Comparative Law News

What: Presentation of the book by DAVID GARLAND: La pena di morte in America. Un'anomalia nell'era dell'abolizionismo, Il Saggiatore, 2013.  Where: Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza - Sala Consiliare, University of Ferrara When: 13 May 2013, 4:00 pm 
More information on the book (in Italian) here
The presentation will be coordinated by Michele Pifferi while the book will be discussed by Stefano Canestrari, Baldassarre Pastore and Andrea Pugiotto.
David Garland, "Arthur Vanderbildt" Professor of Law, Prof. of Sociology at the NYU School of Law and Visiting professor at the Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza of the University of Ferrara will be present.   

What: DIFFUSION: An International Interdisciplinary Conference on Comparative Law, co-sponsored by the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law and Juris Diversitas 
Where: Swiss Institute of Comparative Law, Lausanne  When: 3-4 June 2013
Deadline for registration: 15 May 2013

To read the full program and all the details for registration click HERE

In order to further expand the types and amount of information we provide, Juris Diversitas seeks volunteers for its Blog, Facebook, and Twitter pages:

A Web Editor would have primary responsibility for the development of the Blog and related pages. The Editor would work closely with our Executive and additional bloggers. At most, only a few hours a week would be required and individuals needn’t have previous blogging experience.

Guest Bloggers would be permitted to create discursive, opinion-oriented posts, within the bounds of our aims, for an agreed period of time. The time commitment is likely to be minimal and individuals needn’t have previous blogging experience.

Numerous individual Bloggers would commit to making the occasional informative or discursive posts, largely by collating existing information on events, publications, etc. The time commitment for this will be minimal and individuals needn’t have previous blogging experience.

Note, too, that individuals can always submit information directly to us for posting, though we ask that you prepare a draft post in advance.

This is easier than you think--hell, I've been doing it--but essential to our future. Interested individuals should contact me at Seán Patrick Donlan.

The latest issue of Ratio Juris is available on Wiley Online Library. Its articles include: Politics in a State of Nature (pages 149–186)
William A. Edmundson
Article first published online: 9 MAY 2013 | DOI: 10.1111/raju.12009
Communal Ties and Political Obligations (pages 187–214)
Dorota Mokrosinska
Article first published online: 9 MAY 2013 | DOI: 10.1111/raju.12010
Legal Rights and the Limits of Conceptual Analysis: A Case Study (pages 215–234)
Charles Lowell Barzun
Article first published online: 9 MAY 2013 | DOI: 10.1111/raju.12011
Fighting Discrimination with Discrimination: Public Universities and the Rights of Dissenting Students (pages 235–261)
Jacob Affolter
Article first published online: 9 MAY 2013 | DOI: 10.1111/raju.12012
The Objectivity of Beliefs, Reasonable Disagreement and Political Deliberation (pages 262–281)
Felipe Oliveira De Sousa
Article first published online: 9 MAY 2013 | DOI: 10.1111/raju.12013
Eyes Wide Shut: On Risk, Rule of Law and Precaution (pages 282–301)
Lyana Francot-Timmermans and Ubaldus De Vries
Article first published online: 9 MAY 2013 | DOI: 10.1111/raju.12014
Kant and Habermas on International Law (pages 302–324)
Kjartan Koch Mikalsen
Article first published online: 9 MAY 2013 | DOI: 10.1111/raju.12015

ISLAM AND ENGLISH LAW Book Launch and Panel Discussion Temple Church, London, 3 June, 6 pm
Panel Chairman: Stephen Hockman, QC
Panellists to include: The Rt Rev and Rt Hon Lord Williams of Oystermouth (Rowan Williams), former Archbishop of Canterbury and Professor Maleiha Malik, King’s College London
The book to be launched is Robin Griffith-Jones (ed), Islam and English Law: Rights, Responsibilities, and the Place of Shari'a (Cambridge University Press, 2013). The book:
begins with the foundational lecture given for the Temple Church by Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, on an ‘inevitable’ accommodation between shari‛a and British law. The book’s following chapters – by lawyers, sociologists and theologians – look back on developments since the Archbishop spoke and forwards along trajectories, in family law and human rights, opened by his lecture. This evening we pursue these questions further. How are the rights of all citizens to be respected and their responsibilities met?
If you wish to attend, contact catherine@templechurch.com, 0207 353 8559, www.templechurch.com.
Thanks to Prakash Shah and Pluri-Legal for the information.

