Go On! "Law Beyond State" @ Sheffield Law

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

From Alexandra Bohm, Ph.D. candidate at England's University of Sheffield School of Law, comes news of a workshop there, entitled "Doing Law Beyond the State: Research Methodologies in Comparative, EU and Public and Private International Law." Part of the law school's research project of the same name, the workshop will be held January 18-19, 2013; early-bird fee applies through November 23.
Alexandra writes:

'An initial, “scoping workshop” brings together established and early-career scholars to have a “cross-generation” and cross-specialisation dialogue. We will adopt a ‘what have we learned?’ approach, considering how the growing interest in method and importance of theory among traditional approaches to legal scholarship has important impacts on the academy and on legal practice.'

Scheduled presenters listed here; workshop details and registration here.

Go On! "ICC @ 10" in St. Louis (live webcast, too)

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

Looking forward to seeing many 'Grrls and colleagues at "The International Criminal Court at 10," a conference to be held next Sunday and Monday, at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Missouri.
The full program lists all events, available on both days via live webcast here. Highlights include:

Sunday, November 11
► Choreographer Monika Weiss presents "a public performance and sound composition devoted to commemoration of the victims of war crimes and of other globally perpetuated atrocities."
► Address by Stephen J. Rapp, Ambassador-at-Large, Office of Global Criminal Justice, U.S. Department of State
► Lecture by ICC Judge Hans-Peter Kaul

Monday, November 12
► "Ten Years of Trial Proceedings at the International Criminal Court."
Address by ICC Judge Joyce Aluoch, President of the Trial Division
► Panel on "Building the Institution: Challenges and Opportunities."
Speakers: David Crane, Syracuse Law; Sara Criscitelli, Prosecutions Coordinator, ICC Office of the Prosecutor; Richard Dicker, Human Rights Watch; Charles Jalloh, Pittsburgh Law; and Allen Weiner, Stanford Law. Moderator will be IntLawGrrls contributor Leila Nadya Sadat, Washington University Law and Director of its Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute. Kudos to Leila for organizing this event.
► Panel on "The Early Jurisprudence of the Court."
Speakers: yours truly, Diane Marie Amann, Georgia Law; IntLawGrrls contributor Margaret M. deGuzman, Temple University Beasley School of Law; and William Schabas, Middlesex Law. Moderated by Michael Kelly, Creighton Law.
► "Reflections on International Criminal Justice: Past, Present and Future His Excellency," address by Hans Corell, former Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and U.N. Legal Counsel
► Roundtable on "The United States and the ICC in the Decades Ahead."
Speakers: Elizabeth Andersen, American Society of International Law; Christopher "Kip" Hale, ABA Center for Human Rights; Jordan Paust, Houston Law; John Washburn, American Coalition for the International Criminal Court; and IntLawGrrls contributor Ruth Wedgwood, Johns Hopkins. Moderated by Melissa Waters, Washington University Law.
► Panel on "Imagining Future Directions of the Court."
Speakers: IntLawGrrls contributor Linda Carter, Pacific-McGeorge Law; David Scheffer, Northwestern Law; and Noah Weisbord, Florida International University Law. Moderated by William Schabas, Middlesex Law.
Cosponsors include the American Branch of the International Law Association, the American Society of International Law, and the International Association of Penal Law.
Details and registration here.

Go On! Conference today on post-conflict Ireland

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

Today Hanna's House hosts an important conference in Dublin. An all-Ireland organization, Hanna's House is a home for an active feminist community in Ireland, working for a non-violent, just society that embraces diversity. Hannah’s House provides a unique space for women’s groups and feminist activists and provides opportunities for women to develop and promote radical changes for equality and justice.
Entitled Delivering Women Peace and Security, this is an All-Ireland Conference on North-South Co-Operation & Implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, a resolution about which IntLawGrrls have posted here.
The daylong conference will be opened by the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins. Speakers include an IntLawGrrls contributor, Professor Chistine Chinkin of the London School of Economics, as well as Professor Monica McWilliams of the Transitional Justice Institute in Belfast, Irish Parliament member Sean Barrett, Deputy Chief Constable Judith Gillespie, and Claire Hackett from the Falls Community Center in Belfast.
The conference will also see the launch of a new video testimonial created by Hannah’s House to record the voices and experiences of women during the conflict. The video is a pithy insight into the range and complexity of gendered experiences during the conflict and will have strong resonance for women from many parts of the world.
Information here.

Go On! Uncovering culture & conflict in WWII's Pacific Theater – November conference in D.C.

