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Dear Colleagues and Friends, 100+ bars and law societies around the world joined ABA International in celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Take a look at the program. The extraordinary and historic conference in New York last week celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of the drafting of the UDHR. Its theme: “Human rights, the just rule of law and the role of lawyers”. ABA International is proud to have presented the first of three conferences - last week in New York (hosted by the City Bar of New York and Pat Hynes, its President, a participating organization along with the New York State Bar), on December 6th in Paris and in Rome in 2010. The purpose of the conference(s) is to confirm that the protection of human rights is the core element of the “just” rule of law and that lawyers are key. The New York conference was co-chaired by Kate Birmingham Bontekoe and Jerry Shestack, Chair of the ABA’s Center for Human Rights and past President of the ABA. The current President of the ABA, Tommy Wells welcomed all and read the Section-sponsored Recommendation on the UDHR, just passed by the ABA Board of Governors. The current President of the Paris Bar, Christian Charriere-Bournazel and I shared the honor of making introductory remarks.. With absolute brilliance, the first panel, dealing with the UDHR’s history, set the stage for a remarkable and inspiring day. Hans Corell, former Undersecretary-General of the United Nations and chief legal officer was joined by Fali Nariman, president of the Bar Association of India, and Ted Sorensen, lawyer, author and historian. All three, legends in their own time, from different continents, different cultures, countries, legal systems and backgrounds, constituted the initial panel, moderated by Andrew Heyward, former President of CBS News. Throughout the day, the world’s leading human rights law experts, on the panels and in the audience, discussed and debated the linkage of human rights, as spelled out in the UDHR, with a rule of law that is just, a fair and open system of justice that is accessible to all, and the essential role played by the lawyer in the entire process. The luncheon speaker, Ambassador Andrew Young, was awesome, and contributed to the uplifting and exciting discussions that characterized the day. Other world-renowned expert speakers included Richard Goldstone, former Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, and Patricia O’Brien, current United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and Legal Counsel, Jerry Shestack, Justice Nasira Iqbal of Pakistan, Professor Philip Leach, Professor Ved Nanda, Michael Posner, President of Human Rights First, Father John Langan of Georgetown University, Andrea Stanton of the NYU Center for Dialogues, Diane Orentlicher of American University Washington College of Law, Joanna Wechsler of Security Council Report, and speakers from the audience. They included human rights experts like Penny Wakefield, Co-chair of our International Human Rights Law Committee, Mike Burke, Section Secretary and Operations Officer (who put together the bibliography for the program), Edison Dick, a member of the Steering Group, former Section Chair Jeff Golden, Judges David Crane and Marilyn Kamen and many others. Also were various ambassadors to the UN from numerous countries, some of whom, like the Ambassadors from Ireland and from New Zealand, who spoke from the floor, and many distinguished bar leaders including Peter Koves, President of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of the EU (CCBE), former batonniers of the Paris Bar Dominique de la Garanderie and Bernard Vatier (also a former president of the CCBE), the presidents of bars and law societies such as Korea, Turkey, Canada and many others too numerous to name. Thus, it is with great pride and satisfaction that ABA International on this occasion continued its leadership role in the field of international law (and international human rights law) by working with the Italian Bar, the Paris Bar and the ABA Center for Human Rights to make a very powerful statement: “the lawyers of the world are united in their core values, the most important of which is defending the human rights of all people, as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and which constitute the centerpiece of the just rule of law.” At the same time last week, in Yaounde, Cameroon, our Africa Committee was holding another conference, led by Roland Abeng, Vice Chair of the Africa Committee, entitled “Good Governance and Development in Cameroon: The Way Forward”. In addition to our events in Africa and in New York, the Section held its annual ABA-IBA breakfast meeting in Buenos Aires on October 14th, attended by a record 300+ persons, half of whom were ABA members, including many of our officers and Council members. After the introduction by ABA President Tommy Wells, we also heard from Section Chair-elect Glenn Hendrix, who spoke about the Section. The substantive part of the program on International Anti-corruption, included presentations by Bruce Horowitz, vice chair of our International Anti-corruption committee, Laurence