Peter Cane's 'Public Law in The Concept of Law' appears has been made available by the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies: This article adopts what Frederick Schauer calls a ‘non-essentialist’ approach to understanding the nature of law, which can be contrasted with the widely practised method of ‘conceptual analysis’. Instead of seeking a set of necessary conditions for the existence of law in all possible worlds, non-essentialism reflects upon pervasive features of actual legal systems. The article focuses on constitutional and administrative law and contrasts modern standard accounts of public law with HLA Hart’s highly influential threefold list of ‘necessary’ types of public ‘secondary rules’: rules of recognition, change and adjudication. The argument is that non-essentialist methodology not only yields a rich descriptive account of certain fundamental characteristics of modern legal systems but also provides theoretically significant insights into how law is conceived in many contemporary societies. Because the resulting account is firmly rooted in actual social and legal practices, it provides a more fine-grained and less abstract theory of those practices than is offered by Hart’s approach, based as it is on hypothetical stories about how law ‘might have developed’.

What: International Colloquium FRAMING PREMODERN DESIRES. Between Sexuality, Sin and Crime
Where: Turku Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Finland 
When: 4-5 April 2014


Deadline: 30 June 2013 Sexuality is inevitably closely linked with wellbeing, individual identity and the very beginning of life. In premodern cultures sexual desires were perceived, described and encountered in a variety of ways. The praise concerning procreation, as well as sexual acts within the frames of marital institutions and between the ones in love was very much present in the surviving sources. At the same time, sexual desires belonged to the most regulated areas of human behavior bridled by religious and legal authorities.  Recently, the scholarly field of the history of sexuality has laid a special emphasis on the multiple varieties in understanding past sexual desires in a particular time and place. We will focus on exploring the localities and temporalities of sexuality, the visibility and invisibility of sexual desires, as well as the intersections of sexuality and moral offences in late medieval and early modern societies (13th–18th centuries).  The colloquium seeks to deepen our understanding of the varieties of sexuality and sexual practices by bringing together experts in the disciplines of cultural, legal and medical history, as well as literature, languages, art, archaeology, and religion. We especially welcome multidisciplinary research approaches and studies emphasizing cross- and transcultural perspectives, as well as non-western histories of sexualities and moralities.
Confirmed Speakers:  - Faramerz Dabhoiwala (Oxford, UK) - Jonas Liliequist (Umeå, Sweden) - Garthine Walker (Cardiff UK) - Dror Zeevi (Ben-Gurion University of Negev, Israel)
Call for Papers The colloquium is open for scholars in all stages of academic life. Early career researchers are especially encouraged to send proposals. Papers may discuss but do not have to restrict themselves to the following themes:  - sexual practices, customs and manners - sexual desire as sin or crime - secular and religious policies towards immorality - medical attitudes towards sexuality and health - sexuality and gender in popular culture - the materiality of sexuality and bodiliness
We look forward to receiving individual abstracts (max. 300 words) or suggestions for sessions of 3–4 papers by 30 June 2013. Proposals should be sent to desires@utu.fi
Proposals for papers of 20 minutes will be evaluated by the organizing committee and the approval will follow in August. The conference language is English. Selected papers and lectures will be published after the conference. Travel and accommodation costs will be covered by the participants. A small colloquium fee will cover lunches and refreshments.
Organization committee: Meri Heinonen, Eva Johanna Holmberg, Marjo Kaartinen, Satu Lidman, Tom Linkinen, Kirsi Salonen, Mari Välimäki
Turku is the oldest town in Finland. By the river Aura you can sense the medieval atmosphere and visit interesting museums, shops and restaurants. To find out more about accommodation, transportation and the university, check out the links below: http://www.visitturku.fi/en http://www.utu.fi/en/Pages/home.aspx
For more information about the conference, contact desires@utu.fi
The conference web page will be opened in May: http://utu.fi/en/units/hum/sites/tucemems/news-and-events/colloquiums/premoderndesires/Pages/home.aspx
On the behalf of the organizing committee, Satu Lidman