(My thanks to IntLawGrrls for the opportunity to contribute this introductory post)

Three years ago this month, the Lawyers' Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation held its first conference in Washington, D.C. Entitled "Culture and Conflict," the conference explored the United States' March 2009 ratification of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. The Lawyers' Committee had reason to mark this development: the not-for-profit organization, along with the Archaeological Institute of America and U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield, had led a coalition urging the U.S. to join the treaty.
I attended the program on a whim, unaware it would have a lasting impact on me.
At the time, I'd been working in archaeology for years, and had just earned a Juris Doctor at the University of Georgia. I hoped to use this degree to preserve cultural heritage, which, though difficult to define, generally refers to the objects, places, and traditions that define us as individuals, societies, nations, and even human beings. (prior IntLawGrrls posts)
"Culture and Conflict" reaffirmed my decision.
It began with the impetus to the 1954 Hague Convention: the European Theater of World War II. There and then, modern technology fully enabled man's barbaric impulses, with horrifying results for the continent's population and all they loved. Heritage was no exception. At times, it was a direct target, as with the Nazi looting of art. At others, it was an innocent bystander, as with the bombing of Monte Cassino. Either way, the result was the same, cultural devastation. After the fighting stopped, the dead were mourned, and Europe began to rebuild, Western civilization realized many of its treasures had been lost forever. The international community swore "never again" and –  based on previous efforts like the Lieber Code, Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, and Roerich Pact – adopted the 1954 Hague Convention.
I had an understanding of this history before the conference, but it is far from my own area of expertise. My passion has always been studying and protecting the heritage of East Asia and the Pacific. I've traveled throughout the region and worked extensively in Cambodia and Papua New Guinea. In a strange coincidence for a girl whose family hails from Kentucky and Georgia, I was the third generation to briefly call PNG home – preceded by my uncle, an engineer, and before him, my grandfather, a soldier in General Douglas MacArthur's army.

So during "Culture and Conflict," I may have been the sole one in the audience who understood the landing at Guadalcanal better than Normandy, who had visited military cemeteries in Guam but not in England. I thus find it hard to explain why I – having devoted my career to preservation – had never previously considered the impact of WWII on the Pacific's heritage. But not until that day, when presented with the wealth of research done on the subject in Europe, did my ignorance hit me.
Yes, I already knew the Empire of Japan had pillaged its way across the hemisphere, but I'd heard more about the looting of gold bullion than masterpieces. I must have realized the Japanese home front suffered greatly itself – and that countless artworks, museums, and historic buildings were destroyed in the bombings of Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki – but I could name no examples. And I vaguely recalled a news item about the neglect suffered by Tarawa and other battlegrounds, but outside that, my knowledge was limited to the few sites I'd seen in person.
I initially believed this must be an oversight on my part alone. After all, countless books, chapters, and articles featured what has become known as "The Rape of Europa."
Surely Western scholarship had not turned its back on half the war and indeed world?
At the end of "Culture and Conflict," I took advantage of a question-and-answer session to ask that of the speakers, who included top authorities on WWII and heritage. They confirmed the topic in the Pacific had been all but ignored in the West, and possibly the East as well. A historian named Marc Masurovsky strongly encouraged me to look into it, however, and I promised him (and myself) I would.

Go On! "Critical Approaches to ICL," in Liverpool

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

From IntLawGrrls reader Christine Schwöbel, Lecturer at the University of Liverpool School of Law & Social Justice, comes news of a Critical Approaches to International Criminal Law Conference to be held December 6-8, 2012.
Notably, the initial days of the conference will be held at the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool,  England.
With respect to "a significant surge in scholarship, in institutions, and in the public debate: regarding international criminal law (which she abbreviates as ICL), Christine writes that the primary focus of this debate is the field's "contribution to projects of justice, peace, legality, addressing impunity and accountability" – with attention concentrated on the International Criminal Court. Christine, convener of this conference, continues:

Christine Schwöbel

'What is missing from the mainstream debate are the possible complicities of ICL in injustice, conflict, exclusions, and biases. In this conference, we hope to shift the debate towards such complicities and limitations in the contemporary understanding of ICL. We hope to question some of the assumptions which inform the field and which may cause injustice, conflict, exclusion and bias.'

Panels will treat an array of  topics; specifically, ICL &:
► The Political
► Its (Accepted) History
► Violence
► Critique
► Hegemony
► Neo-Liberalism
► Individualism
► Performance
Delivering the conference keynote address will be Professor Frédéric Mégret of Canada's McGill University Faculty of Law. Dozens of additional jurists will take part, from Australia, Cyprus, Egypt, England, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, Scotland, Singapore, South Africa, the United States, and Wales. The speakers' roster includes 2 IntLawGrrls contributors, Sara Kendall of the Grotius Centre at Leiden University and Yvonne McDermott of Bangor University
Supporting the conference are the University of Liverpool and the Institute of Global Law and Policy at Harvard Law School. Registration, fees, and other details available here.

