As we did
last year, today we take note of all the women set to speak at "The Politics of International Law," the annual meeting of the
American Society of International Law, April 9-12, 2008, in Washington, D.C. (Details & registration
here.)
Noted very few sessions with no women, and many with more than 1 woman panelist -- for which we extend heartfelt
kudos to Co-Chairs
Andrea K. Bjorklund, U. California-Davis (an IntLawGrrls guest/alumna),
Marinn Carlson, Sidley Austin, and
Michael Scharf, Case Western Reserve; to Executive Director
Elizabeth Andersen; to ASIL Preside
nt
José Alvarez; and to
Lucy Reed of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (left), who will succeed José as President at the meeting.
Without further ado, here's the IntLawGrrls' honor roll:
Thursday, April 10, 9 am"The Politics of War Crimes Tribunals":
Valerie Oosterveld, U. Western Ontario
"Beyond Kyoto: Dilemmas of Climate Regulation & Equity":
Christiana Figueres, U.N. Framework Convention for Climate Change Clean Development Mechanism
"The Politics of the Internet":
Jacqueline Lipton, Case Western Reserve; ASIL Vice President
Miriam Sapiro, Summit Strategies International;
Wendy Selzer, Northeastern U.
"The Sovereign Power to Tax":
Sharon Yuan, Sidley Austin, moderator;
Avril Haines, U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee
"New Voices: The Role of International Legal Institutions in Norm Development":
Oona Hathaway, U. California-Berkeley, moderator;
Natasha Affolder, U. British Columbia;
IntLawGrrls' own Karen Bravo, Indiana U.-Indianapolis;
Galit Sarfaty, Harvard
Thursday, April 10, 10:45 am"Civil Liberties in Times of Crisis":
Elisa Massimino, Human Rights First
"The Politics of Sudan":
IntLawGrrls' own Hope Lewis, Northeastern U., moderator;
Courtney Hostetler, Sudan Divestment Task Force
"The Law and Politics of Foreign Sovereign Immunity":
Eileen Denza, U. College London
"State Sovereignty & Regional Autonomy: The Asian Experience":
Astrid Tuminez, Southeast Asian Research Center City U., Hong Kon
Thursday, April 10, 12:30 pmWomen in International Law Interest Group Luncheon: honoree/speaker will be the Honorable
Graciela Dixon (left), Chief Justice of Panama's Supreme Court and President of the International Association of Women Judges
Thursday, April 10, 1 pm"Polar Politics: Change in the Arctic":
Suzanne Lalonde, U. Montreal
"Restating the U.S. Law of International Commercial Arbitration":
Carolyn Lamm, White & Case, moderator; Catherine Kessedjian, U. Paris II; the Honorable
Diane Wood (far right), Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
"Hardening Soft Law: Implementation of the Guiding Principles on Internally Displaced Persons":
Roberta Cohen, Brookings Institution;
Erika Feller, Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (near right)
Thursday, April 10, 2:45 pm"International Law & the Fight Against Corruption":
Sabine Konrad, Dewey & LeBoeuf, moderator
Thursday, April 10, 4:30 pm"Presidential Foreign Policy Advisers' Panel":
Ruth Wedgwood, Johns Hopkins U.
Friday, April 11, 9 am"The Legacy of Iraq: Impact on International Law":
Sandy Hodgkinson, U.S. Department of Defense;
Susan Breau, U. Surrey
"Do International Financial Institutions Repress Development?":
Sylvia Kang'ara, U. Washington, moderator;
Linn Hammergren (left), World Bank
"Economic Politics & National Security: A Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States Case Study":
Linda Menghetti, Emergency Committee for American Trade
"The New Politics of Regulatory Cooperation: The Case of Food Safety":
Marsha Echols, Howard U.;
Joanne Scott, U. College London
"Feminism v. Feminism: What Is a Feminist Approach to Transnational Criminal Law?":
Madhavi Sunder, U. California-Davis;
Mary Anne Case, U. Chicago;
Catherine O'Rourke, U. Ulster;
Kay Warren, Brown U.
Friday, April 11, 10:45 am"Corporate Counsel Roundtable":
Sheila Cheston, BAE Systems, moderator
"The Politics of Adjudication":
Merit Janow, Columbia U.
"The Changing International Economic Balance of Power":
Jane Bradley, Georgetown U., moderator
"Politics of Teaching International Law":
Sarah Cleveland, Columbia U.
"Restoring Rule of Law in Post-Conflict & Stabilization Operations: Respective Roles of Law & Politics":
Melanne A. Civic, U.S. Department of State, moderator;
Colette Rausch, U.S. Institute of Peace;
Jane Stromseth, Georgetown U.
Friday, April 11, 1 pm"Just Back from the Human Rights Council":
Margaret Satterthwaite, New York U., moderator;
Yvonne Terlingen, Amnesty International; and
IntLawGrrls' own Connie de la Vega, U. San Francisco
"When Subnational Met International: The Politics & Places of Cities, States & Provinces in the World":
Judith Resnik, Yale U.;
Christina R. Sevilla, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
"If Water Respects No Political Boundaries, Does Politics Respect Transboundary Waters?":
Alice Aureli, UNESCO;
Jutta Brunée, U. Toronto
"Capital Markets Agenda for International Regulatory Reform":
Esta Stecher, Goldman Sachs;
Annette Nazareth, former Commissioner, U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission
Friday, April 11, 2:45 pm
"Foreign Ministry Legal Advisers' Roundtable":
María del Luján Flores (left), Permanent Mission of Uruguay to the Organization of American States
Saturday, April 12, 9 am"Universal Jurisdiction: It's Back!":
IntLawGrrls' own Diane Orentlicher, Open Society Institute
"The Shifting Sands of Treaty Interpretation":
Isabella Van Damme, Cambridge U.
"New Voices: Peace & Security Norms & Institutions in Historical Context":
Allison Danner, Office of the U.S. Attorney, Northern District of California, moderator
Saturday, April 12, 10:45 am"International Humanitarian Law & Non-State Actors":
Suzanne Spaulding, National Terrorism Commission
"The Politics of Progress in International Law":
Betsy Baker, U. Vermont;
Rebecca Bratspies, CUNY;
Alexandra Kemmerer, U. Würzburg
"Legal Education Initiatives in Africa":
Penelope Andrews, CUNY
(2 other events to keep in mind: ASIL-West reception, 
7:30-9 pm Thursday, April 10, and the Bloggers' Reception, of which IntLawGrrls is a proud cosponsor, 6-7 pm Friday, April 11)
At ASIL's annual meeting held from April 9-12, 2008, in Washington, D.C., WILIG hosted its annual luncheon where we presented former Chief Justice Graciela Dixon (left) — the first woman of African descent to serve as Panama's chief justice and one of only a few women in the world serving in this position — with the Prominent Women in International Law award. Justice Dixon has been active in international legal organizations and international human rights, particularly in Central America, and served as President of both the International Association of Women Judges and the Latin America Federation of Magistrates (FLAM).
Naomi R. Cahn (right), a law professor at George Washington University, has agreed to serve with me as a co-chair of WILIG. (I've been a co-chair for the past two years.) Naomi's first academic experiences with international women's rights occurred in 1992 and 1993, when she taught a course on the subject at Georgetown with Anne Tierney Goldstein and Susan Deller Ross. Naomi has written articles about gender and international law. She lived in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, from 2002-2004, and she has served as a consultant on international women's rights issues.
