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Dear Members, My message on this occasion may be a little longer than usual. It has been an interesting month. Good news for our Section keeps rolling in. Our membership continues to grow, our finances are strong and our committee activity is greater than ever. It is hard to believe that nearly two months have passed since our very special London seasonal meeting. (As promised, you can now watch an on-line DVD of the surprise visit to that meeting made by Nobel laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire and rock star Bob Geldof. Check it out. - Click Here - ) On the meetings side, however, it has been clearly onwards and upwards - and there has been no respite for our remarkable staff. Programming for the ABA Mid-year (Los Angeles, February 8 - 10) and our Spring (New York, April 1 - 5) Meetings promises to demonstrate again this Section's commitment to "International Law, World Class". Spring Meeting Co-chairs, Ingrid Busson, Robert Brodegaard and Albert Garrofé, had the invidious task of choosing from more than twice as many panel proposals as there were available slots for what looks certain to be our largest seasonal meeting ever. Moreover, we have just learned that all the Section's submissions for showcase programming at the ABA Annual Meeting have also been accepted. Many thanks to Annual Meeting Co-Chairs Salli Swartz and Darrell Prescott for all that they did to bring about this result. Remember that the Annual Meeting (New York, August 8 - 10) will be "party time" for ABA International as we mark our 75th anniversary as a Section (and 130 years since our formation as one of the original ABA Committees!). Before you know it, Chair-Elect Aaron Schildhaus will be leading us back to Europe for the 2008 Fall Meeting (Brussels, September 24 -27). There have already been several meetings of the planning committee, so do let Aaron know if you wish to be more involved in the Brussels event. Busy times, yet somehow during this month of November, our Meetings & Program Outreach Co-ordinator, Jessica Elliot, found time to get married and our Meetings & Programs Director, Kathleen Ebner, gave birth to daughter Ellen. We extend our very best wishes to Jessica, Kathleen (and Ellen!). Indeed, there is much to celebrate as a Section, and someone might say that we have cause to be out dancing in the streets. However, lawyers from the Section took to the streets of Washington this month for another, more somber reason - to condemn the ill-treatment of members of our profession in Pakistan and demonstrate our support for their brave defense of human rights and the rule of law in their country. The march, led by ABA President Bill Neukom, to the U.S. Supreme Court was a moving experience for all who participated. (Click here for further photographs.) For anyone interested, let me share with you the message that I delivered to some of our members at the time: "On behalf of the American Bar Association Section of International Law, thank you for the effort you have made to come along for this demonstration. This showing of solidarity should send a powerful message to President Musharraf and will hopefully bring comfort to our colleagues in Pakistan's legal profession. In that regard, they should know that, in the short period since we announced plans for this march to our Section's more than 19,000 members, we have also been inundated with expressions of support for the lawyers of Pakistan by those unable to be in Washington at this time. The images that we have seen coming out of Pakistan recently are not pretty. In effect, what we see is martial law, court closures, but, most disturbing, hundreds of lawyers being thrashed in the streets. And our message is a clear one: this is UNACCEPTABLE. Such behavior and the torture of detained lawyers must stop. And the Rule of Law must be reinstated. I grew up in a small town. A small town with big values. My uncle was for many years a solo practitioner in that town. He was still going into his law offices at age 90. He was my mentor - and he taught me a lot. He taught me that it was important to return clients' calls quickly. Clients were for lawyers the sine qua non. But he taught me that I should return the call of another lawyer first. Ours is a profession, and my uncle taught me the importance of 'professional courtesy'. He taught me that it was important that, as a profession, we be independent but that we stand together. Qualified or sworn in in different states, different countries maybe, but one profession. By being here today, you have answered the call of other lawyers. - My uncle would be proud of you. And the message we send to them is that, with them, we have taken to the streets to march for the dignity of our shared profession. And these are only first steps in the support that we are prepared to show them. Thank you for your conviction." I should also share with you the fact that we continue to receive expressions of gratitude from lawyers in Pakistan and elsewhere around the world for the stance that the Section has been taking on this issue. If you have not yet signed the ABA's petition to restore the rule of law in Pakistan and would like to, please click here. The news less than a week following our march that several thousand lawyers and human rights activists had been released from prison in Pakistan was wonderful, and we will be glad if the concerted actions of the profession in any way contributed to this result. However, it is not yet clear that a deserving rule of law has returned to the country, and a number of further steps are being considered by the Section's leadership. Seeing lawyers do collectively what none of us could achieve individually is inspiring. With the Thanksgiving holiday fresh in our minds, I would like to take this opportunity to express my personal thanks to our members for all that you do as professionals to make a difference. It's working. Jeffrey B. Golden, Section Chair The ABA Journal: Lawyers March in Solidarity with Jailed Pakistani Colleagues NewsVOA.com: US Lawyers March to Protest Emergency Rule in Pakistan The Washington Post: Lawyers March for Pakistani Colleagues
The Council recently approved two policy initiatives co-sponsored by the ABA Section of Antitrust Law. Please view the Joint Comments to South Africa's Competition Commission Regarding its Corporate Leniency Policy Review Discussion Paper and the Joint Comments on Implementing Regulations for and Amendments to the Merger Control Provisions of India’s Competition (Amendment) Act on the International Antitrust Committee’s webpage. 
