In association with the International Commission of Jurists

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19 Jan

Human Rights Watch issued its 2006 annual report yesterday. The press release focused on the United States "conscious policy choice by senior U.S. government officials" to engage in abusive inerrogation. That policy has "hampered Washington’s ability to cajole or pressure other states into respecting international law." “Responsibility for the use of torture and mistreatment can no longer credibly be passed...

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18 Jan

Interesting decision by an English court (Queens Bench Commercial Court) that email is sufficient to arbitrate a maritime dispute under the English Arbitration Act 1996. Notice of the arbitration, together with various subsequent communications and briefings, were all done by email. Before rendering the award, the arbitrator noted that "No Defence submissions were received at any time. [But] I was...

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18 Jan

Interesting story coming out of China about the dispute between Starbucks and Xinbake, which is a major Chinese competitor. "Xin" means star and "bake" is pronounced "bah kuh." So Starbucks sued and a Chinese court ordered Xinbake to change its name because it was engaging in "illegitimate competition." (Hat tip: How Appealing) I love this tidbit...

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18 Jan

Joel Trachtman of the Fletcher School and Petros Mavroidis of Columbia Law School have started the International Economc Law and Policy Blog. The opening salvo of posts have touched on topics ranging from the trade in caviar and the protection of endangered species, to the governance of cyberspace, to World Bank conditionality and sovereignty, to the judgeing style of the...

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18 Jan

Professor Arthur von Mehren, Story Professor of Law Emeritus at Harvard Law School, passed away yesterday at the age of 83. The Harvard statement on his death is here. Professor von Mehren was one of the pioneers in American legal education in the fields of comparative law, choice of laws, international litigation and international commercial arbitration. Professor von...

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18 Jan

Last week the Ninth Circuit en banc issued an important decision in Yahoo! v. LICRA. In a complicated judgment, it concluded that it does have personal jurisdiction over LICRA and UEJF, but that the combination of votes against personal jurisdiction and ripeness required dismissal of the case without prejudice. It is a complex decision with forty-pages of opinion, so I...

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17 Jan

Opinio Juris welcomes "Truth on the Market" to the law prof blogosphere. My friend and colleague Thom Lambert, along with Geoff Manne, Bill Sjostrom, Keith Sharfman, Josh Wright, and one anonymous blogger, will be blogging about "law, business, economics and more." We wish them a successful launch and happy blogging!...

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17 Jan

Still more news today on Holocaust litigation. The U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in the Ninth Circuit case of Alperin v. Vatican Bank. The order list is here. The Ninth Circuit ruled earlier this year that the property claims by plaintiffs should not be dismissed under the political question doctrine but that the "war objective claims" should be...

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17 Jan

An Austrian arbitration court has ordered the return of five multi-million dollar paintings by Gustav Klimt to the rightful owner, Maria Altmann. The best coverage is from the L.A. Times, which has interviews of Maria Altmann and her attorney Randol Schoenberg, both of whom reside in Los Angeles. Another report stated that the world-renowned 1907 portrait of Altmann's aunt, Adele...

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