Go On! Language rights, conflict prevention

(Go On! is an occasional item on symposia and other events of interest)
 
“Language Rights, Inclusion and the Prevention of Ethnic Conflicts” is the theme of the 13th International Conference of the International Academy on Language and Law, to be held December 13 to 17, 2012, in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Organizers write:

'While language rights are topical in many parts of the world, they are still widely misunderstood despite being a significant factor in many conflicts in Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand, China, Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong), Europe (Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Kosovo, Macedonia, Ukraine), Africa (Cameroon, South Africa, Ethiopia, Morocco, Libya, Algeria) and the Americas (Canada, Mexico, Peru, Paraguay). In addition, worldwide language diversity itself is increasingly threatened, with more than half of the world’s 6,000 to 7,000 languages expected to disappear in the next few decades.'

Numerous speakers will explore these issues, as detailed in the program here. Cosponsors of the conference include the International Observatory on Language Rights at Canada's Université de Moncton, as well as the UNESCO Center of Catalonia and Linguapax, both based in Barcelona, Spain.
For more information, contact  Dr Fernand de Varennes at fdevarennes@gmail.com.

Go On! 2012 Women & Justice Conference: Sexual Violence Against Girls in Southern Africa, at Cornell Law School

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

The Avon Global Center for Women and Justice is hosting its Third Annual Women & Justice Conference, to be held at Cornell Law School in Ithaca, N.Y. on Thursday, October 18^th.  The topic of the conference, Sexual Violence Against Girls in Southern Africa, developed from an 18-month study on sexual violence against girls in schools in Zambia conducted by the Avon Global Center for Women & Justice and the Cornell International Human Rights Clinic together with Women and Law in Southern Africa, a non-governmental organization based in southern Africa.  Cornell Law School faculty and students travelled to Zambia twice to interview government officials, school teachers and administrators, and school girls in connection with a report that will be launched at the conference.  Of the 105 girls who were interviewed as part of the study, 54% said that they had personally experienced sexual violence or harassment by a teacher, student or man they encountered while travelling to or from school, while 84% reported that they had personally experienced or knew of classmates who had experienced such abuse.

Prof. Cynthia Bowman

Hon. Gertrude Chawatama

MacDonald Moot Court Room, Room 390 Myron Taylor Hall

Cornell Law School, Ithaca, N.Y. 
12 p.m. to 2 p.m.

Report Launch and Consultation: Discussion of “‘They are Destroying Our Futures’: Sexual Violence Against Girls in Zambia’s Schools” by a panel of experts in Ithaca, N.Y. and Lusaka, Zambia.  This event is co-sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Zambia, which will host the simultaneous event in Lusaka, Zambia and connect participants in the two countries by videoconference.  Participants from Ithaca, N.Y. will include, among others, Cynthia Bowman, Dorothea S. Clarke Professor of Law, Cornell Law School; Elizabeth Brundige, Executive Director of the Avon Global Center for Women and Justice at Cornell Law School; Honorable Gertrude Chawatama, High Court of Zambia and Commissioner of the Kenya Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission; and Honorable Virginia Kendall, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.  Participants from Lusaka, Zambia will include Zambian government officials, including from the Ministry of Education, police, and judiciary, as well as representatives of civil society organizations.  The panel consultation will be an opportunity to engage in dialogue with Zambian policy makers to discuss the concerns and recommendations raised in the new Report released by the Center.  The Report will be available for download at www.womenandjustice.org prior to the event.  Please RSVP to Jamie Weber at jaw6@cornell.edu if you plan to attend. 

Elizabeth Brundige

Hon. Virginia Kendall

4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.  Live Webcast.

Keynote Address: The Denial of the Right to a Life Free of Violence for Girl Children: Keynote Address by Rashida Manjoo, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Its Causes and Consequences and Professor, Department of Public Law, University of Cape Town.  This lecture will be streamed live via webcast over the Internet.  Those watching online can submit questions and comments by email.  The URL for the webcast will be released at www.womenandjustice.org.

Hosted by Cornell's Avon Global Center for Women & Justice and co-sponsored with the Cornell Advocates for Human Rights; the Cornell Law School International Human Rights Clinic; the Cornell Law School Women’s Law Coalition; the Dorothea S. Clarke Program in Feminist Jurisprudence at Cornell Law School; the Institute for African Development at Cornell University; the United States Embassy in Lusaka, Zambia; The Virtue Foundation; Women and Law in Southern Africa – Zambia; and the University of Zambia School of Law

Go On! ASIL/AALS panel on hiring intlaw professors

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

As this year's Chair of the Section on International Law of the Association of American Law Schools, yours truly, Christiana Ochoa, is pleased to extend an invitation to "Developing your Faculty Credentials: An International Law Perspective," a panel discussion and reception to be held 6:30-8:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 11, 2012, at Tillar House, the headquarters of the American Society of International Law, located at 2223 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.

