The ASIL Annual Meeting

Separate registration with the ITA is required.

Co-sponsored by the American University Washington College of Law and Hal S. Shapiro, Partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.

By Invitation Only

By Invitation Only -- Sponsored by the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)

The Society encourages junior academics, practitioners, and students interested in drafting scholarly works on international law topics to attend this workshop where members of the American Journal of International Law Board of Editors will be on hand to provide feedback and input on proposed ideas. Attendees are welcome to bring a short (no more than one paragraph) abstract, though this is not required.

As more private actors enter ABNJs (private space companies, privately owned cruise vessels in the Arctic and off the coast of Antarctica, deep seabed miners, marine genetic material prospectors), conflicts between users, safety, and environmental damage become increasing concerns. This session will examine the behavior of non-state actors in ABNJs, the role of civil society non-state actors, and the governance role of states, including state responsibility for non-state actors, and the governance role of states. They may consider, for example, state responsibility for non-state actors; the relevance today of norms created at a time when states had the technical know-how (spacecraft, icebreakers) and incentives (science, security) to operate in ABNJs; private property interests and international community interests; and conflict management in BNJ. 

This event is part of the Society’s Signature Topic on “Beyond National Jurisdiction: The Regulation of Human Activities in the Oceans, Polar Regions, Cyberspace and Outer Space.”

Sponsored by Foley & Hoag LLP.

Tickets for this event must be purchased separately with registration.

Organized by the International Economic Law Interest Group.

Remedies are a perennial problem in international trade and investment law. Much attention has been given to difficulties with the technical calculation of damages in the context of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), or disentangling the remedial possibilities under the World Trade Organization rules or under free trade agreements. These questions are interesting and important. But this session will not linger on this well-trodden ground. Instead, participants will explore, compare, and reassess the remedial standards in both fields from the perspective of function and policy. As a baseline, it is clear that trade remedies are designed to be prospective, while remedies in ISDS are retrospective and compensatory. But to what end? What are the functions of these very different approaches? What policy aims are they designed to pursue? And how effective are they? Beyond mere enforceability, are the remedial aspects of these regimes fulfilling their purported functions? What ancillary legal concepts remain underdeveloped? The session will explore and compare the nature, function, and goals of the remedial systems in trade and investment as designed. The speakers will then turn to how these systems have developed in practice. The panel will consider what kinds of remedies are actually available (such as damages, preliminary measures, specific performance, and countermeasures), and whether they should be interchangeable. The panel will also explore the appropriate and available standards of damages (fair market value, reliance, restitution, etc.), as well as ancillary remedial concepts that may be underdeveloped in international case law (e.g., causation, mitigation, the presumption against speculative damages, and the new business rule). The panel will then turn to how these remedial mechanisms work in practice. The speakers will examine how effective they are in view of their intended ends. The panel will also examine whether these systems have developed new or underappreciated functions in practice.

Organized by the Nonproliferation, Arms Control, and Disarmament Interest Group.

 In the past five years, two landmark disarmament treaties were adopted: the Arms Trade Treaty and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Both were the result of sustained advocacy by civil society to develop disarmament law and arms control policies that would be effective at preventing violence and atrocities. This panel will discuss how relevant international stakeholders, including non-governmental organizations, governments and the UN community, use disarmament law and policy to prevent daily violence and mass atrocities. Panelists will discuss the development of the Arms Trade Treaty, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, their contributions to international disarmament law, their potential and actual impacts, as well as their gaps and limitations. 

This event is part of the Society’s Signature Topic on “Atrocity Prevention: The Role of International Law and Justice.”

This session made possible by a generous contribution from the Vagts Family. 

In Jesner v. Arab Bank, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Alien Tort Statute could not be used to sue foreign corporations for human rights violations. This Roundtable will discuss possibilities for human rights suits against both U.S. and foreign corporations after Jesner. The paper will focus on European rules of jurisdiction and will outline the options for civil cases in Europe.The commentators will discuss the possibilities of U.S. and non-U.S. litigation from doctrinal, empirical, and litigation perspectives.

Organized by the Blacks of the American Society of International Law Task Force. 

The Blacks of the American Society of International Law Task Force (BASIL) will host a professional development event that will introduce law students and new legal professionals to experienced international practitioners. Attendees will participate in a 90 minute speed mentoring activity with mentors hosting a table where a small group of attendees can spend 10-12 minutes asking more personal, directed questions of the mentors. Participants will then be able to rotate to a new table, gaining the chance to learn about several different avenues of international employment.

The Assembly program will include the presentation of the Society’s annual honors and awards, remembrances of those we have lost during the past year, and the election and introduction of incoming officers and Executive Council members.

Sponsored by Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.  By invitation only.

Sponsored by the George Washington University Law School.

Join Society President Sean D. Murphy for a dessert reception.

Those interested in working on the EISIL database are welcome to join.

IG business meeting.

Sponsored by the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)

 The United Kingdom is scheduled to leave the European Union on Friday, March 29, 2019, having invoked Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty two years prior, in 2017. Much is still unknown aboutthe UK’s impending exit, including whether an alternative agreement will be put in place, or whether the exit will take place as planned, on March 29, at all. But the plan to withdraw and the ongoing negotiations between the UK and the EU raise significant questions for both bodies, for their trading partners and allies, for corporate actors and investors, and for international law. This late-breaking panel will bring together experts from the UK, the EU, and others to discuss the international legal implications of Brexit and what role international law is likely to play in structuring, constraining, and enabling various political, economic, and cultural arrangements between actors both within and outside the UK.

The International Legal Theory Interest Group business meeting will hold a roundtable presentation and discussion of papers presented by selected interest group members. The discussion will follow the theme of “New Perspectives in International Legal Theory,” and will feature presentations by the following scholars:

• David Hughes, University of Michigan, “How States Persuade”
• Karin Loevy, New York University, “AV Dicey, Humanitarianism, and the Legal Suffering ofRussian Jews” 
• Valentina Vadi, Lancaster University, “Cultural Diversity in the Early Modern Law of Nations” 
• Ka Lok Yip, Hong Kong University, “Reconceptualizing Norm Conflict in International Law”

Director Barry Avrich’s gripping new documentary tells the fascinating story of Ben Ferencz—the last surviving Nuremberg prosecutor and lifelong advocate of “law not war.” After witnessing Nazi concentration camps shortly after liberation, Ferencz became the lead prosecutor in the Einsatzgruppen case at Nuremberg, which has been called the biggest murder trial in history. All 22 Nazi officials tried for murdering over a million Jews were convicted. Ferencz went on to advocate for restitution for Jewish victims of the Holocaust and later for the establishment of the International Criminal Court. A longtime member and patron of ASIL, his fight for justice for victims of atrocity crimes continues today.