students

Pride of place: Georgia Law’s international law curriculum and initiatives rank No. 15 in US News

Delighted to share the news that the just-released 2019 US News rankings place our international law curriculum here at the University of Georgia School of Law at No. 15 in the United States.

We’re situated just below UCLA and Stanford, just above Northwestern and the University of Texas, and 3 slots higher than last year. By our count, this marks the 4th time in recent years we’ve been among the top 20 or so US law schools for international law.

The achievement is due in no small part to the enthusiastic support and hard work of everyone affiliated with Georgia Law’s 40-year-old Dean Rusk International Law Center. To name a few:

► Stellar members of the law faculty, including: Dean Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge, an international arbitration expert; Associate Dean Lori A. Ringhand, a scholar of comparative constitutional law; our Center’s Faculty Co-Directors, Professors Diane Marie Amann, currently at the University of Oxford, as a Research Visitor at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights and Visiting Fellow at Mansfield College, and Professor Harlan G. Cohen, an expert in global governance and foreign relations law; Professors Christopher M. Bruner, a comparative corporate governance scholar, Jason A. Cade, an immigration expert, Sonja West and Elizabeth Chamblee Burch, who have presented on media law and civil procedure, respectively, in Budapest and Tel Aviv, Walter Hellerstein, a world-renowned tax specialist, Nathan S. Chapman, a scholar of due process and extraterritoriality, and Michael L. Wells, a European Union scholar; and our Center’s Director, Kathleen A. Doty, an arms control specialist;

► Talented students pursuing JD, MSL, and LLM degrees, including: the dozen or so who work with us as Dean Rusk International Law Center Student Ambassadors; the staffers and editors of the Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law who produce one of the country’s oldest student journals, and who led our Fall 2017 conference on international trade; the advocates on our Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot and Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court teams; participants in our Global Externships and our Global Governance Summer School; the leaders of our International Law Society and, this year, of the worldwide International Law Students Association; and the students who take part each week in our Legal Spanish Study Group;

► Superb Center staff like Laura Tate Kagel, Christine Keller, Britney Hardweare, and Mandy Dixon;

► Visiting scholars like Professor Yanying Zhang of Shandong University, China, and Dr. Piotr Uhma of Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Kraków University, Poland;

► Academics, practitioners, and policymakers, from all over the world, who have contributed to our events – conferences and lectures, as well as our International Law Colloquium Series;

► Graduates who excel as partners in international commercial law firms, as directors of public law entities like the United Nations World Food Programme, as in-house counsel at leading multinational enterprises, and as diplomats and public servants – and who give back through mentoring and other support;

► Our valued partnerships, with Georgia Law student organizations; with institutions like the Leuven Centre for Global Governance at Belgium’s University of Leuven; with organizations like the International Committee of the Red Cross, the American Society of International Law, the American Branch of the International Law Association, IntLawGrrls blog, Global Atlanta, the World Affairs Council of Atlanta, the Atlanta International Arbitration Society, and the Planethood Foundation; with professional groups including the Georgia Asian and Pacific American Bar Association and the Vietnamese American Bar Association; with university units like the School of Public & International Affairs, the Department of Comparative Literature, the African Studies Institute, the Institute for Native American Studies, the Latin American & Caribbean Studies Institute, and the Willson Center for Humanities & Arts.

With thanks to all, we look forward to continue strengthening our initiatives in international, comparative, transnational, and foreign relations law – not least, in the preparation of Georgia Law students to practice in our 21st C. globalized legal profession.

International arbitrator Wallgren-Lindholm to speak at Georgia Law

We at the University of Georgia School of Law Dean Rusk International Law Center look forward to welcoming renowned international arbitrator Carita Wallgren-Lindholm to campus this Thursday, March 8. She will speak on “Due Process and Ethics in International Arbitration: What Rules and How to Apply Them” from 11:50 a.m.-12:50 p.m. in Room A-120, Hirsch Hall.

