Go On! ASIL midyear in Miami

(Go On! is an occasional item on symposia and other events of interest)

Next month the American Society of International Law will break from a long D.C. tradition and hold its 2010 Midyear Meeting in Miami, Florida. Of the plan to meet November 12 and 13 in that southernmost city, ASIL President David D. Caron explained:

Convening the international law community throughout the United States and the rest of the world is an important priority for the Society — to serve our far-flung members, and also to reach growing new constituencies of international law within the bar and the judiciary, among representatives of the media, and in the general public.

As they do every autumn, ASIL's Executive Council and the editors of the American Journal of International Law will gather. Additionally, those of us who are working on ASIL's Benchbook on International Law project look forward to the opportunity to vet drafts with a panel of federal judges.

Newly supplementing in camera sessions like these will be a day of events open to the public (many offering Continuing Legal Education credit). Examples of public events for Friday, November 12, at the University of Miami Robert and Judi Prokop Newman Alumni Center:

► "Stop the Hand-Wringing and Do Something: Solutions on the Table to What is Perceived to be Wrong with International Arbitration," featuring: Catherine Amirfar (Debevoise & Plimpton LLP); Edward Mullins (Astigarraga Davis LLP); and Michael Reisman (Yale Law). Chaired by IntLawGrrl Lucy Reed (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP), ASIL's Immediate Past President.

► "The Top Six Recent Arbitrations Everyone Should Know," featuring: Mahnoush Arsanjani (International Law Associates), an ASIL Vice President; David Bederman (Emory Law); Ryan Reetz (Squire Sanders LLP). Chaired by Donald Francis Donovan (Debevoise & Plimpton LLP).
► Luncheon keynote, "Florida and the Globalization of the Legal Profession: Insights from the ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20," by Carolyn Lamm (White & Case LLP) (above left), Immediate Past President of the American Bar Association.

► "Career Fair/Mentoring Session for Students"

► "Revisiting the Place of International Law in Domestic Law," featuring: Judge Rosemary Barkett (U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit) (right); Judge Adalberto Jordan (U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida); Curtis Bradley (Duke Law); and Eyal Benvenisti (Tel Aviv Law); chaired by Laurence Helfer (Duke Law).
► "National, Regional, and International Perspectives on International Criminal Accountability," featuring: Olivia Swaak-Goldman (Office of the Prosecutor, International Criminal Court); and Dinah Shelton (George Washington Law) (below left), a member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Chaired by yours truly, IntLawGrrl Diane Marie Amann (University of California, Davis, Law), an ASIL Vice President.

All participants also are welcome to register for the conference dinner that evening at the Biltmore Hotel; featured will be "Justice and Leadership Dilemmas in Shakespeare," the keynote by Judge Theodor Meron, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and ASIL Honorary President.

Events are free for students, ASIL members, and affiliates of the meeting's cosponsoring law firms and law schools; for others, there is a fee. Details and registration here.

Go On! ICC Deputy Prosecutor Bensouda to give Women's Day address in California

(Go On! is an occasional item on symposia and other events of interest) It's an immense honor to announce the 1st-ever trip to California of the 2d-in-command at the Office of the Prosecution, International Criminal Court: ICC Deputy Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda (left and below right)will visit the home institutions of 2 IntLawGrrls, Beth Van Schaack and me, next week:
► On International Women's Day, the California International Law Center at King Hall, University of California, Davis, School of Law, for which I serve as founding Director, will host Bensouda's address on "Gender Violence and International Criminal Law" from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday, March 8, in our Moot Courtroom. Introducing her will be California Superior Court Judge Ramona J. Garrett, a 1980 King Hall alumna. Joining me in leading Q&A after the address will be California-Berkeley Law Professor David D. Caron, who's also President-Elect of the American Society of International Law.
► On the following day, Tuesday, March 9, from 12 noon to 1 p.m., Bensouda will speak at Santa Clara University School of Law. Details here.
Bensouda will discuss her work investigating and prosecuting persons accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes -- ranging from sexual violence to forced recruitment of child soldiers -- in wartorn places like Darfur, Democratic Republic Congo, Central African Republic, Guinea, and Uganda. Interviews with Bensouda about this work were featured (right) in The Reckoning (2009) (prior posts here and here), the documentary by IntLawGrrl guest/alumna Pamela Yates.
Before joining the ICC in 2004, Bensouda served as the Attorney General in her native country of The Gambia. She played key roles in negotiations at the United Nations and at the Economic Community of West African States. Bensouda's long advocacy for the rights of women led human rights groups to applaud her ICC appointment.
We're most grateful for support from the Planethood Foundation, established by Donald Ferencz, son of Nuremberg Prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz, to aid programs that promote international criminal justice.
Hope to see you at one of these events!

Go On! Modern-Day Piracy Off Somalia

(Go On! is an occasional item on symposia of interest) An evening of discussion of international legal issues on the current situation of modern-day piracy -- entitled "Piracy Off the Coast of Somalia: Challenges to Deterrence, Pursuit, and Prosecution" -- is on hand from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday, March 2, at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, Sacramento, California. Cosponsors of are Pacific McGeorge's Global Center for Business & Development and ASIL-West, a regional project of the American Society of International Law.
Opening the discussion moderated by Linda Carter (Pacific McGeorge) will be Fausto Pocar (left), the University of Milan international law professor who serves as a Judge on the Appeals Chamber for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and who is the former President of the ICTY and a past member of the Human Rights Committee, the U.N. body that monitors compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Leading the ensuing open discussion will be ASIL-West Co-Chair David D. Caron (California-Berkeley), John Cary Sims (Pacific McGeorge), and IntLawGrrl Beth Van Schaack (Santa Clara).
Details and registration here.