Guest Blogger: Deepali Lugani

It's IntLawGrrls' great pleasure to welcome Deepali Lugani (left) as today's guest blogger.
Deepali is a researcher for Judge Donald C. Pogue of the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York. She earned an LL.M. in International Law from Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C., in 2010, and an LL.B. cum laude from the University of Ottawa, Canada, in 2008. While at Ottawa, she was the legal editor for the 1st student-run international policy thinktank in Canada, and was selected a rapporteur for the annual meeting of the Canadian Council on International Law. Her summaries of conference proceedings were published in the Journal of Canadian Council on International Law in 2006 and 2007. In 2009, Deepali was an intern at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, where she worked on matters related to the administration of ICC’s detention center in Scheveningen.
In her guest post below, Deepali reports on a recent meeting of the Women in International Law Interest Group of the American Society of International Law, of which she's a member.

Heartfelt welcome!

WILIG networks

(Thanks to IntLawGrrls for the opportunity to contribute this guest post)

The Women in International Law Interest Group (WILIG) of the American Society of International Law recently hosted its annual networking breakfast at Tillar House, ASIL's headquarters in Washington, D.C. The event drew over 60 attendees, comprising a diverse group of women students, practitioners and pioneers in the field of international law.
Laura Bocalandro, counsel at the Inter-American Development Bank (left), opened up the event. The panel was introduced by Marcia Wiss, partner at Hogan Lovells and adjunct professor at Georgetown Law (below right). Sarah A. Altschuller, senior practitioner in Foley Hoag’s corporate social responsibility group (below left), talked about the challenges facing attorneys in that practice area. Wendy Patten, Senior Policy Analyst at the Open Society Institute and former Advocacy Director at Human Rights Watch, noted that her past experiences as a litigator have continually helped her draft legislation and policy papers that examine and incorporate practical legal remedies for the public facing challenging situations. Carol Pier, Associate Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs at the Department of Labor, talked about the importance of maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Martina Vandenberg, partner at Jenner & Block LLP, spoke about the various challenges in fighting sex trafficking for which she has been raising awareness for several years. Vandenberg’s advice to young women was to build an "investment fund" – one consisting of a wealth of resources and network – in the early stages of their careers. The "fund," she said, that can assist them during their professional life in later years.

During the Q&A session, topics that arose included:

► Work-life balance for women in law,
► Transitioning from nongovernmental and international organizations to law firms,

► The importance of choosing law firms with a dedicated focus to pro bono work, and

► Rewards of international exposure that continue to enrich an international law attorney’s career in the long run.

The panel unanimously agreed upon the importance of mentors for young women in law firms who can help budding attorneys get quality work in their professional lives. Moderator Wiss encouraged women to continue to raise awareness and advocate for the U.S. ratification of 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women by writing to their representatives in Congress. The panel also reminded women to maintain a healthy emotional life particularly when their work involves fighting against social issues that could have an adverse emotional impact on their personal lives.

At the end of the Q&A, the session broke to allow for networking. Several small crowds formed where women introduced themselves, discussed legal and policy issues in international law, and sought and offered advice. The 4 panelists were among the last few women to leave Tillar House, having answered almost every query by the crowd to the very end.

Note: IntLawGrrls Naomi Cahn (near left) and Kristine A. Huskey (far left) are co-chairs of this interest group. They encourage all who are not yet members to join WILIG!

Go On! Network with WILIG

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

WILIG, the Women in International Law Interest Group of the American Society of Law, will hold a Networking Breakfast next Thursday morning, July 29, at Tillar House, ASIL's headquarters at 2223 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., in Washington, D.C. Breakfast will be from 8-8:30 a.m. Then, till 10, WILIG (whose co-chairs this year are IntLawGrrls Naomi Cahn and Kristine A. Huskey) will sponsor a panel presentation by

accomplished professionals in law practice and academia who will discuss their career paths and offer professional advice and insights for women interested in pursuing careers in international law.

Small-group discussions networking opportunities to follow.

Free to ASIL members; small fee for others (become an ASIL member here). Registration and details here.

Prominent Woman in International Law Award

At the American Society of International Law Annual Meeting last month, WILIG, the Women in International Law Interest Group, conferred the Prominent Woman in International Law Award on Dinah Shelton, the Manatt/Ahn Professor of International Law at George Washington University Law School, the first woman nominated by the United States to become a member of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission (prior post) -- and one of WILIG's founders. Her full speech, "Where I sit and where I stand," is available on the WILIG listserv at ASIL, but here is an interesting observation about the history of women in international law that she included:

I particularly miss my dear friend Virginia Leary, with whom I initially chaired WILIG. We were part of a small group, along with Kit Bigelow, Edith Brown Weiss, Cynthia Lichtenstein, and Amy Young, who started this wonderful association [WILIG] some 30 years ago. At that point women were being admitted to law school in growing numbers and this brought more into the Society [ASIL], which was not so quick to recognize this new reality. The 75th anniversary meeting was the catalyst: not a single (or married for that matter) woman international lawyer from the U.S. appeared on the program. We decided that was the last time such a result would occur.

