International Law Weekend 2009, October 22-24, 2009

The following was sent to us by the American Branch of the International Law Association:

The American Branch of the International Law Association will hold its annual International Law Weekend, in conjunction with its 88th Annual Meeting, in New York from October 22-24, 2009. Registration is free for students, members of the American Branch, and cosponsoring organizations (including the ABA Section of International Law and the American Society of International Law); for others, the registration fee is $75.00. To register, visit www.ila-americanbranch.org.

The theme for the conference is “Challenges to Transnational Governance.” The plenary session for the conference and the opening reception will take place on Thursday, October 22, at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, 42 West 44th Street in New York City. The opening session will focus on efforts to reform the United Nations Security Council, including the initiation of intergovernmental negotiations in March of this year. Confirmed participants include: the Deputy Permanent Representative of the Mission of the United States to the United Nations, Ambassador Alejandro D. Wolff; the Permanent Representative of the Mission of Sierra Leone to the United Nations, Ambassador Shekou M. Touray; and Professor Joseph E. Schwartzberg of the University of Minnesota. The panel’s moderator will be Professor Jose Alvarez of Columbia University Law School.

On Friday and Saturday, the conference’s venue shifts to Fordham University School of Law, 140 West 62nd Street in New York City. The conference schedule includes thirty-three panels, traversing a wide spectrum of contemporary international law, including international criminal law, human rights law, international environmental law, international economic law, commercial law, and trade law. Several of the panels during these two days focus on the conference’s theme of transnational governance, including “The Contribution of the International Law Commission to Transnational Governance,” “Transnational Governance/Regulation in Global Competition Law Enforcement, “Democratic Process in International Law: State Practice and Non-State Actor Access,” “Transnational Legal Orders: International Trade Regimes and Domestic Regulatory Policy,” and “The Role of International Environmental Law in Transnational Governance.” The keynote speaker at the annual luncheon on Friday, October 23, at 12:30 p.m., will be Lucy Reed, who will speak on the topic “Not-So-Fine Lines in Transnational Governance: Blurring of Public and Private in the International Legal Order.” Ms. Reed is a partner with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, co-head of its global arbitration group, and President of the American Society of International Law.

On Friday evening, the Annual Gala Reception will be hosted at the residence of the Deputy Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations, 510 Park Avenue, 11A in New York City.

Several organizations are cosponsoring the American Branch’s ILW 2009:

• American Bar Association Section of International Law
• American Society of International Law
• American University, Washington College of Law
• California Western School of Law
• Canadian Bar Association
• Customs and International Trade Bar Association
• Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
• Federalist Society
• Fordham University School of Law
• Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
• The George Washington Law School
• Hofstra University School of Law
• ILSA Journal of International and Comparative Law
• Leitner Center for International Law and Justice
• Oxford University Press
• Seton Hall University School of Law

The International Law Students Association is joining the American Branch in organizing ILW 2009.

Peggy and Julian will be on a Friday panel “Are We Still Allowed to reject Transnational Norms;” I’ll be on a Saturday panel called “Challenging Territorial Sovereignty: Secession, Autonomy or Status Quo: Kosovo, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Moldova, and Tibet.” If you come by to ILW, please stop by to say hello! (The full list of panels, by the way, is available in a link from this page.