Midyear Update — March 2016 Executive Director’s Note: We have heard from many of our alumni and friends that, as much as our annual printed CILE Notes are valued by them, they would like to hear news and updates from us on a more frequent basis. We are therefore pleased to present this Midyear Update, reporting on CILE’s activities as we reach the midway point between the publication of each year’s Notes. We also plan to provide you with updated information on a more frequent basis through social media (see the links at the end of this report) and email.
Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of CILE
As you will see, our 2015-16 academic year has already seen a full schedule of lectures and events, faculty travel, and other CILE related activities. We have enjoyed getting to know our largest ever class of LLM students both as scholars and friends, benefitted from interaction with a growing and talented community of SJD students, and benefitted greatly from hosting this year’s visiting professors and scholars. legal system and traditions that they have studied with us.
CILE celebrated its 20th anniversary with a two-day program of highprofile international speakers and events at Pitt Law, Sept. 10 and Sept. 11, 2015. The anniversary celebration kicked off with a dinner on Thursday, Sept. 10, that brought We hope that you enjoy reading the together CILE alumni, other memstories that follow, and I encourage all bers of Pitt’s international studies the alumni reading this, whether JD, LLM or SJD, to send me your own career community and supporters of CILE updates and personal news for inclufrom the local business and legal sion in the Alumni News section of the community. Guests at the anniverCILE Notes, which we expect to go to sary dinner were addressed by Propress in late August 2016. fessor Ronald Brand, the Academic Richard Thorpe Director and founder of CILE, and by alumni and friends of CILE who Pitt Law LLM or JD grad? shared their perspectives on CILE's Please update your contact history and mission.
information at:
The next day’s events began with
http://law.pitt.edu/alumni/updateinfo events designed for the Pitt Law
student community, including a morning panel where CILE alumni shared the impact of CILE on their professional careers with current Pitt Law students. A keynote address then was delivered by Mr. Jeffrey Kovar, the Assistant Legal Adviser for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the U.S. State Department, who discussed his involvement in the recent reopening of diplomatic relations with Cuba and related legal issues. A series of afternoon panels brought together Pitt Law faculty and their international colleagues to discuss a variety of subjects in international law, including Islamic law, international commercial law, and international human rights. (continued next page)
CILE’s 20th Anniversary (continued from p. 1)
20th Anniversary Photo Gallery
Chancellor Emeritus Mark A. Nordenberg closed the formal program with a discussion of the growth of international programs at the School of Law during the 20 years of CILE, and the importance of a global reach for the entire University of Pittsburgh. Videos of each of the anniversary events and talks, and a slideshow reflection on 20 years of CILE, can be found on our anniversary webpage at http://law.pitt.edu/ cile20.
Upcoming Events |2|
23rd McLean Lecture on World Law 5:30 p.m., March 28, 2016 Teplitz Memorial Courtroom Barco Law Building
CILE Founder and Academic Director Professor Ronald Brand (l) and CILE Advisory Board member Max Laun (JD ‘88) (r) address guests at the anniversary dinner
Our guest of honor and speaker this year will be the Honorable Joan Donoghue, Judge of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, who will speak on “The International Court of Justice: Caught between Common Law and Civil Law Traditions." 2016 High School International Criminal Court Moot Competition April 22-23, 2016 Barco Law Building Pitt Law 2016 Commencement Sunday, May 8, 2016
Jeffrey Kovar delivers the keynote address on September 11, 2015, launching an afternoon of presentations on issues in international and comparative law
Speakers at our afternoon events on September 11, 2015: (front row, l to r) Vivian Curran, Matiangai Sirleaf, Richard Weisberg, Laura Pedraza-Farina, Mark Nordenberg; (middle row, l to r) Jack Graves, Harry Flechtner, Mike Madison, David Thaw; (back row, l to r) Paul Herrup, Ronald Brand, Jeffrey Kovar, Pierluigi Perri
See more photos from the 20th anniversary celebration on CILE’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/cilepitt/photos_stream
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Events CILE Guest Jurcek Zmauc Describes Career Paths for Lawyers in Diplomacy and Business On February 2, 2016, Jurcek Zmauc spoke to an audience of Pitt Law students, faculties and friends on “Lawyers in Diplomacy and Business” at an event co-sponsored by CILE and Pitt Law’s Innovation Practice Institute. Mr. Zmauc’s presentation drew on his experiences in a career that has ranged across legal practice, government service, international business and law school teaching and administration. Mr. Zmauc is the President of the Slovenian American Business Association and is a Secretary of the Office for Slovenes Abroad of the Republic of Slovenia. A native of Maribor, Slovenia, he received degrees in law from the University of Maribor and from the University of Ljubljana. His career has included service as the Republic of Slovenia’s Counsel General in Austria and as its Counsel General in Cleveland, Ohio, and as the Deputy Minister and Director of the Division of Southeast Europe of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia. In addition to his government service, Mr. Zmauc has taught civil and international business law at the University of Mari| 4 | bor, and has served as Director of its Center for International Cooperation.