Wallgren-Lindholm is Chair of the Commission on Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution of the International Chamber of Commerce, and has served as a member of that commission since 1996. She has also been a member since 2012 of the International Chamber of Commerce International Court of Arbitration. She is a founding partner of Lindholm Wallgren, a law firm based in Helsinki, Finland.

Cosponsoring her talk is the International Law Society, Georgia Law’s chapter of the International Law Students Association.

Details here.

Webinar to learn about Georgia Law LL.M. degree Wednesday, March 7

LLMbrochureCLR2017Did you miss our recent information session in Atlanta about the Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree at the University of Georgia School of Law? In case you did, there’s another opportunity to find out more!

Foreign-educated attorneys are invited to join Laura Tate Kagel, Associate Director for International Professional Education, for a free webinar on the LL.M. degree on Wednesday, March 7, 2018, from 12:00-12:50 p.m. (Eastern time – U.S. and Canada).

Topics to be discussed during the presentation include:

  • benefits of obtaining an LL.M.
  • putting together a strong application
  • costs and financial aid
  • career options for LL.M. graduates
  • steps toward preparing to take a U.S. bar examination

The LL.M. is a one-year, full-time degree designed for lawyers who trained in countries outside the United States and wish to study at the University of Georgia School of Law, a 159-year-old institution that is consistently ranked among the country’s top law schools. Explore the Georgia Law LL.M. degree here.

Join the webinar from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android at https://zoom.us/j/129159834, and use meeting ID 129 159 834.

 

 

Best of luck to Georgia Law’s 2018 Jessup International Law Moot team

The 2018 Georgia Law Jessup team, from left: Roger Grantham, Lyddy O’Brien, Allie Gowens, Jennifer Cotton, and Ben Torres

Members of our University of Georgia School of Law team are competing this week in New Orleans regional rounds of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. They’re part of a 59-year-old tradition, in which law students enact the presentation of arguments before the International Court of Justice, the Hague-based judicial organ of the United Nations.

In New Orleans and in cities across the globe, teams from more than 645 law schools, representing 95 countries, are arguing this year’s Jessup dispute, Case Concerning the Egart and the Ibra (People’s Democratic Republic of Anduchenca v. Federal Republic of Rukaruku).

We at Georgia Law’s Dean Rusk International Law Center have enjoyed working with this talented team of students throughout this academic year, and we wish them the best of luck in this year’s contest.

Learn about Georgia Law LL.M. degree at Atlanta info session Tuesday, Feb. 13

Photo for Global Flash

Persons who’ve completed law studies overseas are invited to learn about earning a University of Georgia School of Law Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree at a free information session this month at Georgia Law’s Atlanta campus, located in the Buckhead area.

The session will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, February 13, 2018, in Room 119 of the Terry Executive Education Center, Live Oak Square, 3475 Lenox Road, N.E. (click here for directions).

The LL.M. is a one-year, full-time degree designed for lawyers who trained in countries outside the United States and wish to study at the University of Georgia School of Law, a 159-year-old institution that is consistently ranked among the country’s top law schools.

Georgia Law LL.M. candidates study alongside J.D. candidates. Each LL.M. student pursues a flexible curriculum tailored to his or her career goals, including preparation to be eligible to sit for the Georgia or other U.S. bar examination. Details about this decades-old initiative may be found at our website and in posts at this blog of the Dean Rusk International Law Center, the law school unit that administers the LL.M. degree.

Among those speaking at the information session will be our LL.M. alumnus Javier A. Gonzalez, who will talk about the student experience at the University of Georgia School of Law. Other topics to be discussed at the information session include:

  • benefits of obtaining an LL.M.
  • putting together a strong application
  • costs and financial aid
  • career options for LL.M. graduates
  • steps toward preparing to take a U.S. bar examination

Interested persons are invited to register at no cost. Light refreshments will be served.

