prevailed since the attacks of September 11, 2001, readers of decisions such as Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and a plethora of academic literature well know (and as I’ve written here and elsewhere).

The discussion at the March 30 launch in D.C. will feature:

henckaerts► Dr. Jean-Marie Henckaerts (left), Head of the Commentaries Update Unit at ICRC headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland – and, we’re proud to add, a 1990 LLM alumnus of Georgia Law

► Yours truly, Diane Marie Amann (right), Associate Dean and Emily & Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law at Georgia Law, and the International Criminal Court Prosecutor’s Special Adviser on Children in & affected by Armed Conflict

jackson► Colonel (ret.) Dick Jackson, Special Assistant to the Army Judge Advocate General for Law of War Matters, and Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown Law

matheson► Michael Matheson, Professorial Lecturer in Law, George Washington University Law School, and former member of the U.N. International Law Commission

RSVPs for March 30 welcome; for that and any other information on that event, contact Tracey Begley, trbegley@icrc.org.

(Cross-posted from Diane Marie Amann)

Global practice preparation through Georgia’s new Corsair Law Society

nycTop students at Georgia Law who wish to practice in the areas of transactional law or corporate litigation in major financial markets benefit from an expansive network.

Launched in Manhattan in January, our Corsair Law Society comprises alumni/ae who excel in business law careers throughout the country and beyond, in addition to students at Georgia Law and the University of Georgia Terry College of Business. (credit for photo of Manhattan skyline)

Advisers to the new Society include 2 members of the Faculty Division of the Dean Rusk International Law Center Council: Usha Rodrigues, Associate Dean for Faculty Development & M.E. Kilpatrick Chair of Corporate Finance and Securities Law; and Mehrsa Baradaran, J. Alton Hosch Associate Professor of Law. They join Margaret V. Sachs, Robert Cotten Alston Chair in Corporate Law, and Carol Morgan, who leads our Business Law & Ethics program.

That program, plus the Georgia Law-Terry College 3-year JD/MBA degree, offer topnotch global practice preparation for business-oriented students.

Learning law on both sides of Atlantic: Join Georgia Law at Oxford Spring 2017

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Learning in London: Georgia Law at Oxford Spring 2016 students with Professor-in-Residence James Smith and Kit Traub (JD 1988), Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs (acting), U.S. Embassy

Over the last decade, more than a hundred U.S. students have enriched their legal studies through Georgia Law’s offering of a semester-long experience the University of Oxford, one of England’s most venerable institutions. Providing 12 credits over the course of about 15 weeks, Georgia Law at Oxford is one of the few such semester-long opportunities among U.S. law schools.

According to Georgia Law Professor Joseph Miller, Director of Georgia Law at Oxford:

“The Oxford program is deeply engaging and rewarding. I remember my time there in Spring 2013 so fondly, and I continue to hear from alums of the program about how much they grew and learned in Oxford, one of the world’s ultimate university towns. It’s filled with life and living history, side by side.”

Applications are welcome for Spring 2017. Interested Georgia Law students are encouraged to attend one of 2 information sessions next week, to be held on Monday, March 14, and Wednesday, March 17; interested students from other law schools should contact Professor Miller, getmejoe[at]uga[dot]com, for information about attending as a University of Georgia visiting student.

The exciting Spring 2017 curriculum will be led by professors from both sides of the Atlantic:

Chapman_head► Georgia Law Professor Nathan Chapman (right) will be the Georgia Law professor in residence in Spring 2017. He’ll teach 2 courses, for a total of 7 units:

►► Comparative Constitutional Law: The course will survey the historical and philosophical origins of constitutionalism, with a special emphasis on the development of the liberal constitutional tradition associated with Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights, the U.S. Constitution, and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man. The bulk of the course will explore the different structures, procedures, and rights provisions in a variety of contemporary constitutional systems (including treaty-based systems such as the European Union). A special concern will be legitimacy and methods of constitutional change.