The review section of the journal Histoire du XIXe siècle (online on recensio.net) features a discussion by Christophe Voilliot (Paris X-Naterre) of a recent Ph.D. by political scientist Guillaume Sacriste (Paris I) on the use of constitutional law in the legitimation of the French State during the Third Republic (1870-1914). This regime achieved some internal stability in France, after a constitutionally extremely turbulent succession of absolute monarchy, constitutional monarchy, republic, consulate, Empire, constitutional monarchy with intermediate revolutions (1830/1848) and Second Empire. Sacriste's work discusses the intellectual transmission and education infrastructure for the French political elite, and the operation of scientific networks, consecrating the emancipation of public law from the dominant civilist tradition.
Full text here.
Link to the book here.
You can find another review here

Law after Modernity

By Sionaidh Douglas-Scott
How can we characterise law and legal theory in the twenty-first century? Law after Modernity argues that we live in an age 'after Modernity' and that legal theory must take account of this fact. The book presents a dynamic analysis of law, which focusses on the richness and pluralism of law, on its historical embeddedness, its cultural contingencies, as well as acknowledging contemporary law's global and transnational dimensions.
However, Law after Modernity also warns that the complexity, fragmentation, pluralism and globalisation of contemporary law may all too easily perpetuate injustice. In this respect, the book departs from many postmodern and pluralist accounts of law. Indeed, it asserts that the quest for justice becomes a crucial issue for law in the era of legal pluralism, and it investigates how it may be achieved.
The approach is fresh, contextual and interdisciplinary, and, unusually for a legal theory work, is illustrated throughout with works of art and visual representations, which serve to re-enforce the messages of the book.
THE AUTHOR
Sionaidh Douglas-Scott is a fellow of Lady Margaret Hall and Professor of European and Human Rights Law at the University of Oxford.

April 2013   428pp   Hardback   9781841130293  RSP: £50 / €65 / US$100
20% DISCOUNT PRICE: £40 / €52 / US$80 Order Online in the US

If you would like to place an order you can do so through the Hart Publishing website (link below). To receive the discount please mention reference ‘JDB’ in the special instructions field. Please note that the discount will not be shown on your order but will be applied when your order is processed.

US: http://www.hartpublishingusa.com/books/details.asp?ISBN=9781841130293
Order Online in the UK, EU and ROW

If you would like to place an order you can do so through the Hart Publishing website (link below). To receive the discount please type the reference ‘JDB’ in the discount code field and click ‘apply’.

UK, EU and ROW: http://www.hartpub.co.uk/BookDetails.aspx?ISBN=9781841130293
 If you have any questions please contact Hart Publishing

Hart Publishing Ltd, 16C Worcester Place, Oxford, OX1 2JW, UK  Tel No: 01865 517530   Fax No: 01865 510710   E-mail: mail@hartpub.co.uk   Website: www.hartpub.co.uk

Hart Publishing Ltd. is registered in England No. 3307205

Routledge has recently published Rachel Ellett’s Pathways to Judicial Power in Transitional States: Perspectives from African Courts (2013).: This book examines the complex relationship that exists between the construction of judicial power, and the institutional characteristics of the courts and their regime setting. It examines the intriguing connection between the construction of judicial power on the one hand, and the institutional characteristics of the courts and regime setting on the other. The book asks whether courts are rendered powerful by virtue of their institutional characteristics or by a supportive, perhaps acquiescent, regime setting. By analyzing the historical pathways of courts in Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi, this book argues that the emergence of judicial power since the colonial period, though fraught with many challenges, presents a unique opportunity for consolidating democracy. The book examines in detail the significant political decisions of the upper-level courts in Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi from the colonial period to the present day, analyzing them in relation to changes in the political environment over time. Analysis of these decisions is also supplemented by in-depth interviews with judges, lawyers and other important stakeholders in the judicial processes. This book demonstrates that even in the most challenging regime environments, effective institutions and determined individuals can push back against interference and issue politically powerful, independent decisions but the way in which judiciaries respond to this regime pressure varies enormously across countries and regions.