We look forward to seeing you and answering your questions there!

GEO student Zack Lindsey publishes in Global Atlanta

geo2University of Georgia School of Law second-year student Zack Lindsey published an article in Global Atlanta about his experience this summer working in Ghana.

Ghana

During his Global Externship Overseas, or GEO,  Zack spent approximately two months in Accra working with Women in Law and Development in Africa. His work focused on the implementation of the Ghanaian Domestic Violence Act of 2007; he was responsible for helping set up a volunteer court watch program, training volunteers on the law, and conducting court surveys. He describes this work as “a key issue for Ghana” because of high rates of spousal abuse, but low rates of conviction under the Act.

global atlantaZack is one of twenty Georgia Law students who participated in the GEO initiative this summer. His article in Global Atlanta, a partner organization of the Dean Rusk International Law Center, draws parallels between the challenges facing victims of domestic violence seeking redress in Ghana to Georgia.

Introducing our LL.M. Class of 2018

from left: top, Lera Subocheva, Ahmed Youssef, Jessica Perez Salazar, Parham Zahedi, Chudi Ofili, Shah Hussain, Pierre Laforet; middle, Adriana Maria Sarria Mena, Samaneh Pourhassan, Shruthi Bangalore Rajakumar, Marie Belgioino, Haibin Wang; front, Chioma Ogbozor, Thelma Aguilar-Pierce, Jasmine Zou, Chen Song

We are proud to introduce the University of Georgia School of Law Master of Laws (LL.M.) Class of 2018.

The group of 16 includes lawyers from 10 different countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas: China, Colombia, Egypt, France, India, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, and Russian Federation.

They join a tradition that began at the University of Georgia School of Law in the early 1970s, when a Belgian lawyer became the first foreign-trained practitioner to earn a Georgia Law LL.M. degree. In the ensuing four decades, the law school and its Dean Rusk International Law Center have produced about 500 LL.M. graduates, with ties to 75 countries and every continent in the world.

Side by side with J.D. candidates, LL.M.s follow a flexible curriculum tailored to their own career goals – goals that may include preparation to sit for a U.S. bar examination, or pursuit of a concentration affording advancement in their home country’s legal profession or academic institutions.

For information or to apply for LL.M. studies, see here.

“The Next Generation of International Trade Agreements”: September 18 Georgia Law conference to feature trade law scholars, practitioners

Eugene Talmadge Memorial Bridge over the Savannah River, at the Port of Savannah, Georgia, the largest single container terminal in the United States. Photo (1998) by Jonas N. Jordan, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“The Next Generation of International Trade Agreements” is the timely title of this year’s annual conference organized by the Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law and Dean Rusk International Law Center, University of Georgia School of Law. Set for Monday, September 18, 2017, the daylong conference will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Center.

Scholars and practitioners from North America and Europe will come together to discuss one of the most pressing topics in today’s international arena. Panels, which will follow introductory remarks by Georgia Law Dean Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge and Center Director Kathleen A. Doty, are as follows:

Setting the Negotiating Agenda: C. Donald Johnson (Georgia Law JD’73), Emeritus Director of the Dean Rusk International Law Center and former U.S. Ambassador, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative; Professor Kathleen Claussen, Miami Law; Nicolas Lamp, Professor at Queen’s University Law, Canada, and former Dispute Settlement Lawyer, Appellate Body Secretariat, World Trade Organization; and Professor Timothy Meyer, Vanderbilt Law.

Changing Dynamics in Global Trade Negotiations: Professor Gregory Shaffer, California-Irvine Law; Professor Mark Wu, Harvard Law; and Professor Padideh Ala’i, American University Law. Moderating will be Tina Termei (Georgia Law JD’10), Corporate Counsel for Global Trade at Amazon.