And here's a tantalizing paragraph that explains the title of her talk:

Now, to turn to sitting and standing…. One of the members of the current US administration has repeatedly said when asked about his new position and policy on certain international matters that “where you stand depends upon where you sit.” I’ve given that a lot of thought, because I am now sitting in a new position as member and vice-president of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission. We are just finishing our first two week session since my election. What have I learned about where I stand from where I sit, and what does that phrase actually mean?

Read more here.

Go On! Women, peacebuilding & the rule of law

(Go On! is an occasional item on symposia of interest) On behalf of WILIG, the Women in International Law Interest Group of the American Society of International Law, we are delighted to announce the following program: "Women, Peacebuilding, and Advancing the Rule of Law," to be held 6:30-8:30 p.m. on September 30, 2009, at Tillar House, ASIL's headquarters, at 2223 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.
Cosponsors along with WILIG are ASIL's Transitional Justice and Rule of Law Interest Group, Vital Voices, the American Bar Association's International Law Section, Africa Committee and the Women's Interest Network, the Institute for Inclusive Security, and Women in International Security.
Women are an important part of the peacebuilding equation. Too often they are excluded or marginalized in the peace process. Limiting or excluding women from the peacebuilding process in a meaningful way not only leaves a critical resource untapped, but hinders a society's recovery. Women can be agents of change, advocates for justice and peace, and leaders in reestablishing rule of law. (credit for 2008 photo by I. Vuni of women at Uganda peace talks in Juba, Sudan)
Program Chair and Moderator is Melanne A. Civic, Senior Rule of Law Advisor at the U.S. Secretary of State's Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization, who is on detail to the Center for Complex Operations, National Defense University.
The panelists, who will discuss the critical role of women in peacebuilding as well as comment on the July 2009 Report of the Secretary-General pursuant to U.N. Security Council Resolution 1820 (2008), "Women and Peace and Security," are:
►Melanne Verveer, the Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues, who is also the cofounder and former CEO of Vital Voices;
►Swanee Hunt, who served as U.S. Ambassador to Austria between 1993 and 1997 and now is Chair of the Institute for Inclusive Security (formerly Women Waging Peace); and
►Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School and Director of the Transitional Justice Institute at the University of Ulster in the North of Ireland.
Details and registration here.

Go On! WILIG Networking Breakfast

(Go On! is an occasional item on events of interest) We are delighted to announce that WILIG, the Women in Law Interest Group of the American Society of International Law, will sponsor a Women in International Law Networking Breakfast on Thursday, July 9, from 8:30-10 a.m. at ASIL's Tillar House headquarters, 2223 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.

The program features accomplished professionals in law practice and academia, who will discuss their career paths and offer insights to women interested in pursuing careers in international law. The panel presentation will be followed by small-group discussions to foster networking opportunities. The panelists include our own IntLawGrrl Kristine A. Huskey, National Security Clinic, University of Texas School of Law, as well as: Laura Black, Office of the Assistant General Counsel for International Affairs at the Treasury Department; Andrea J. Menaker, White & Case; and Andrea J. Prasow, Office of the Chief Defense Counsel, Office of Military Commissions.

We hope to see many IntLawGrrls at this event! You can find more information about the program and registration here.

And heartfelt congratulations to Kristine and to IntLawGrrl Janie Chuang for organizing this wonderful event!