The event is particularly aimed at internationally focused registrants of the AALS Faculty Recruitment Conference. The AALS Section on International Law is cosponsor, along with the ASIL Teaching International Law Interest Group (of which IntLawGrrl Karen E. Bravo is a Co-Chair).
On the panel will be:
► Professor Haider Ala Hamoudi, Chair of the Appointments Committee at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law; and
► Professor Sonia E. Rolland of Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, a Vice Chair of the ASIL Teaching International Law Interest Group.
AALS registrants will have the chance to hear recommendations from international law faculty members and the chair of a faculty appointments committee regarding methods for improving one’s hiring prospects in the academic field. Recent faculty hires will also be on hand to have informal conversations with attendees about their personal experiences in obtaining a faculty position during a reception following the panel discussion.

There is no charge for this event, but registration is required. Space is limited, and registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. Details and online registration here; hope to see you there!

Go On! Gender equality & human rights @ Stanford

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

"Advancing Gender Equality through Human Rights" is the theme of the International Public Interest Lawyering Symposium to be held this October 12 and 13 at the Levin Center for Public Service and Public Interest, Stanford Law School in California.

Keynote speakers will be Patricia M. Wald (left), former Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and an IntLawGrrls contributor; and Christopher Stone, since this past July the President of the Open Society Foundations.
Panelists are detailed here. They include, according to organizers:

'Executive Directors or Presidents of innovative human rights and international justice organizations and public interest attorneys from leading public interest legal organizations in Kenya, Nigeria, China, South Africa, Malaysia, Palestinian Territories, China and Chile.'

Questions to be addressed:
► What is the power of human rights ideas for transnational and local social movements?
► Using the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and gender equality as a case study, have human rights created a political space for reform in particular countries and what have been the key challenges?
► What are the lessons learned from the global gender equality movement for other human rights struggles?
► Looking forward, what are the key challenges and opportunities for more strategic collaboration between the movement for gender equality and other aspects of the human rights movement?
Details and registration here and here.

Go On! Migrant Domestic Workers, Gender Equality and the Limits of Rights, at University College Cork

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

The Centre for Criminal Justice and Human Rights, University College Cork is hosting a conference on October 19th 2012, on Migrant Domestic Workers, Gender Equality and the Limits of Rights.
The conference is organised in the context of European Anti-Trafficking events and includes a keynote address by OSCE Special Representative and Coordinator on Combating Trafficking Human Beings, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro (pictured below).
The conference addresses the position of migrant domestic workers in human rights law and the continuum of exploitation experienced by domestic workers. It marks the coming into force of the ILO Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers (about which we've posted here). Speakers include: Dr Jean D'Cunha, UN Women, Gender, Employment and Migration Adviser; Int Law Grrls Contributor Professor Janie Chuang, American University, Washington DC, Open Society Justice Fellow; Dr Bridget Anderson, COMPASS, Oxford University; Dr Cliodhna Murphy, Centre for Criminal Justice and Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University College Cork; Ludovica Banfi, Social Research Programme Manager, Freedoms and Justice Department, EU Fundamental Rights Agency; Noel Waters, Director General, Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service; Siobhan O’Donoghue, Director, Migrant Rights Centre Ireland; Marriam Bhatti, Domestic Workers Action Group.
All Welcome! Full details are available here.

Go On! 2012 International Law Weekend, NYC

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

"Ideas, Institutions, and Interests – Dynamics of Change in International Law" is the theme of this year's annual International Law Weekend, to be held October 25-27, 2012, in New York City.
Keynote speaker will be Judge Theodor Meron (left), President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals.
As always, this event features an array of panels on a panoply of international law issues. Pleased to see many IntLawGrrls contributors on the program, for example:
► Andrea K. Bjorklund (California-Davis Law and McGill Law) and Ruth Wedgwood (Johns Hopkins), panelist and moderator, respectively, for "A Conversation with Meg Kinnear" (right), Secretary-General of ICSID, the International International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes
► Karen E. Bravo (Indiana-Indianapolis Law) and Anna Dolidze (Western Ontario), panelists on "Teaching International Law: Principles for Framing a Survey Course"
► Elizabeth Burleson (Pace Law), a panelist on "Emerging International Decision-Making: the Role of the International Law Commission and Other Forums for Legal Consensus Building"
► Valerie Epps (Suffolk Law), part of a panel on "Foreign State Immunity in National Courts as Required by International Law"
► Christiana Ochoa (Indiana-Bloomington), panelist on "Metatheory of International Law"
► Stephanie Ortoleva (Women Enabled), slated for a panel on "Dynamics of Change in International Disabilities Law: The Case of Access to Justice"
► Susana SáCouto (American University Washington College of Law), a panelist on "Perspectives on Crimes of Sexual Violence in International Law"
► Barbara Stark (Hofstra Law), member of a panel on "Recent Developments in International Family Law"
► Milena Sterio (Cleveland State Law), moderator of a panel entitled "The Future of the Ad Hoc International Criminal Tribunal Options"