Visiting Professor Zlatan Meškić Discusses Constitutional Developments in Bosnia On February 11, 2016, CILE sponsored a presentation by Visiting Professor Zlatan Meškić on “The Bosnian Constitutional Dilemma - from the Dayton Peace Agreement to the EU Membership.” Professor Meškić discussed the complicated interplay between ethnic and multinational politics in Bosnia & Herzegovina, the constitutional legacy of the Dayton peace process, and the external pressures for constitutional change to facilitate Bosnia’s admission to membership in the European Union. Professor Meškić (Bosnia) is an associate professor of European Union law and vice dean for academic research in the law faculty of the University of Zenica. In addition to Pitt Law, he has been a visiting professor in the law faculties of the University of Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), University of Tuzla (Bosnia and Herzegovina), University “Džemal Bijedić“ in Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina), University of Tirana (Albania) and the Europa-Institute at the University of Saarbrücken (Germany). Professor Meškić is the chief editor of the Journal “Annals of the Law Faculty University of Zenica,“ as well as a member of the editorial board of the Journal “Nova Pravna Revija” (“Neue Juristische Umschau” (Sarajevo) and Evropsko pravo (European Law, Skopje, Macedonia). Professor Meškić received his doctorate from the Faculty of Law of the University of Vienna in 2008.
The LLM Class of 2016 In August 2015, we welcomed our largest LLM class thus far to Pitt Law with two weeks of orientation activities. During their first week on campus, our LLM students attended a series of lectures and training sessions designed to introduce them to the case method, Socratic questioning and the other characteristics of the US law school experience. In addition to general law school and University orientation activities, during their second week in Pittsburgh we took our traditional LLM orientation trip to Fallingwater, which as always provided a valuable opportunity to students and CILE staff to get to know one another in a less formal setting. The core of the Fall semester academic experience for our LLM students is our Introduction to American Law course, taught by Professor Brand with the assistance of guest presentations from a wide range of Pitt Law faculty . In addition to providing a general overview of the US legal system, our guest speakers provide introductions to core subject areas such as contracts, torts and procedure, giving a foundation for the elective courses that our LLMs take alongside our JD students. Our LLM students engage with the larger population of JD students outside the classroom as well as within. In addition to participating in the general life of the law school, there are a variety of activities and scheduled events that connect LLM and JD students. One popular activity is the language exchange organized by Pitt Law’s Pat Wysor, where LLMs and JD students will meet weekly to trade conversation in our LLM students’ home languages, simultaneously improving our JD students’ language skills, building LLM students’ conversational talents in English, and making lasting friendships. Our annual Rule of Law presentations began in February with a session focusing on legal developments in Kosovo, led by the four Kosovar students (thee LLMs and one MSL candidate) in this year’s class. An upcoming Rule of Law panel will feature LLM students from Bosnia, Iraq, Kenya, Palestine and Ukraine talking about rule of law challenges and the legal systems in each of their home countries.
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Selected Other News What follows is only a sample of current student activities and alumni news for the academic year to date — watch for a complete account in CILE Notes this fall!
Pitt Law Team Advances in Paris International Arbitration Moot A team consisting of Allison Hall (JD ‘17), Valerie Howell (JD ‘17), Annie O’Brien (JD ‘16), and Marisa Rodrigues (JD ‘17), and coached by Professor Vivian Curran, was chosen from over 80 teams to be one of 16 teams to advance to the second round of the Concours international d’arbitrage de Paris. This challenging competition is conducted entirely in French; most of our team’s competitors consist entirely of native French speakers, and Pitt Law’s team is generally the only non-Canadian team from North America |6| to participate in the competition. The eight finalists from the second round will select two students each to travel to Paris to compete in the finals.
LLM Alumna Interviewed On Ukrainian Anti-Trust Changes Pitt Law alumna Maria Nizhnik (LLM ‘03), now serving as the First Deputy Chairman of Ukraine's Antimonopoly Committee, was interviewed in February by Ukraine Today about recent changes to Ukraine's antitrust legislation. Video of her interview (in English) is linked at http://uatoday.tv/society/exclusive-interview-withfirst-deputy-chairman-of-ukraine-rsquo-s-antimonopoly-committee-582301.html
Alumni News Rick Grubb (JD ‘10) has joined the US Department of State as a Foreign Affairs Officer working in the area of national security strategy. Moien Odeh (LLM ‘15) has become the first Israeli Arab to be selected as a contributor to the World Bank’s yearly report on Women, Business and the Law. Tom Kraemer (JD ‘90) is practicing commercial law in Kabul, Afghanistan. Ravi Reddy (JD ‘06) is also in Afghanistan, where he works with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and recently participated in writing their annual report on civilian casualties in the conflict there.
