A Newly Improved State Department Website

Happy New Year to all.  For those of you looking for “new” things in international law this year, check out the newly redesigned website of the Private International Law office in the State Department’s Office of the Legal Adviser (L/PIL for short).  It has links to other relevant websites and resources as well as listings of the status of U.S. treaties on issues of trusts and estates, family law, arbitration and judgments, judicial assistance and commercial law.  The lists are quite useful; they indicate not only which treaties the United States has (or has not) joined, but those where U.S. ratification remains actively under consideration as well as areas of on-going negotiation.  In addition, the site has a “Current Developments” section that provides updates on recent activity by the State Department in these areas.  My only complaint is that readers will apparently only get current development updates quarterly.  I’d prefer it if L/PIL could give more timely updates as they arise, rather than having such a regularized schedule (of course, if that’s too burdensome, L/PIL should just pass the relevant information along to us, and we’ll be happy to publicize it!).