International Law Weekend – Midwest – September 2019
ILW Midwest 2019 (September) focused upon Atrocity Prevention: The Role of International Law and Justice. The conference took place at Case Western Reserve University School of Law on September 20, 2019. The conference featured two dozen of the world’s foremost experts on atrocity law and policy, and included a keynote address by Sean Murphy, the Manatt/Ahn Professor of International Law at George Washington University, President of the American Society of International Law, and a member of the U.N. International Law Commission. ABILA President Leila Sadat also spoke on the new draft Convention on Crimes Against Humanity.
ILW Midwest 2019 included panels on the Security Council veto, social media and atrocity crimes, preventing atrocities in Yemen, the new draft Convention on Crimes Against Humanity, and threats and challenges confronting the International Criminal Court. The International Association of Penal Law (American Branch) Book of the Year Award was presented to Dean Michael Scharf and Prof. Milena Sterio for The Legacy of ad hoc Tribunals in International Criminal Law (2019, Cambridge). Articles from the Conference were published in the Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law.
ILW Midwest 2019 was organized by Case Western Reserve University School of Law’s Frederick K. Cox International Law Center and co-sponsored by the American Society of International Law, the International Association of Penal Law, the Cleveland Council on World Affairs, the International Law Section of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, and the Greater Cleveland International Lawyers’ Group.
Read more here.
International Law Weekend – Midwest – March 2019
ILW Midwest 2019 (March) was held at the University of Dayton School of Law and cosponsored by ABILA and the University of Dayton Human Rights Center. The 2019 Gilvary Symposium/International Law Weekend Midwest was held on Saturday, March 16, 2019.
The theme for the symposium was Things Fall Apart or Creative Destruction? The Future of the Rule of Law in International Governance. It featured panels on human rights and humanitarian law, international economic law, and global governance more generally. Justice Carlos Bernal of the Constitutional Court of Colombia delivered a keynote address on the problem of transitional justice in Colombia in the wake of the Colombian government/FARC peace agreement. The symposium was made possible by The Honorable James J. Gilvary Fund for Law, Religion, and Social Justice.
International Law Weekend – South
Texas A&M University School of Law, in cooperation with the American Branch and co-sponsored by the American Society of International Law (ASIL), held International Law Weekend—South: The Global Future of International Trade, Human Rights, and Development, from March 2-3, 2017.
The conference focused on a trio of areas that were the hallmarks and guiding principles of the international order created following the Second World War. That order is now undergoing change, with worldwide debate on what the future global order should look like. Leading scholars, practitioners, and government officials spoke to such issues as how the emerging order will operate, who might gain, and how existing institutions including governments should respond.
The program for ILW South included panels on “New Developments in Resource Management and Trade: The Internationalization of the Local,” “Making Trade Work for Sustainable Development: Possibilities and Challenges,” “International Corruption and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act,” “Intellectual Property and Regional Trade Agreements,” “The Role of Judges in Enforcing International and Regional Agreements,” and a career panel on Practice Tracks in the International Arena.
The event also included two plenary addresses. Edward Kwakwa, Senior Director of the Department for Traditional Knowledge and Global Challenges (and former Legal Counsel) at the World Intellectual Property Organization spoke on Renegotiating NAFTA Without Tears: Risks and Rewards of Modifying the North American Free Trade Relationships. Professor David Gantz, Samuel M. Fegtly Professor of Law and Director Emeritus of the International Economic Law and Policy Program at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, delivered an address on Intellectual Property and Global Challenges.
Special thanks to ABILA Board Member Charlotte Ku and ABILA Vice-President and Co-Director of Studies Peter Yu for their leadership in organizing this wonderful event.
International Law Weekend – West
International Law Weekend-West 2016 took place January 29, 2016, at Brigham Young University Law School in Provo, Utah. The theme for the conference was International Law in a Divided World:
“We live in a divided world. States and nonstate actors cooperate with and combat each other, including on the cyber frontier. International organizations like the International Criminal Court are accused of pursuing their missions along disturbing lines. The President contends with Congress. Secularism contends with religion. Many have; more have not. In the midst of these divisions, what role can international law play? What role should it play?”
As reflected in the program for ILW West 2016, several panels, roundtable discussions, and keynotes addressed issues such as income inequality, international arbitration, corruption, the European migration crisis, and more.
A special thanks to the conference organizer, Prof. David H. Moore, Wayne M. and Connie C. Hancock Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Research and Academic Affairs at Brigham Young University’s J. Reuben Clark Law School.