Symposium Sept. 9 at Case Western Reserve University School of Law Tackles a Global Question: Is International Law in Crisis?

Ten years after 9/11, legal experts meet to consider this turbulent year  

Event: Symposium "International Law in Crisis"

Time and Date: 8:30 a.m. until 5:15 p.m.; Friday, Sept. 9, 2011

Location: Case Western Reserve University School of Law, 11075 East Boulevard, Cleveland

CLEVELAND, Aug. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Ten years after the United States was shaken by murderous terrorist attacks on its soil, 2011 is shaping up to be one of the most turbulent years in world history.  A timely symposium on Friday, Sept. 9 at Case Western Reserve University School of Law is designed to examine both the application of international law in times of crisis and whether international law is itself experiencing a crisis.

The symposium "International Law in Crisis" is this year's Regional Conference of the American Branch of the International Law Association, and it is being co-sponsored by CWRU's Frederick K. Cox International Law Center and the American Society of International Law.

The symposium begins with an opening speech by Professor Ruth Wedgwood, president of the American Branch of the International Law Association, who serves as the U.S. Member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee and is director of the program on international law and organizations at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies.

The event also features a lunch-hour lecture by Richard Goldstone, former Constitutional Court judge in South Africa and chief prosecutor of the Yugoslavia and Rwanda Tribunals. Goldstone is well known for having chaired a U.N. Human Rights Council fact-finding mission concerning the Gaza war of 2008-09. In September 2009, the mission produced the controversial Goldstone Report, which accused both Israel and Hamas of having committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.  In the face of documentation released in 2011 by Israel, Goldstone wrote in a Washington Post commentary in April that if this evidence had been provided to the Commission, the Goldstone Report would have reached different conclusions.

There will be six panels during the day, each focusing on a major area of global crisis. Some of the topics are the Middle East, Somali Piracy, climate change, and the global economy.  The final plenary panel will be a round table discussion including whether the U.S. president is bound by International Law in the war on terror.

Several of the symposium panels will be webcast live on the Internet. All of the panels will be archived on the law school's YouTube site for subsequent viewing. In addition, the Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law, one of the oldest and most prestigious international law journals, will publish a special double issue with the articles generated from the symposium.

With help from a grant from the Wolf Family Foundation, Case Western Reserve's School of Law will mail complementary copies of the issue to 1,500 international law professors, policy makers, and experts, ensuring that this will be an especially widely read and cited publication.

This event is free and open to the press and public.  In addition, the Conference speakers are available for interviewing during the margins of the conference.  To organize an interview with one or more of the conference speakers in advance, please contact the conference organizer, Professor Michael Scharf, at [email protected]; or cell: (216) 435-7796.

Schedule - Friday, September 9 at the Law School Moot Courtroom

8:30-8:45 a.m. Welcome
Dean Lawrence Mitchell (Case Western Reserve University School of Law)
Prof. Michael Scharf (Case Western)
Prof. Michael Kelly (Creighton), president, American National Section, International Association of Penal Law
-Presentation of International Association of Penal Law Book of the Year Award

8:45-9:30 a.m. Opening Lecture
Prof. Ruth Wedgwood, president, American Branch, International Law Association

9:30-9:45 a.m. Break

9:45-11:00 a.m. Morning Panel #1A
Universal Jurisdiction in Crisis and the 50th anniversary of the Eichmann Trial
Moderator: Prof. Michael Kelly (Creighton)
Prof. David Luban (Georgetown)
Ruth Bettina Birn former Chief Historian, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity Section, Department of Justice, Canada
Prof. Michael Newton (Vanderbilt)
Prof. Charles Jalloh (Pittsburgh

9:45-11:00 a.m. Morning Panel #1B
International Economic Law in Crisis or Merely in Times of Crisis?
Moderator/Speaker: Prof. Juscelino Colares (Case Western)
Prof. Raj Bhala (Kansas)
Prof. Jide Okechuku Nzelibe (Northwestern)
Prof. Joel P. Trachtman (Fletcher)

11:00-11:15 a.m. Break

11:15 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Morning Panel #2 A
Piracy: New Threats, New Responses
Moderator: Prof. Robert Strassfeld (Case Western)
Judge Rosemelle Mutoka of the Kenya Piracy Court (Jurist in Residence at Case)
Prof. Milena Sterio (Cleveland State University)
Sandy Hodgkinson (Dept. of Defense Office of the Deputy Secretary of Defense)
Jennifer Landsidle (Dept. of State Office of the Legal Adviser)

11:15 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Morning #2B
Climate Change - What does Hope Look Like?
Moderator/Panelist: Prof. Elizabeth Burleson (Pace)
Prof. Deepa Badrinarayana (Chapman)
William Burns (Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy)
Prof. Hari Osofsky (Univ. of Minnesota)

12:30-1:00 p.m. Lunch Break

1:00-2:00 p.m.: Lecture: The Honorable Richard Goldstone

2:00-2:15 p.m. Break

2:15-3:30 p.m. Afternoon Panel #3A
Northern Africa and the Mideast: To Where?
Moderator/Panelist: Prof. Paul Williams (American Univ./PILPG)
Prof. Amos Guiora (Utah)
Prof. Louis Rene Beres (Purdue)
Ori Nir (Journalist)

2:15-3:30 p.m. Afternoon #3B
Crisis in the Courtrooms: International Law and Domestic Litigation
Moderator/panelist: Prof. Cassandra Robertson (Case Western)
Prof. Melissa Waters (Washington University, St. Louis)
Prof. Laurie Blank (Emory)
Steven M. Schneebaum (Greenberg Traurig LLP)

3:30-3:45 p.m. Break

3:45-5:15 p.m. Plenary Closing Panel
International Law and the War on Terror: A Ten-Year Retrospective
Moderator: Prof. Ved Nanda (Denver)
Prof. John Murphy (Villanova)
Prof. Julian Ku (Hofstra)

Prof. Ruth Wedgwood (Johns Hopkins)
Prof. Michael Scharf (Case Western)

Case Western Reserve University is one of the country's leading research institutions. Located in Cleveland, we offer a unique combination of forward-thinking educational opportunities in an inspiring cultural setting. Our leading-edge faculty engage in teaching and research in a collaborative, hands-on environment. Our nationally recognized programs include arts and sciences, dental medicine, engineering, law, management, medicine, nursing and social work. About 4,200 undergraduate and 5,600 graduate students comprise our student body. Visit case.edu to see how Case Western Reserve thinks beyond the possible.

SOURCE Case Western Reserve University