► Jennifer Trahan (New York University/Global Affairs), moderator of "The U.S. Advancing the International Criminal Court: Positive Contributions and Future Predictions for a Change in Relationship"
Full schedule here; registration here.

Go On! State Department advisors on private intlaw

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

By way of an e-mail from our colleague Houston Putnam Lowry, Honorary Secretary of the American Branch of the International Law Association, comes news that the annual meeting of the U.S. State Department's Advisory Committee on Private International Law will be held on October 11 and 12, 2012, at George Washington University Law School, 2000 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.

Among those set to speak are Mary McLeod (left), Principal Deputy Legal Adviser at the State Department, and Luis Guillermo Vélez, Colombia's Superintendent of Corporations. 
Issues to be discussed include:
► Family law:  recognition and enforcement of civil protection orders; recognition and enforcement of voluntary family law agreements; and status of the wills and trusts conventions.
► Federalism and implementation of the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements.
► International contracting: Should the United States withdraw its declaration under Article 95 of the Convention on the International Sales of Goods? Swiss proposal for a project in UNCITRAL on harmonization of international contract law.
►  Developments in the Hague Conference on Private International Law, in UNIDROIT, the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law, in the Organization of American States, and in UNCITRAL, the U.N. Commission on International Trade Law.
► Agricultural finance and food security initiative in UNIDROIT: contract farming, access to credit, farming cooperatives.
► Microfinance: simplified incorporation and other initiatives to promote growth of microenterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises.

Go On! Addressing sexual assault in U.S. military

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

The Hastings Women's Law Journal, based at my home institution, the University of California Hastings College of the Law, soon will host an important symposium on an aspect of sexual violence.
Entitled "Fixing a Broken System: Rape and Sexual Assault in the Military," the symposium will take place on Friday, September 28, 2012, at the law school, 200 McAllister Street, San Francisco, California. Organizers hope to generate ideas to repair a system that too often fails to meet the demands of its many constituencies, including persons who suffer sexual assault by service members.

The daylong conference, for which MCLE and CLE credit will be available, will open with a keynote address by U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier (left) (D-California). (photo credit) Three panels will follow, on the following subjects:
► U.S. military justice system
► Impact on survivors and veterans, as well as the employment context of military service versus civilian workplace
► Assessment of policy and reform
Yours truly, Elizabeth L. Hillman, California-Hastings Professor of Law, will take part in the program, along with many other noted speakers: John D. Altenburg, Jr., Major General, U.S. Army (Ret.); Philip D. Cave, Commander, U.S. Navy (Ret.); Josh Connolly, Deputy Legislative Director, Office of Congresswoman Jackie Speier; Kathleen Gilberd, Co-Chair, National Lawyer’s Guild Military Law Task Force; Maia Goodell, Chair, New York City Bar's Military Affairs and Justice Committee; Victor M. Hansen, Professor of Law, New England Law Boston; Shira Maguen, Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California-San Francisco; Rachel Natelson, Legal Director of SWAN, the Service Women’s Action Network; Teresa Panepinto, Director of Legal Services, Swords to Plowshares; Kate Weber, a survivor of military sexual trauma; and Bridget J. Wilson, an attorney and Major, California Guard, U.S. Army Reserve, Enlisted (Ret.).
Cosponsors include the National Institute of Military Justice, a nongovernmental organization for which I serve as President, along with the Combat Paper Project, the O’Brien Center for Scholarly Publications, and the UCSF/UC Hastings Consortium on Law, Science & Health Policy.

For further information, please contact Gina Gribow, the Journal's Executive Symposium Editor, at gribowg@uchastings.edu.