What: Volterra-Festus colloquium “Law, Lexica and Libraries: Italy and Francia between the sixth and eleventh centuries” Where: History Department, University College London, Rooms G.09/G.10, House 26 Gordon Square
London WC1H 0AG (UCL Maps and Routefinder: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/find-us/ ) When: 20-22 June 2013
Deadline for registration: 17 June 2013

ProgrammeThursday 20 June14.00 Welcome and introduction, Michael Crawford
14.30 Benet Salway, “The Carolingian Theodosianus”
15.30 John Hessler, “The Roman Law in Ruins: The Paul Krüger Archive at the Library of Congress”
16.30 Tea
17.00 Warren Brown, “On the survival of Roman legal language in Carolingian documentary formulas”
18.00 Abigail Firey, “Heckling from the margins: Italian and Frankish glosses on early canon law”
19.00 Reception
Friday 21 June10.00 Eleanor Dickey, “The legal scenes in the Colloquia of the Hermeneumata Pseudodositheana: who read them?”
11.00 Coffee
11.30 Detlef Liebs, “Late antique and early medieval law lexica”
12.30 Ramón Gutiérrez González, “The afterlife of Verrius and his lexicon”
13.30 Sandwich Lunch
15.00 Simon Corcoran, “Forging the Justinian Code in the early middle ages”
16.00 Antonio Ciaralli, “Manoscritti giuridici tra XI e XII secolo. Osservazioni paleografiche”
17.00 Tea
17.30 Gualtiero Calboli, “Festus and Roman Law (Lex Romana)”
19.00 Colloquium Dinner (if you wish to join the speakers for dinner, please e-mail s.corcoran@ucl.ac.uk by 20 June)
Saturday 22 June10.00 Wolfgang Kaiser, “The Collectio Gaudenziana”
11.00 Michael Crawford, “From Justinian to Bologna”
12.00 Closing discussion
13.00 Lunch (optional; nearby eatery, aux frais des participants)
*ALL WELCOME*
There is no fee for attending the colloquium but to help us plan refreshments, please register by sending an e-mail to Dr Simon Corcoran (s.corcoran@ucl.ac.uk) by 17 June. Thank you.
Prof. M. H. Crawford
Dr S. J. J. Corcoran
Dr R. W. Benet Salway
The Projet Volterra (Roman law project) & the Festus Lexicon Projecthttp://www.ucl.ac.uk/history2/volterra
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/history2/research/festus
http://ucl.academia.edu/BenetSalway

This memorandum is to notify you that the ABA-UNDP International Legal Resource Center (ILRC) has received a request from UNDP/Belarus to facilitate the improvement of the court system through the development of specialized courts. This is primarily a home-based opportunity with one mission trip to Minsk. The expert will work for 18 working days between May and June 2013 and travel to Minsk to deliver a lecture at the Institute of Re-training and Upgrading Qualification of Judges, Prosecutors and Legal Professionals.
Access to justice is recognized as a critical issue by the Government of the Republic of Belarus. Through this project the Government of Belarus and the UN continue the joint efforts towards ensuring the rule of law and access to a fair trial for the population of Belarus. The ultimate goal of the UNDP project is to ensure that the population of Belarus, including marginalized and vulnerable groups, enjoy access to justice through an effective and professional court system supported by the specialization of courts and judges, which has been identified as an important prerequisite for effective and professional court system functioning. This will be achieved through support for the full-scale specialization of courts as prescribed in the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus and further improvement of the legislation concerning the court system. Further to this goal, the project will contribute to the systematic and continuous professionalization of judges through life-long education.
The expert will be responsible for conducting of the expertise of the pre-final version (draft) of the Concept and delivery of the presentation of the results of their expertise at the Roundtable devoted to developing of a concept paper including a set of recommendations towards further improvement of the legislation and practice in the administration of justice in Belarus (Institute for Re-training and Upgrading Qualifications of Judges, Prosecutors and Legal Professionals at the Belarussian State University, Minsk, Belarus).
S/he must have: a) an advanced degree in Law or related field; b) at least 8 years of legal experience; c) a minimum of three years of experience of working in the administration of courts on the decision-making positions; d) a minimum of three years of essential experience in participation in the national (international) associations of lawyers on the decision-making positions; e) understanding of EU and Eastern European judicial systems and the political context of Belarus is a plus; f) experience in the EU and elsewhere working with judicial systems and court reform; g) ability to address an audience of judges and legal professionals (a minimum of 3 lectures); h) excellent legal research and presentation, analytical, and drafting skills; i) experience with UNDP (other UN entities) or another reputable international organizations in the field is a plus; j) fluency in written and oral English and/or German, Russian and Belarusian).
Additional information, including proposal forms, are available from Jacqueline.Gichinga@americanbar.org.