Selected Faculty Activities What follows is only a sample of the international engagement of Pitt Law faculty in the academic year to date — watch for a fuller account in CILE Notes this fall! Professor Jessie Allen
Zenica Faculty of Law in Zenica, Bosnia and HerzeProfessor Jessie Allen participated in the third govina on Oct. 23. His topAdelaide Blackstone Symposium, Blackstone and His ic was “Progress and Status Critics, held at the University of Adelaide in of the Choice of Court conjunction with the Australian and New Zealand Law Convention in the United and History Society Conference. At the conference States.” The conference she presented her paper, “Blackstone: Expositor and was sponsored by the GerCensor of Law both Made and Found,” and chaired man Open Regional Fund another session. for South-East Europe, and the South-East Europe Law Professor Allen gave a talk on Dec. 7, 2015, titled Schools Network (SEELS). “Critical Commentaries: Reading Blackstone for Fun and Provocation,” at University of Technology Sydney From October 26 to October 30, 2015, Professor Brand Law School, in Sydney, Australia. participated as a member of the U.S. Delegation in the Working Group on Judgments of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, in The Hague, Professor Ronald A. Brand Netherlands, negotiating a draft convention on the CILE Academic Director Ronald Brand’s travels took recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil him to The Hague, Bahrain and Bosnia in October and commercial matters. It is anticipated that the 2015. From October 15 to October 18, 2015, Professor convention draft will be approved by the Hague ConBrand led a session designed to prepare Middle East ference Council in the spring of 2016 for submission to law school teams for the 2016 Willem C. Vis Internaa Special Commission for purposes of completing a tional Commercial Arbitration Moot. Students and profinal convention text. fessors in attendance were from law schools in Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Professor Brand traveled to Manama, Bahrain Feb. 7and Tunis. Pitt Law alumna Janet Checkley (‘14) assist- 14, 2016, where he provided training in oral argument skills for Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot ed Professor Brand in the training sessions. teams from Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, On Oct. 19, Professor Brand lectured on U.S. Legal EdQatar, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia. Professor Brand was ucation at the University of Sarajevo Faculty of Law. assisted in the training program by Pitt Law alum, JaOn Oct. 20, he spoke on “Private International Law in net Checkley (JD ‘14). Professor Brand also provided the United States and the European Union,” at the training for lawyers, professors, and judges to serve as same institution. On Oct. 21, Professor Brand spoke on arbitrators for the Sixth Annual Middle East Vis Pre“Private International Law in the United States and the Moot. The entire week of activities was co-sponsored European Union,” in the class on Private International by the U.S. Department of State Commercial Law DeLaw at the University of Zenica Faculty of Law, in Zenvelopment Program, the Bahrain Chamber for Dispute ica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Professor Ronald Brand Resolution, the Royal University for Women, and Pitt was a featured speaker in a conference on “Private Law’s Center for International Legal Education. International Law on Stage – National, European and International Perspectives,” held at the University of
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Professor Vivian Curran
Horizons for Contemporary Hermeneutics” and “The Contributions of Hermeneutics Through the PerspecProfessor Curran’s work on law and languages and on tive of Legal Hermeneutics.” He then travelled to the the Provost’s Committee for the Year of the Philippines, where he spoke on “Practical HermeneuHumanities was the subject of an article in the Pitt tics: The Legal Text and Beyond” and “Reading RicChronicle at http://www.chronicle.pitt.edu/story/yearoeur with the Methods of the Digital Humanities” (cohumanities-profile-loving-language-law authored with Fernando Nascimento). Professor Rhonda Wassermann
Professor Matiangai Sirleaf
Professor Wasserman gave two presentations at an international conference on the resolution of mass disputes hosted by the University of Haifa Faculty of Law on November 26-27, 2015. One talk, entitled “American Class Actions 101,” provided an overview of American class action law and practice to an international audience. The other talk, entitled “Transnational Class AcOn November 20-21, 2015, Professor Sirleaf tions in United States participated in a conference to commemorate the Courts,” posited that re70th Anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials, entitled the cent changes in the AmeriNuremberg Principles 70 Years Later: Contemporary can legal landscape enChallenges. The conference brought together prominent judges, practitioners, and academics from hance the risk that transna|8| tional class actions in U.S. across the globe in the field of international human courts will fail to achieve rights law and international criminal law. the goals of compensaProfessor Sirleaf presented her paper, “Regionalism, tion, deterrence, and enforcement of the law. ProfesRegime Complexes, and International Criminal Justice sors from Oxford University, Tel Aviv University, the Uniin Africa” at Georgetown Law’s International Law versity of Leuven (Belgium), Konstanz University Colloquium before students and faculty on Jan. 29, (Germany), City University of Hong Kong, the University 2016. of Haifa, the University of Texas, and UC Hastings College of Law presented at the conference, as did Professor George Taylor prominent class action practitioners. Former Chief JusProfessor Taylor travelled to Taiwan in November 2015 tice of the Israeli Supreme Court, Asher Grunis, gave where he spoke on “Gadamer and Ricoeur: Critical the keynote address. Professor Sirleaf participated in the World Social Sciences Forum Conference on Transforming Global Relations for a Just World, which took place on September 13-16, 2015, in Durban, South Africa. Professor Sirleaf presented on a panel on “The African Court and the Fight Against Gross Human Rights Abuses in Africa.”
For CILE news as it happens throughout the year, follow us on social media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cilepitt (Like us to have updates show in your newsfeed and email updates) Twitter: https://twitter.com/CILE318 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/CILEMedia