Go On! Join us at ASIL's October Midyear Meeting

It is my immense honor to welcome all of you to the 2012 American Society of International Law Midyear Meeting, to be held October 19 to 21 here in the great southeastern state of Georgia.
The meeting will take place in Atlanta – where one of the city's commercial anchors, the Coca-Cola Co., will host attendees at its downtown corporate headquarters – and in Athens, the wonderful community northeast of Atlanta that's home to the University of Georgia School of Law.
Having served as the law school's Emily and Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law since last year, yours truly is honored to be co-chairing the meeting along with my friend and colleague, Charles A. Hunnicutt, Senior Counsel at the law firm of Thompson Hine, as well as a former ASIL Vice President, Georgia Law alum, and Chair of the Advisory Board of Georgia Law's Dean Rusk Center for International Law & Policy.
Headlining the 3-day meeting will be the top lawyers for the United Nations and the U.S. Department of State, respectively:
► Patricia O'Brien (left), Under-Secretary for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel, will deliver the luncheon keynote; and
► Harold Hongju Koh (right), Legal Adviser, State Department, will be the conference dinner speaker.
Working with Charlie and me to plan this meeting have been the many tireless staffers at Tillar House, ASIL's D.C. headquarters, as well as dozens of other members of various committees, detailed here.
Special thanks are due to 3 Host Committee members: Georgia Law Dean Rebecca H. White and William Lummus, Associate General Counsel International at the Coca-Cola Co., who will provide space for the Meeting, and Georgia Law's Peter "Bo" Rutledge, who organized the all-star arbitration panel.
Special thanks too to: Laura Dickinson of George Washington University School of Law, and Georgia Law's Timothy L. Meyer, Co-Chairs of the Research Forum; and Ingrid Wuerth of Vanderbilt University Law School and Midyear Meeting Host Committee member Harlan Cohen of Georgia Law, who will serve as inaugural Co-Chairs of the Society's new regional project, ASIL-Southeast.
We owe special thanks as well to the ASIL Academic Partners in our immediate region, among them, in addition to Georgia Law, our Atlanta neighbor, Emory University School of Law, and our North Carolina neighbor, Duke University School of Law. 
Look for future posts offering details on some of these events, as well as profiles of our host cities. Today, without further ado, here's the program for the Midyear Meeting  program (for which we welcome you to register here):

Friday, October 19
Coca-Cola headquarters, 1 Coca-Cola Plaza, N.W., Atlanta

3-5 p.m.
Career & Mentoring Fair
This Midyear Meeting kickoff event is geared for students and new professionals interested in learning more about various international law career paths and interacting with experienced public and private international legal professionals in a "speed-mentoring" format.

5-6:30 p.m.
When Transnational Business Deals Go Sour: The Challenges and Opportunities of International Arbitration
Speaking on recent developments, and on real-world case studies of arbitration’s success and failure, will be: Midyear Meeting Host Committee member Valerie Strong Sanders (left), Counsel, Sutherland Asbill & Brennan Litigation Practice Group, Atlanta; Jack Goldsmith, Henry J. Shattuck Professor at Harvard Law School and former U.S. Assistant Attorney General; Gary Born, Partner and Chair, International Arbitration Practice Group, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr, Washington, D.C.; ASIL Immediate Past President David D. Caron, C. William Maxeiner Distinguished Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley; ASIL President Donald Francis Donovan, Partner at Debevoise & Plimpton in New York; and Midyear Meeting Host Committee member Brian A. White, Partner at King & Spalding in Atlanta. Moderator will be Midyear Meeting Host Committee member Glenn P. Hendrix, Partner at Arnall Golden & Gregory in Atlanta.
Attendees will be eligible for 1.5 to 2 MCLE credits in California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, as detailed here.

6:30-8 p.m.
Reception

Friday, October 19

Hotel Indigo (left)
500 College Avenue, Athens

6-7:30 p.m.
Welcome reception



Saturday, October 20

All events except the evening dinner at the University of Georgia School of Law and its Dean Rusk Center for International Law & Policy (right), Athens

8-10:30 a.m.
ASIL Executive Council meeting

9-10:30 a.m.
Students from Academic Partner schools meet with Patricia O'Brien, Under-Secretary for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel (an IntLawGrrls contributor).

11-12:30 p.m.
Research Forum sessions

Spanning Saturday and Sunday, each of these roundtable sessions will be moderated by a discussant. Among the confirmed discussants are many of our colleagues: Research Forum Committee membera Hari M. Osofsky (right), University of Minnesota, and Ingrid Wuerth, Vanderbilt University, both IntLawGrrls contributors; Midyear Meeting Host Committee members Robert Ahdieh of Emory University, Curtis A. Bradley of Duke University, and Michael Newton of Vanderbilt University; Research Forum Committee members Máximo Langer, UCLA, and David Zaring, University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business; and Paul Stephan, University of Virginia, and Robert Sloane, Boston University.

Status of Sources of International Law
This Panel, No. 1, will feature the following presentations: Midyear Meeting Host Committee member Harlan Cohen, University of Georgia, "Careening Towards International Law’s Erie Moment"; IntLawGrrl Neha Jain (left), University of Minnesota, "Revisiting the Sources Thesis in International Criminal Law"; and Ben Love, Freshfields Bruckhause Deringer, Paris, "The Importance of Soft Law in International Disputes."