Current Legal Problems has made Simon Halliday and Bronwen Morgan's 'I Fought the Law and the Law Won? Legal Consciousness and the Critical Imagination' available:
 
The study of legal consciousness within socio-legal studies entails a focus on the ordinary, quotidian and, crucially, almost invisible life of law in society. To study legal consciousness is to study the taken-for-granted and not-immediately-noticeable: the background assumptions about legality which structure and inform everyday thoughts and actions. This article examines legal consciousness through the lens of the cultural theory of Mary Douglas. The application of her grid–group analysis offers important insights into the dimensions along which legal consciousness may vary. In doing so, it sheds light on an under-studied feature of the legal consciousness landscape: collective voices of dissent. We explore, via a secondary data analysis of radical environmental activists, a legal consciousness which expresses particularly clearly a collective rejection of the authority of state law. The analysis reveals a complex and multi-faceted legal consciousness where a rejection of state law may be coupled with a gaming approach towards it for collective aims, and can be fuelled by a faith in legality above or beyond state law. It also points to the organizational vulnerability of dissenting collectivism and a corresponding affinity between a legal consciousness of collective dissent and one of fatalism. Our analysis allows us to critique and refine Ewick and Silbey’s influential account of legal consciousness. These analytical and theoretical insights point towards a future research agenda, which maintains the legal consciousness tradition of focusing on the structural qualities of law while avoiding the pitfalls of a theory of general legal hegemony.               

Juris Diversitas can now be followed three different ways:

ON BLOGGER
The Juris Diversitas Blog (http://jurisdiversitas.blogspot.ie/) is our home. You can sign up there for daily, bundled alerts about articles, books, conferences, etc, etc. There’s information on our upcoming conference, our activities and publications and you can also, of course, become a member. And please feel free to share the posts with others.
ON FACEBOOK
The Juris Diversitas Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/JurisDiversitas) has additional information. If you’re interested in following posts there, simply ‘Like’ us and notices—both our own and relevant information shared from other sites—will pour in as they’re posted. Again, please feel free to ‘Share’ our posts with others. In addition, we have a Conference Page as well (https://www.facebook.com/JurisDiversitas#!/JurisDiversitas/events).
ON TWITTER
Finally, we’ve a Twitter Account (https://twitter.com/JurisDiversitas). If you're interested in providing or receiving information there, please 'Follow' the account or join the ‘Comparative Law’ List I’ve created. And, again, please 'retweet' our posts when you think it matters.
As you’ll see, I’m still feeling my way around these different resources. I’d be happy to have help ...

Transitional Justice in Africa:
Lessons Learned in Going Forward A non-CLE program proudly presented by
ABA Section of International Law
Africa Committee

Co-Sponsored by
International Human Rights Committee
and
Women's Interest Network (WIN) Wednesday, May 29, 2013
1:30 PM - 3:30 PM US EDT
By teleconference only
REGISTER NOW The objective of the program is to initiate discussion on the role of, and challenges faced by, mechanisms addressing human rights abuses and promoting conflict resolution (i.e. truth and reconciliation commissions, criminal prosecutions, gender justice initiatives) in African countries in transition, especially in relation to the promotion and enjoyment of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence. From this discussion, we hope to access positive steps taken, and to recommend ways to go forward in promoting transitional justice on the continent.
Speakers:

• Dr. Phil Clark, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
• Comfort Ero, International Crisis Group
• Pablo de Greiff, UN and International Center for Transitional Justice
• Binaifer Nowrojee, Open Society Foundations

Moderator:

• Professor Charles T. Call, American University

Registration Rates: $15 - Section of International Law Members
$25 - SIL Non-Members REGISTER NOW

Two interesting articles by (the always interesting) Brian Z Tamanaha have recently appeared on SSRN:

The Third Pillar of Jurisprudence: Social Legal Theory

Jurisprudence is generally thought to consist of two main classical rival branches — natural law and legal positivism — followed by a bunch of modern schools — legal realism, law and economics, critical theory, legal pragmatism, etc. In this essay I argue that three main branches of jurisprudence have existed, and battled, for centuries, not two, but the third goes unrecognized as such because it has traveled under different labels and the underlying connections have been clouded by various confusions. The core insights and focus of this third branch, what I call “Social Legal Theory,” trace in a continuous thread from Montesquieu, through historical jurisprudence, sociological jurisprudence, and legal realism, up to the present. This third branch, I argue, provides a contrasting/complementary perspective, in conjunction with natural law and legal positivism, which rounds out the full range of theoretical angles on law: natural law is normative; legal positivism is analytical/conceptual; and social legal theory is empirical. (Among a number of clarifications, I answer the common objection that empirically-grounded theories are not sufficiently theoretical.) The conventional jurisprudential narrative is redrawn in this essay in a way that exposes unseen connections among theoretical schools and brings into focus critical issues about the nature of law that currently are marginalized by natural law and legal positivism.

The History and Elements of the Rule of Law

I have written extensively about the rule of law for two basic reasons. First, the notion of the rule of law is perhaps the most powerful and often repeated political ideal in contemporary global discourse. Everyone, it seems, is for the rule of law. The rule of law is a major source of legitimation for governments in the modern world. A government that abides by the rule of law is seen as good and worthy of respect. In recent decades, billions of dollars have been spent by theWorld Bank and other development agencies on developing the rule of law around the world — with limited success.

Jay Winter (Yale) and Antoine Prost (Paris I) published a new biography of one of the most eminent legal scholars of the 20th century, the French Nobel Prize Winner René Cassin (1887-1976). The book counts 397 pages and is available at Cambridge University Press.

Abstract:
Through the life of one extraordinary man, this biography reveals what the term human rights meant to the men and women who endured two world wars, and how this major political and intellectual movement ultimately inspired and enshrined the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. René Cassin was a man of his generation, committed to moving from war to peace through international law, and whose work won him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1968. His life crossed all the major events of the first seventy years of the twentieth century, and illustrates the hopes, aspirations, failures and achievements of an entire generation. It shows how today's human rights regimes emerged from the First World War as a pacifist response to that catastrophe and how, after 1945, human rights became a way to go beyond the dangers of absolute state sovereignty, helping to create today's European project.  Source: International Law Reporter.

International Financial Institution Dispute Resolution Mechanisms to Resolve Environmental / Social Issues A free, non-CLE brown bag program proudly presented by
ABA Section of International Law
International Environmental Law Committee Cosponsored by
International Human Rights Committee
and
International Investment and Development Committee

in cooperation with
George Washington University (GWU) Law School Tuesday, May 14, 2013
12:30 PM - 2:00 PM US EDT
In Person or by Webcast Only
George Washington University Law School
Jacob Burns Moot Court Room (Room L101)
2000 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052
REGISTER NOW

What happens when local conflicts arise around development projects supported by international financial institutions? This lunch time brown bag panel discussion will feature three speakers, each one directly responsible for implementing processes to address environmental and social issues related to projects sponsored by their respective institution. The presentation for each speaker will be 20 minutes and will discuss a specific dispute resolution case involving environmental or social issues from start to finish. The final 30 minutes of the program is allocated for audience member participation via Q&A and further discussion of the topic.
Speakers:

• Keith Kozloff, Director, Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), Office of Accountability
• Isabel Lavadenz Paccieri, Project Ombudsperson, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Independent Consultation and Investigation Mechanism (ICIM)
  
• Meg Taylor, Vice President, International Finance Corporation (IFC)/ Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO)

Moderator:

• Alicia Cate, Attorney-Adviser, U.S. Department of State

This brown bag program is free and open to the public. REGISTER NOW

The Institute for Law Teaching and Learning will present its summer 2013 conference on June 7-9, 2013, at Washburn University School of Law in Topeka, Kansas. The conference, Hybrid Law Teaching, features 34 workshops with 47 presenters representing nearly three dozen law schools. Structure of the Conference Tailor the Conference to Suit Your Interests The conference includes eight workshop sessions. During each session, four or five workshops will run simultaneously. Participants will be able to tailor the conference to fit their individual interests by choosing which workshop to attend during each session. The workshops will deal with:

• Innovative materials;
• Alternative teaching methods;
• New technologies;
• Ways to enhance student learning in all types of courses;
• Techniques to better prepare students for their bar exams;
• Means of restructuring legal education to foster practice-ready lawyers.