Industry Roundtable Luncheon Conversation: Ling-Ling Nie, Chief Compliance Officer & Assistant General Counsel, Panasonic North America; Stewart Moran, Assistant General Counsel, Carter’s | OshKosh B’gosh; and Travis Cresswell, Senior Managing Counsel, The Coca-Cola Co.

Pluralism/Regionalism/Fragmentation: Professor Antonia Eliason, Mississippi Law; Professor Markus Wagner, Warwick Law, England; and Professor Robert Howse, New York University Law. Moderating will be Harlan G. Cohen, Gabriel M. Wilner/UGA Foundation Professor in International Law and Faculty Co-Director, Dean Rusk International Law Center, University of Georgia School of Law.

Delivering closing remarks will be Victoria A. Barker, Editor-in-Chief of the Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law. Additional speakers are invited but not yet confirmed: invited: Terry Smith Labat (Georgia Law JD’77), U.S. Department of Commerce; Audrey Winter (Georgia Law JD’80), Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for China, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative; and Professor Saxby Chambliss, Sanders Political Leadership Scholar at Georgia Law, partner at DLA Piper, and former U.S. Senator.

Issues these experts will explore include, as described in the concept note:

“International trade law is at inflection point. Until quite recently, international trade agreements appeared to be moving along a relatively predictable trajectory. Reforms and changes were discussed and negotiated, but mostly along the margins of a supposed consensus about the general direction of the field. Political events of the past year, though – Brexit, the United States’ abandonment of TPP, calls to renegotiate NAFTA, accelerating negotiations of RCEP, and China’s roll out of its One Belt One Road initiative, among others – have challenged that trajectory and sent policymakers and trade lawyers in search of a new trade compass. A new period of negotiation and renegotiation, however, is on the horizon. While this is a source for many of anxiety, it is also an opportunity for progress, reform, and creative thinking. This conference will bring together top scholars and practitioners in the field to discuss the directions forward for international agreements. What should be on the table as old agreements are reopened and new ones are negotiated? What changes are needed to adapt trade agreements to new economic and technological realities? And how can the next generation of trade agreements respond to globalization’s discontents?”

Cosponsoring the conference are the law school’s Business Law Society, Corsair Law Society, and International Law Society, along with the University of Georgia School of Public & International Affairs.

Details and registration here for the conference, for which CLE credit is available.

Legal Spanish Study Group resumes

A feature of our second week of our fall semester was yesterday’s launch of the Legal Spanish Study Group, an initiative of the Dean Rusk International Law Center at the University of Georgia School of Law.

Leading the lunchtime session were the Group’s  co-coordinators, Georgia Law 2Ls Matthew Poletti and Brian Griffin. Both are Spanish speakers who were Global Externs Overseas this past summer – Matt at Araoz & Rueda Abogados in Madrid, Spain, and Brian at PwC in Milan, Italy. (Brian also attended our Global Governance Summer School.) They continue a tradition begun by the Group’s founding coordinator, Pedro Dorado (JD’17/LLM’15). Professor Diane Marie Amann, Emily & Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law and a Faculty Co-Director of the Center, will serve as the Group’s faculty advisor.

This will be the 2d consecutive year that this Group convenes, most timely given yesterday’s New York Times report on the entrenchment of Spanish in the United States – which has more Spanish speakers than Spain – and the world – where more countries have Spanish as the majority language than any other language.

In the words of Matt and Brian:

“In our ever-more interconnected world, and especially in today’s legal field, proficiency in a second language is a skill in high demand. It might even make the difference in landing your dream job. We invite all law students to join us in our endeavor to improve our Spanish language skills, develop a better understanding of the Hispano-American legal world, and prepare for a globalized legal practice.”

Many students accepted that invitation, promising great Study Group meetings each week throughout the semester.

Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law kicks off 2017–2018

Monday was orientation day for the students who’ll work on the 46th volume of the Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law here at the University of Georgia School of Law.