Developments in International Criminal Justice
This Panel, No. 2, will feature the following presentations: Christian de Vos, Leiden University-Netherlands, "From a Ripple to a Tide: Taking Stock of the ICC’s Complementarity Principle," and IntLawGrrl Jenia Iontcheva Turner (right), Southern Methodist University, "Policing International Prosecutors."

Foreign Relations & International Law
This Panel, No. 3, will feature the following presentations:
Christopher Whytock, University of California-Irvine, "Court Access and Foreign Sovereign Immunity"; Cynthia Nicoletti (left), Mississippi College, "The Emancipation Proclamation, the Commander-in-Chief Power, and the Intersection of International Law and Domestic Law"; and IntLawGrrls contributor Margaret McGuinness (right), St. John's University, "Presidential Peace Powers."

Emerging Issues in International Trade, Development & Aid
This Panel, No. 4, will feature the following presentations: Meredith Lewis (right), University of Victoria-New Zealand, "Plurilateralism in International Trade Law: New Paradigm or Same Old Story?"; Mark Toufayan, University of Ottawa-Canada, "The Politics of Representing International Lawyers’ Contribution to the Trade-Development Nexus in Africa"; and Adrian Di Giovanni, International Development Research Centre-Ottawa, Canada, "Understanding the Uses of 'Do No Harm' in International Assistance."


Luncheon
12:45-2:15 p.m.
► Welcome by University of Georgia School of Law Dean Rebecca H. White
(right)
► Keynote address by Patricia O'Brien (left), Under-Secretary for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel (an IntLawGrrls contributor).

2:30-4:00 p.m.
Research Forum sessions

Law of Armed Conflict: Training on the Ground, Virtual Battlegrounds & the Value of Foreign Lives

This Panel, No. 5, will feature the following presentations: Elizabeth Stubbins, London School of Economics, "Testing the Effectiveness of the British Army’s Military Training in the Principles of Distinction and Proportionality"; IntLawGrrl Emily Crawford (left), University of Sydney-Australia, & Michael Lewis, Ohio Northern University, "Virtual Battlegrounds: Distinction, Targeting, and Computer-Based Warfare in the 21st Century"; and IntLawGrrl Lesley Wexler (right), University of Illinois, "Foreign Life Valuation."

Corruption & Financial Rights

This Panel, No. 6, will feature the following presentations: Andrew Spalding, University of Richmond, "Freedom from Corruption: The New Human Right? Implications for Commercial Anti-Bribery Laws"; Philip Nichols, University of Pennsylvania, "An International Norm for Corporate Criminal Liability for Bribery"; and Karen Halverson Cross (right), John Marshall-Chicago, "Arbitration of Mass Sovereign Debt Claims: Abaclat v. Argentine Republic."

Comparative Law & International Institutions
This Panel, No. 7, will feature the following presentations: Francesca Bignami (left), George Washington University, "Comparative Law and the Making of the European Legal Order," and David Kosař, New York University, & Michael Bobek, European University Institute in Florence, Italy, "Global Governance, Global Solutions, Local Damages: A Critical Study in Effects of Judicial Councils."

4:15-5:45 p.m.
Research Forum sessions

Coercion, Compliance & Legitimacy
This Panel, No. 8, will feature the following presentations: IntLawGrrl Monica Hakimi (right), University of Michigan, "Unfriendly Unilateralism"; Abraham Bell, University of San Diego, "The Case Against Tit-for-Tat Proportionality"; and IntLawGrrl Cecily Rose (left), Jesus College, University of Cambridge, "Global Governance Challenges Posed by the Financial Action Task Force."

International Law, International Relations & International Institutions
This Panel, No. 9, will feature the following presentations: Michael Voss, University of Virginia, "Back to the Future or Onward and Upward: An International Relations and International Law Analysis of the United Nations Human Rights Council"; Mikulas Fabry, Georgia Tech, "The Norm of Territorial Integrity in International Relations and Law"; and Julian Arato, New York University, "Treaty Interpretation and Constitutional Transformation: Informal Change in International Organizations."

Investment Law

This panel, No. 10, will feature the following presentations: Jason Cross, University of Michigan, "Expertise and Legitimacy in International Investment Law: Governing Access to Investor-State Arbitration"; Natasha Marusja Saputo, Boies Schiller & Flexner, "Decisions, Decisions: Practical Considerations in Choosing between Commercial and Investor State Arbitration"; and Barnali Choudhury (right), Queen Mary University of London, "The System of International Investment Law as a Global Public Good."