Each workshop will include materials that participants can use during the workshop and when they return to their campuses, and all the presenters will model effective teaching methods by actively engaging the participants. Benefits to Participants Improve Teaching and Learning During the conference, participants can expect to encounter many new ideas about a wide variety of ways in which they can create hybrid law school courses. In addition, the conference is intended to facilitate informal interaction among creative teachers who love their work with students. Participants should leave the conference with both inspiration and the information they need to seamlessly integrate skills, doctrine, and values in their teaching, to bridge traditional law school categories, such as legal writing and doctrine, clinics and skills courses, and academic support and doctrinal courses, and even to flip their classes. The ultimate goal of the conference is to help the participants improve their teaching, improve their students' learning, and further their school's efforts to offer attractive, effective courses that prepare students to practice law.

Greetings,


The ABA Section of International Law has been invited again by the World Bank Group's Women, Business, and the Law Project (WBL) to contribute by completing questionnaires for the 2014 edition of the Women, Business and the Law report. The WBL focuses on setting out legal differentiations on the basis of gender in 142 economies around the world, covering 6 areas—accessing institutions, using property, getting a job, dealing of wide-ranging factors for women’s economic opportunities, but focuses on one particular area: aspects of the formal legal and regulatory environment that enable women to find jobs or start their own businesses. WBL’s work entails surveying national laws, regulations and institutions that may affect women's incentives and capacity to start businesses and get jobs.

WBL’s pilot edition was launched in 2010 and the latest edition of the report titled Women, Business and the Law 2012: Removing Barriers to Economic Inclusion was launched on September 26, 2011 with great success. A copy of the previous editions of the report and database can be found on WBL website: wbl.worldbank.org.

For their 2014 edition, WBL is working on expanding coverage of the existing indicators and including a new case study indicator on Violence against Women. The project relies on the valuable expertise of legal practitioners, such as you, to gather information on how the legal environment may impact women’s economic rights. WBL is looking to expand their network of legal contributors by reaching out to members of the Section from the following countries to participate in this project:

Benin · Liberia · Mauritius · Rwanda · South Africa · Sudan · Tanzania · Zambia · Sri Lanka · Philippines · Indonesia · Jordan · Netherlands · New Zealand



Particularly, they are seeking for up-to-date legal information for this new indicator through a new questionnaire design to consider the existence and scope of national laws addressing domestic violence and sexual harassment, by looking at the following:


- General Legislation and Policy – establishes the existence of legislation and implementation mechanisms.
- Domestic Violence – assesses coverage and extent of legislation on domestic violence.
- Sexual Harassment – assesses coverage and extent of legislation on sexual harassment.
- Services – determines extent of service provision for victims under the law.
This questionnaire is also available in French. WBL is particularly interested in reforms implemented since March 31, 2011, which may have an impact on women’s ability to participate in the workforce or start businesses.

The questionnaire is to be completed on a pro bono basis and will be distributed electronically. Respondents should expect to take approximately one hour to answer all questions. Upon completion, respondents will receive special mention in the 2014 WBL report and the World Bank’s WBL website. WBL will follow up with respondents directly, should they have any questions. The report is due to be published in September 2013.
Interested participants must have proven experience in the topic areas previously mentioned, as they relate to laws and regulations on the topic of Violence against Women. Please express your interest to conduct the survey(s) via email providing the information below to Jacqueline.Gichinga@americanbar.org. In the body of the email, please include a short bio (no longer than a paragraph) and a few sentences regarding your background in cases or public policy dealing with Violence against Women in your jurisdiction. Deadline for expressions of interest is May 8, 2013.

• Last Name:
• First Name:
• Preferred Email Address:
• Relevant Background (short paragraph):
• Attach or Paste Bio:

We would be most appreciative if you could also forward to your colleagues who have relevant experience. Thanking you in advance for your consideration.

Jacqueline
Jacqueline Gichinga
International Program Associate
ABA-UNDP International Legal Resource Center (ILRC)
T: +1-202-662-1662
http://ambar.org/ilrc
Skype: jgichinga