Editor-in-Chief Victoria Barker reports that at orientation, the GJICL Editorial Board (pictured above) heard from Dean Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge about the importance of journal membership. Professor Harlan G. Cohen, a Dean Rusk International Law Center Faculty Co-Director and the Faculty Advisor for GJICL, and Kathleen A. Doty, the Center’s Director, spoke about international law opportunities for Georgia Law students. Speakers about careers and research techniques, respectively, included Laura E. Woodson, Associate Director of Career Development, and Anne Burnett, Foreign & International Law Librarian.

Among the year’s highlights will be the annual GJICL conference, set for Monday, September 18. Entitled “The Next Generation of International Trade Agreements,” it will feature more than a dozen specialists in trade, including 4 Georgia Law alums: the 1st woman to serve as GJICL Editor-in-Chief, Terry Labat; former GJICL Articles Editors Audrey Winter and C. Donald Johnson, Director Emeritus of our Center; and Tina Termei. Joining them will be other academic and practitioner experts from around the world.

This daylong event will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the law school’s Dean Rusk International Law Center, a cosponsor.

Leading GJICL‘s efforts this academic year will be these Executive Board members: Victoria Aynne Barker, Editor in Chief; Michael D. Aune, Executive Managing Editor; Shreya Praful Desai, Executive Articles Editor; Evan C. Dunn, Senior Articles Editor; Margaret Anne Christie and Caroline Anne Jozefczyk, Executive Editors; Michael Lawrence Baker, Executive Conference Editor; Jamie McDowell, Executive Online Editor; Spencer Newton Davis, Senior Managing Editor; Hannah E. Ponders, Executive Notes Editor; and Wheaton P. Webb, Senior Notes Editor.

Collaborating with them will be these members of the Managing Board: Jeremy Hall Akin and Caroline Frances Savini, Conference Editors; Justin T. Conway, Megan Colleen Dempsey, William Neal Hollington, Robert P. Mangum, Shawn Eric McKenzie, Anne Parks Minor, Ryan Holder Shriver, and Adam J. Sunstrom, Submissions and Online Editors; Kaitlyn Claire Fain, Ian M. Lamb, Ethan Keith Morris, Andrew F. Newport, Nichole Novosel, William Blake Ogden, Claire H. Provano, Katherine Nicole Reynolds, and Devon Gayle Zawko, Articles Editors; Matthew J. Courteau, Taylor Shea Eisenhaur, William Carroll Hart, Dana Lohrberg, Steven Chase Parker, Laney J. Riley, Beverly Elizabeth Tarver, and Max Mathew Wallace II, Notes Editors.

Joining the 3L editors just named will be an Editorial Board composed of these members of the 2L class: Deena A.S. Agamy, Dymond Alexis Anthony, Philicia Crystal Armbrister, Ezekiel Arthur, Samuel Baker, Lauren Elizabeth Brown, Amy Elizabeth Buice, Austin Chad Cohen, Keelin Cronin, Jacob Donald Davis, Erin Elizabeth Doyle, Garret Joseph Drogosch, Sarah Lanier Flanders, Simone Iman Ford, Laura Rose Golden, Allison Jean Gowens, Kathryn Cho Hagerman, Wade W. Herring, Evans Fuller Horsley, Ted Smith Huggins, Tammy Le, Zachariah Weston Lindsey, Karla Lissette Martinez, Jacob Thomas McClendon, Elizabeth Kate Modzeleski, Savannah Harrison Moon, Joseph A. Natt, Hayley Alexandra Nicolich, Lyddy Ellen O’Brien, Kyle James Paladino, Garrett B. Peters, Morgan Renee Podczervinski, Connor Jay Rose, Taylor Ann Samuels, Emily E. Seaton, Timia Andrielle Skelton, Nicholas Alan Steinheimer, Adam C. Taylor, Michael Lee Thompson, John James Van Why, Eric M.A. Wilder, Sydney Rebecca Wilson.

Looking forward to another great year!