Exciting International Law Events in Minneapolis This Week

If you are in or near the Twin Cities this coming week, there will be lots of exciting international law events to see (in addition to our first winter snow!). The Minnesota of Journal of International Law is hosting International Law Week, which culminates in a very exciting conference on International Economic Law in a Time of Change co-sponsored by ASIL Midwest, the ASIL International Economic Law Interest Group, the University of Minnesota Law School, and the Minnesota Journal of International Law and co-chaired by my former colleague & intlawgrrl Washington and Lee University Professor Susan Franck and my new colleague Professor Greg Shaffer.
The events include:
--Monday, at 12:15 pm, Panel on Practicing International Law
--Tuesday, 1-3 pm, Conference on Foreign-cubed Securities Litigation After Morrison v. National Australia Bank and the Dodd-Frank Act which features NAB Lead Counsel George Conway III and my new colleague Professor Richard Painter in Auerbach Commons
--Wednesday, 11:30 am - 1 pm, Professor Daniel Bodansky of ASU University will present a lecture hosted by the University of Minnesota's Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment & the Life Science with interdisciplinary commentary from my new colleagues Professor Brad Karkkainen, Professor Katherine Klink (geography), and me at the Mississippi Room of the Coffman Memorial Union
--Wednesday, 7 pm, World Music Karaoke Fundraiser sponsored by the International Negotiation Project
--Thursday-Friday, ASIL/MJIL Conference "International Economic Law in a Time of Change: Reassessing Legal Theory, Doctrine, Methodology and Policy Prescriptions" at the University of Minnesota Law School, which features keynotes by Professor Jose Alvarez of NYU University, Ricardo Ramirez of the World Trade Organization Appellate Body, and IntLawGrrl guest/alumna Professor Beth Simmons of Harvard University. What makes the conference particularly unique is that it engages the intersection of international economic law with a wide range of substantive areas through 14 panels with approximately 60 geographically diverse speakers from academia, practice, and government. I was originally going to list all the female speakers, but the conference organizers have done such a good job of making the presenters both excellent and diverse by every measure, that I'd have to feature about half of the participants in a very long list to do so. If you can't make it in person, you can also view the live feed online.
Please come participate in all the fun and congratulations to all of the organizers of these exciting events.

Go On! Upcoming Symposium on Investment Treaty Disputes

(Go On! is an occasional item on symposia and other events of interest) For those of you interested in international economic law, there is an exciting event coming up at Washington and Lee University School of Law that you might want to consider coming down for following ASIL (Lexington, VA is a mere three hours from DC in a beautiful part of rural Virginia). On March 29, 2010, Washington and Lee School of Law will host a Joint Symposium with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to explore the prevention and efficient management of investment treaty disputes. W&L Law Professor Susan Franck, a leading expert in international economic dispute resolution, serves as the conference co‐organizer and has done a tremendous job putting together a very exciting conference. The conference is free and open to the public. Registration is requested no later than March 22, 2010.
The event will bring together academics, governments, practitioners, investors, representatives from international organizations and non-governmental entities from around the world. Professor W. Michael Reisman, the Myres S. McDougal Professor of International Law at Yale University, will deliver the keynote address. Other prominent investment and dispute resolution experts involved include Meg Kinnear, Secretary General of the World Bank’s International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), William K. Slate II, President and CEO of the American Arbitration Association (AAA), and Wolf von Kumberg, Legal Director and Assistant General Counsel at Northrop Grumman Corporation. There will also be representatives from States such as Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Japan, Rwanda, Thailand and the United States.

ASIL Book Awards -- Please Submit!

The American Society of International Law is seeking nominations for its annual book awards.
The awards, known as ASIL Certificates of Merit, are given for:
► preeminent contribution to creative scholarship;
► a specialized area of international law; and/or
► high technical craftsmanship.
Authors and publishers are encouraged to submit appropriate works for consideration by the Committee on Annual Awards, which this year is chaired by me, Janie Chuang (American University), and includes another IntLawGrrl, Christiana Ochoa (Indiana-Bloomington), as well as law professors Tai-Heng Cheng (New York) and Susan Franck (Washington and Lee), and Devashish Krishan, an associate at Baker Botts in London.
Books by authors of any nationality, in any language, and published anywhere within the 24 months preceding February 1, 2009, are eligible.
To nominate works of scholarship, sending 6 copies by September 30, 2008, to: Rosemary Kurtz, American Society of International Law, 2223 Massachusetts Avenue N.W., Washington, D.C. 20008.
Good luck!

Women in International Economic Law

There's a new global organization in international law.
It's Women in International Economic Law, or WIEL. It'll hold hold its 1st meeting from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. next Tuesday, July 15, at the Institut de Hautes Etudes Internationales et du Developpement/Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland, in conjunction with the inaugural meeting of the Society of International Economic Law.
Featured at WIEL's initial meeting will be Jennifer Hillman (above right), a Member of the WTO Appellate Body. She'll speak on the past, present and future of women in international economic law, after which the group will discuss its own objectives.
For details, contact Susan Franck (below right), Washington and Lee University School of Law, at frmailto:francks@wlu.edu, or Tracey Epps (above left), Faculty of Law, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, at tracey.epps@otago.ac.nz.

Update: transnational law & curricular reform

As a follow-up to earlier IntLawGrrls posts (here and here), as well as posts on Opinio Juris (here), I wanted to share this exciting news:
The Washington and Lee University School of Law faculty voted unanimously yesterday to add transnational law to the first year curriculum. This decision reinforces the school's continued development of its transnational law program, and should pair in exciting ways with its (also unanimous) vote earlier this spring to move towards a third year focused on practicum courses. By giving all students a grounding in transnational law in the first year, the school will enhance the value of its innovative transnational law electives in the years that follow.
Roger Alford, whose Opinio Juris posts had criticized the reforms, generously commented this morning:

Sounds like a great curriculum move. Combine that with W&L's stellar international law faculty (beginning next year the IL faculty will include Johanna Bond, Mark Drumbl, Susan Franck, Fred Kirgis, Russell Miller, Hari Osofsky, etc.) and I think that any concerns about the marginalization of international law at Washington & Lee are misplaced.

We are excited to be part of this pedagogical experiment.