This webinar is organized by ASIL's Private International Law Interest Group in conjunction with the National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade (NatLaw) and will be conducted by one of the world's leading experts on comparative commercial law and commercial law reform, Prof. Boris Kozolchyk.

In the webinar, Prof. Kozolchyk will examine the legal and socioeconomic forces behind the evolution of commercial contract law from its inception to the present time. During the first part of his presentation, he will provide a short historical overview of the contributions of the most influential legal systems and their legal cultures to the economic development of their host nations. 

During the second part of his presentation, Professor Kozolchyk will discuss how NatLaw has succeeded in enacting and implementing highly economically significant statutes, such as secured transactions statutes and compilations of commercial and financial practices for developed and developing nations. The statutes, largely inspired by Anglo American law and practice, had to be adapted to the legal, cultural, and economic realities of developing nations whose legal systems belong mostly to the civil law tradition. He will describe NatLaw's successful methodology and what he foresees to be the role of customary law and commercial practices he classifies as "standard" and "best" in the shaping of a commercial law that is fully supportive of economic development.