►► The History of the Common Law: Using the excellent textbook by Langbein, Lettow Lerner, and Smith, this course will survey the development of the common law, courts, and legal profession in England and the United States, giving special emphasis to the ways that the common law and legal practice have diverged in England and American in the past 200 years. The course will conclude by comparing how the practice of law is structured and regulated in both countries today.

enchelmaierTN► Joining Professor Chapman will be Oxford Law’s Stefan Enchelmaier (left), Professor of European and Comparative Law. His 2-unit course, EU Economic Law, will examine the economic components of European Union law.

► Rounding out the curriculum will be a 3-unit Supervised Research Tutorial, modeled on the format of the renowned Oxford tutorial and taught by an array of Oxford Law faculty. Small-group meetings will be devoted to planning or revising the research paper that each student will complete during the semester, on a topic of comparative or international law.

Details and application here.

In US and across globe, 105th International Women’s Day

about-iwdToday’s the 105th anniversary of International Women’s Day.

Inspired by speeches at an International Conference of Working Women the year before, in 1911 Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland set aside a day in March to honor women’s demands for equality. Each year more countries joined in. The arrest of suffragist Sylvia Pankhurst during a London demonstration on March 8, 1914, fixed the 8th as IWD-Day. (credit for IWD image at top)

Further globalizing the Day was U.N. General Assembly Resolution 32/142. Adopted on Dec. 16, 1977 (the same day the Assembly also considered a Draft Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, a version of which it would adopt 2 years later), Resolution 32/142:

“Invites all States to proclaim, in accordance with their historical and national traditions and customs, any day of the year as United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace …”

Most countries followed tradition and chose March 8, and paid note to annual U.N. themes (this year’s is #PledgeforParity).

The United States was a bit late to the party. Yet American observances increase every year, and last week, President Barack Obama proclaimed:

“I call upon all Americans to observe this month and to celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8, 2016, with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities. I also invite all Americans to visit http://www.WomensHistoryMonth.gov to learn more about the generations of women who have left enduring imprints on our history.”

And so we will.

(Cross-posted from Diane Marie Amann)

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Become part of a 43-year tradition: Georgia Law Master of Laws (LLM)

2016Brochure_TNIn 1973, Edward de Jaegher of Brussels, Belgium, became the first foreign-trained lawyer to earn a Master of Laws, or LLM, degree at the University of Georgia School of Law.

The tradition launched 43 years ago today. Even as our current students complete their final semester of study, we continue to build next year’s LLM student body. We welcome inquiries and applications for the Class of 2017; details here.

Members of that class will join an alumni/ae base of more than 400 Georgia Law LLMs, who have ties to 75 countries, on every continent in the world. They include judges and law firm partners, leaders in governments and in intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations, heads of corporate legal departments, and university professors. Here’s just two:

► Oksana G. Wright (LLM’05; 1st law degree from St. Petersburg State University, Russia). Now an Associate at Fox Rothschild LLP in New York City, Oksana writes:

The International and Comparative Law program at UGA was my first exposure to U.S. law and the first stepping-stone of my legal career in the United States. At UGA, I received an opportunity to learn from top professors and fellow practitioners from all over the world. They contributed different views, perspectives, and experience to our discussions of relevant legal topics. This invaluable experience provided me with a competitive edge in my future legal career in New York where I deal with various international legal issues and work with individuals from different countries and backgrounds.

ObeidatOmar_jul15► Omar Obeidat (LLM’97; 1st law degree from Yarmouk University in Jordan). A Partner and the Head of Intellectual Property at Al Tamimi & Co. Advocates & Legal Consultants in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Omar writes:

I was fortunate to join the LLM program at UGA and was especially fortunate to have learned from distinguished professors particularly on intellectual property and copyright. Although I stayed for a short period at Georgia of little over 10 months, it is a period that stuck very well in my memory as a period filled with making good friends and enjoyable learning experience in a beautiful campus and well respected school of law.

Click here to join this tradition of excellence in international professional education.