Saturday, October 20
Lyndon House Arts Center, 293 Hoyt Street, Athens
7-10 p.m.
Reception and Dinner
► Special memorial tributes:
David Bederman by Midyear Meeting Host Committee member Robert Ahdieh, Emory University; Louis Sohn by Dorinda Dallmeyer (left), University of Georgia; and Dean Rusk by C. Donald Johnson, Midyear Meeting Host Committee member and Director of the Dean Rusk Center for International Law & Policy, University of Georgia School of Law.
► Keynote address by Harold Hongju Koh (above right), Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State. (photo credit)

Sunday, October 21
University of Georgia School of Law and its Dean Rusk Center for International Law & Policy, 225 Herty Drive, Athens

9-10:30 a.m.
Research Forum sessions 

Theories of Ratification, Compliance & Reservation
This panel, No. 11, will feature the following presentations: IntLawGrrl Yvonne Dutton (right), Indiana University-Bloomington,"Why Ratify? The Evolution of Human Rights Treaties"; Rachel Brewster (left), Duke University, & Adam Chilton, Harvard University, "The Supply Side of Compliance"; and Kasey L. McCall-Smith, University of Edinburgh, "Severing Invalid Reservations: A Paradigm Shift in International Law."

Theory
This panel, No. 12, will feature the following presentations: IntLawGrrl Nienke Grossman (left), University of Baltimore, "A New Normative Theory of Legitimacy for International Courts"; Jan Kleinheisterkamp, London School of Economics, "The Myth of Transnational Public Policy"; and Donald "Trey" Childress, Pepperdine/visiting at Washington & Lee University, "Rethinking Legal Globalization: The Case of Transnational Personal Jurisdiction."

Issues at the Intersection of Public & Private Law
This panel, No. 13, will feature the following presentations:Cally Jordan (right), University of Melbourne-Australia, "International Financial Standards and the Explanatory Force of Lex Mercatoria"; Daphne Richmond-Barak (upper left), Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya-Israel, "Regulating Non-State Actors: Self-Regulation in the Private Security and Military Industry"; and Sabrina Safrin (lower left), Rutgers-Newark, "The Cellphone and the Flavr Savr Tomato Technology and International Law."

Panel 14
This panel, No. 14, will feature the following presentations: Andrei Mamolea, Duke University, "Thinking Like a State: Subjective Intent in International Law," and Christian Djeffal, Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany, "Evolutive Interpretation of Treaties by International Courts and Tribunals."

10:30 a.m.-12 noon Research Forum sessions

International Criminal Law
This panel, No. 15, will feature the following presentations: IntLawGrrl Saira Mohamed (left), University of California, Berkeley, "Adjudicating Deviance in International Criminal Law"; Alexander Greenawalt, Pace University, "International Criminal Law for Retributivists"; and Scott Gilmore, George Washington University and consultant at Center for Justice & Accountability, "All Tomorrow’s Massacres: Toward a Cybersecurity Framework for Mass Atrocity Crimes."

Customary International Law

This panel, No. 16, will feature the following presentations: Noura Erakat (right), Georgetown University/Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Refugee & Residency Rights, "U.S. v. ICRC – Customary International Humanitarian Law and Universal Jurisdiction"; William Worster, Hague University-Netherlands, "The Transformation of Quantity in to Quality: Critical Mass in the Formation of Customary International Law"; and Pierre-Hugues Verdier, University of Virginia, "How Does Customary International Law Change the Case of State Immunity?"

Environmental & Other Disasters: Framing & Institutions
This panel, No. 17, will feature the following presentations: Michael Cooper, Georgetown University, "Disaster-Induced Displacement: Resolving Ambiguities in our Legal Lexicon"; Stuart Ford, John Marshall-Chicago, "Climate Change, Conflict, and International Law"; and J. Benton Heath, New York University, "Accountability in the United Nations Cluster System: The Consequences of Institutional Choice in Disaster Response."

New Rights & Remedies – Pushing the Boundaries of International Law
This panel, No. 18, will feature the following presentations: Moria Paz (left), Stanford University, "The Failed Promise of Language Rights"; IntLawGrrl Barbara Stark (right), Hofstra University, "Making Babies, Making Law"; and Antonio Carlos Cardesa-Salzmann, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain, "Seeking Justice in a Multipolar World: Reflections on a Global Standard of Access to Justice for Transnational Litigation."

12 noon-1:30 p.m.
Inaugural Meeting of ASIL-Southeast
Co-chaired by Midyear Meeting Host Committee member Harlan Cohen, University of Georgia, and IntLawGrrl Ingrid Wuerth (right), Vanderbilt University.

Again, details and registration are here.
Please join us!