Wiener, co-chair of our US Lawyers Practicing Abroad Committee, and Tim Dickinson, former Section Chair. On Wednesday, November 1st, in Bucharest, Rumania, former Section Chair Mike Byowitz led a stellar panel of Section anti-trust experts discussing current issues in international competition law. Laurel Bellows (Council member and immediate past chair of the ABA House of Delegates), Mike, Ellen Yost and I then presented a quick overview of ABA International. On November 6th, at the Biltmore in Miami, Section Finance Officer, Bart Legum and Jorge Angell co-chaired a very impressive and successful, joint IBA-ABA conference, “The Next Big Wave of Cross-Border Litigation. Next stop: Paris UDHR on December 6th; and then an exciting and extremely promising ILEX Delegation to India, organized by Erik Wulff, Chair of our ILEX Committee, followed by an Asian Regional Meeting, chaired by Mike Burke. The Delegation will be meeting with the leaders of the legal community, the courts, the bars, the business community and ABA members in India – in Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi. I’ll report back to you on this event and others in the next E-Update. Until then, I’d like to wish all of you a very happy Thanksgiving. Despite all the turmoil in the world, we still have much to be thankful for, and particularly hopeful for. The coming months will be challenging, but exciting for all of us. Finally, I do want to take a few moments to recognize our hard working committees. Covering more than 60+ substantive areas, the committees have been working overtime on their Year-in-Review articles, programs, publications and special projects. I hope you will take the time to read through some of the committee newsletters linked below. I think you will agree they provide excellent updates. There isn’t a separate fee to join our committees, so I’d encourage you to sign up for as many as you like. Not only does membership improve your opportunities to network and give you access to key developments in your field, it also helps the Section by capturing your valuable ideas and insight. Again, Happy Thanksgiving to all!
The Section submitted joint comments with the Section of Intellectual Property Law this past month on: The Section also submitted comments on:
For updates on programming and events, visit our Section calendar on-line at www.abanet.org/intlaw/calendar.
The 2009 Spring Meeting will bring together over 1,000 international lawyers from around the world to exchange information and ideas regarding the hottest topics in international law. This meeting will offer you the opportunity to…
ABA International is also commemorating two exciting milestones this year: the 130th Anniversary of the Section of International Law, and our 75th Birthday as a Section of the American Bar Association. These anniversaries present a unique opportunity for Sponsors and Exhibitors to join with us in celebrating the rich and dynamic field of international law and practice! For more information on the level of sponsorship opportunities that are available, contact Jenny Abreu, Senior Meeting Planner, at 202-662-1663 or abreuj@staff.abanet.org.
ABA INTERNATIONAL CO-SPONSORED PROGRAMS
ADDITIONAL NEWSCongratulations to Marilyn Kaman, Craig Resnick, Mark Winston and Bruce Zagaris. Their article “Commercial Law Reform and Foreign Direct Investment” was selected for inclusion in the March 2009 issue of Best of ABA Sections, a special issue of the General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Division’s magazine GPSolo. The article originally appeared in the Summer 2007 issue of The International Lawyer. PATHWAYS TO EMPLOYMENT IN INTERNATIONAL LAWThe Pathways to Employment in International Law National Tour kicked off the 2008-2009 season with programs at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York and New York University School of Public Interest Law to great successes with standing room only attendance. Pathways Programs bring experienced international lawyers together with law students and young lawyers to share career paths and options. We encourage members to join Pathways panels at their local law schools. If you are interested in being a speaker at any upcoming programs, please contact Membership Director Angela Benson at bensona@staff.abanet.org or by phone at +1 (202) 662-1664. Upcoming programs include:
ABA INTERNATIONAL CLE TELECONFERENCES
KEY UPCOMING DEADLINES
To view the exciting new Committee Homepage and to join as many committees as you wish at no cost go to: http://www.abanet.org/intlaw/committees/home.html
ABA INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE HOME PAGESWe invite you to visit all of our Committee home pages — not only will you find highly relevant and valuable information relating to your field, you will also find updated leadership rosters. Recently updated Committee home pages include: Customs Law Committee ABA INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE NEWSLETTERSABA International offers no fewer than 25 substantive newsletters. Our newest committee newsletter is listed first in the list of links below: The International Employment Lawyer- Fall 2008
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