ABA INTERNATIONAL CALENDAR The Eighth Annual “2008 Live from the SEC” meeting was a great success and the Section expresses its thanks to all the law schools, law firms, and organizations for participating. A DVD of the program is on sale at a special Section rate of $75.00 and a non-member rate of $95.00. To purchase a DVD of the “Live from the SEC”, please visit www.abanet.org/dch/committee.cfm?com=IC909099. Check with your CLE state agency to see if you are able to receive CLE credit by viewing this DVD. For updates on programming and events, visit our Section calendar on-line at www.abanet.org/intlaw/calendar. February 15, 2008
- SAVE THE DATE! April 1-5, 2008 August 8-10, 2008 September 24-27, 2008
Click here for a full list of ABA International Co-Sponsored Programs www.abanet.org/intlaw/calendar/programs_interest.html
ABA International hosts CLE teleconferences every month. We need your suggestions and ideas for future events. For more information about the Section’s CLE teleconference program, please contact Tally White at whitet@staff.abanet.org or by phone at +1 (202) 662-1672. Mark your calendars for this upcoming teleconference program: Wednesday, December 5, 2007 
PATHWAYS TO EMPLOYMENT IN INTERNATIONAL LAW The Pathways to Employment in International Law National Tour will kick off 2008 programs in January. If you are interested in being a speaker at any upcoming programs, please contact Angela Benson:
KEY UPCOMING DEADLINES
NEW ABA INTERNATIONAL STAFF Jacqueline Gichinga has joined the Section as the new Project Coordinator for the ABA-UNDP International Legal Resource Center, providing communications, research and administrative support. She is originally from Kenya and has a proven track record of working with community leaders and high-level administrators in both the profit and non-profit sectors. Jacqueline is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, where she majored in International Development with a concentration in Development Planning and Environmental Sustainability. She also holds a B.S. in Business Administration with a minor in Economics from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She can be reached at gichingj@staff.abanet.org or 1-202-662-1662. Adam Vogel is the Section’s new Technology and Communications Coordinator. He grew up in Indianapolis and recently moved to Washington. Adam majored in philosophy and politics at Oberlin College and plans to one day pursue a graduate degree in business, law, or philosophy. His main projects at ABA International include managing the website, aiding the Section in using technology to better fulfill its mission, and enhancing the Section’s visual and presentational coherence. He possesses a longstanding interest in computing technology and the development of the Internet. He is reachable at vogela@staff.abanet.org. 
ABA INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE HOME PAGES Check out all of our committee home pages — not only will you find more content, you’ll find updated leadership rosters have already been posted. Recently updated home pages of particular interest include: Islamic Law Forum
ABA International offers no less than 21 substantive newsletters. Links to the most recent edition of several newsletters are set forth below: Newsletter of the International Mergers & Acquisitions Committee: Sept. 2007 If you wish to join a committee, you can do so on-line. To be active and get on the more limited steering group listserve, you will also find the proper coordinates on-line.  International Practitioner’s Deskbook Series: International Lawyer’s Deskbook, Second Edition The 25 chapters in this book cover specialty topics and will provide the nonspecialist a basis for dealing intelligently with the problem at hand. Each chapter provides an overview of the topic and a compendium of useful sources of assistance, including: • Published materials - both primary sources (statutes, regulations, treaties, and related materials) and secondary sources (books, periodicals, and related materials) • Institutional sources such as government agencies, international organizations, and nongovernmental organizations • Online services Lawyers increasingly face commercial transactions and disputes with an international dimension. Thanks to globalization, goods, services, and capital cross international boundaries more frequently and in greater quantities than was ever imaginable only a few years ago. Significant commercial negotiations typically involve performance in more than one jurisdiction and parties of different, sometimes several, nationalities. If a dispute arises, the courts of more than one country and/or arbitral or other private tribunals may have jurisdiction. Special rules will determine the proper forum, the procedures followed by that forum, and the enforcement of any resulting decision. International legal issues also arise in noncommercial contexts. Because people move across borders, national immigration laws have had to address personal as well as business immigration. Other family law issues - marriage, divorce, adoption, and child custody - can have an international dimension. Family wealth transfers - wills, trusts, and estates - also increasingly defy national boundaries. Bankruptcy - individual or corporate - is still largely governed by national law, but international issues are increasing. Click here to buy this book online. |