New IntLawGrrls: WILIG Co-Chairs Naomi Cahn & Ruthanne Deutsch

It's IntLawGrrls' great pleasure today to welcome as new bloggers the Co-Chairs of the Women in International Law Interest Group of the American Society of International Law, better known as WILIG.
Naomi Cahn (right) and Ruthanne Deutsch (left) will be posting throughout the year about WILIG's events. (Ruthanne's joined Naomi as WILIG co-chair now that IntLawGrrl Susana SáCouto's become a WILIG co-chair emerita.)
The co-chairs' 1st post, the Go On! item below, announces a terrific upcoming program at ASIL headquarters, entitled "Gender Issues, International Law, and the New Administration." What's more, we're pleased to announce that Naomi also will post individually at IntLawGrrls.
Naomi is the John Theodore Fey Research Professor of Law at George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C. Her scholarship focuses on family law, feminist jurisprudence, and reproductive technology. Her most recent book is Test Tube Families: Why the Fertility Markets Need Legal Regulation (New York University Press 2009), and she's at work co-authoring a book on post-conflict and gender with IntLawGrrl Dina Francesca Haynes and our colleague Fionnuala Ní Aoláin. Naomi's both a Senior Fellow at the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute and a member of Yale Law School's Cultural Cognition Project, which examines public attitudes towards gay and lesbian parenting. From 2002 to 2004, she was on leave in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Before entering academic in 1993, she'd practiced at the Washington law firm Hogan & Hartson and at Philadelphia’s Community Legal Services. She earned a B.A. from Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, a J.D. from Columbia, and an LL.M. from Georgetown.
Ruthanne, an expert in constitutional law and public international law, practices as associate in the Washington office of Sidley & Austin. There she's taken part in briefing and preparing: cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and other appellate courts; and international trade matters before the U.S. Court of International Trade and the World Trade Organization. Ruthanne was graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center, where she's been a Global Law Scholar, an Executive Articles Editor for the law journal, and a Dean’s Visiting Scholar. She served as a law clerk to Judge Timothy B. Dyk, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Before embarking on her law career, Ruthanne had been an international development economist at the World Bank and at the Inter-American Development Bank.

Heartfelt welcome!

Women's International Law Interest Group

I want to join Diane and others in extending a very warm welcome to Lucy Reed, IntlawGrrls' newest member and 43rd President of the American Society for International Law (ASIL). As Co-Chair of ASIL's Women in International Law Interest Group (WILIG), I am very much looking forward to Lucy's tenure as President of ASIL, as she has been very clear from the start that one of her key initiatives as President will be to "mainstream" women's rights issues into ASIL's programs and pursue specific women's rights projects. On that note, I thought this would be a good opportunity to provide a brief overview of WILIG's recent and planned activities.
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).
As mentioned in a prior post, this fall, WILIG will co-sponsor, with American University's War Crimes Research Office and Women’s International Law Program, a symposium on Gender and the ICC on October 14, 2008. Details and registration here.
The WILIG Steering Committee will also be meeting in September to discuss upcoming events and to begin discussions of who will receive the Prominent Women in International Law award at next year's lunch. We would appreciate any suggestions on either topic.
Finally, our deepest gratitude to Kit Bigelow for co-chairing the WILIG executive committee for the past 3 years. We so much appreciate all of Kit's work, and we look forward to her continuing involvement with the Executive Committeee.
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.
We encourage members to post items of interest to other WILIG members by logging onto our forum here.

Go On! International Criminal Court prosecution of sexual & gender-based crimes

(Go On! is an occasional item on symposia of interest.) On July 1, 2002, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court entered into force, thus establishing the world’s first permanent court set up to try persons accused of the most serious crimes of international concern. With four investigations of situations ongoing and pre-trial proceedings underway in its first case (prior posts here), the Court is now grappling with how to implement many of the ground-breaking provisions advocates of international justice fought for in the negotiations leading up to Rome Statute, including those relating to sexual and gender-based crimes.
This issue will be addressed at an all-day conference entitled "Prosecuting Sexual and Gender- Based Crimes in the ICC: Translating Promises into Reality" on October 14, 2008, at Washington College of Law, American University, Washington, D.C. Save the date!
Leading experts in international criminal law and feminist jurisprudence will come together to take stock of whether and how the ICC (left) is living up to the promise of the Rome Statute to ensure accountability for sexual and gender-based crimes committed in times of conflict or in the context of genocide or crimes against humanity.
Patricia Viseur Sellers, the former Legal Advisor for Gender-Related Crimes at the Office of the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, will deliver the keynote address. Panelists of practitioners, scholars, and advocates will address questions such as:
► As an institution, has the ICC staffed itself with the appropriate expertise on sexual and gender-based violence, as envisioned by the Rome Statute? If not, what consequences has this had for victims of sexual and gender-based violence?
► What standards is the Court using to determine which crimes are “grave” enough to investigate and prosecute, and do those standards take into account the possibility of gender bias?
► Do these standards allow for sexual and gender-based crimes to be charged and prosecuted with the same vigor as other crime?
► Are there lessons to be learned from the gender jurisprudence of the ad hoc and hybrid criminal tribunals?
This event is being sponsored by the War Crimes Research Office and the Women and International Law Program of Washington College of Law, American University, and by the Women in International Law Interest Group (WILIG) of the American Society of International Law. Details and registration here.