Ever wondered how you can use your legal talent for a worthy cause?  Join ABA International’s Women’s Interest Network (WIN) along with the Women’s Interest Networking Group (WING) of the New York State Bar Association’s Section of International Law and Practice for an informational and inspirational program to discuss the alarming increase in the number of poor women worldwide and what you can do to help.  Our panelists will address women’s human rights, access to housing and land ownership, asylum and anti-trafficking legislation, and increased economic and educational opportunities for women, as well as pro bono opportunities for interested attorneys and law students.  Learn what your law degree can do!

Sponsoring Committees:
ABA International’s Women’s Interest Network (WIN) and Women’s Interest Networking Group (WING) of the New York State Bar Association’s Section of International Law and Practice

Program Chair:
Lorraine Brennan, Kilpatrick Stockton LLP, New York, NY

Introduction:
Cherie Booth Blair QC, London, England

Moderator:
Margaret A. Niles, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis, Seattle, WA

Speakers:
Mary Chaffin, Mercy Corps, Portland, OR
Deborah K. Espinosa, Rural Development Institute (RDI), Seattle, WA
Erika Guevera Rosas, Global Fund for Women, San Francisco, CA

Customs/Trade
Transactional
In October 2006, the Legal Practice Division of the International Bar Association established the IBA Task Force on Extraterritorial Jurisdiction, which has embarked on a two-year project to produce a White Paper and recommendations on extraterritorial jurisdiction in a number of areas. The Task Force is focusing on extraterritorial jurisdiction in the context of: competition - antitrust; bribery and corruption; tort law; criminal law; securities law; and insolvency law.

There has been a steady increase in states exercising extraterritorial jurisdiction but little abatement of the controversies surrounding such exercises.  In addition to laying out the principles governing extraterritoriality, the White Paper will provide recommendations for governments, courts, international organisations and businesses on methods for minimising costs and conflicts associated with extraterritorial exercises of jurisdiction. These recommendations may include increasing governmental cooperation through the adoption of international standards or principles of mutual recognition, as well as promoting recourse to judicial doctrines such as comity, forum non conveniens and exhaustion of local remedies. The Task Force may consider legislative changes for various countries' statutes.

At this session, the Task Force will present its preliminary findings.  The final White Paper will be presented at the Annual Conference of the IBA in October 2008 in Buenos Aires.

Program Co-Chairs:
Michael Greene, A & L Goodbody, Dublin, Ireland
Claus von Wobeser, Von Wobeser y Sierra SC, Mexico City, Mexico

Speakers:
Andrea Appella, Time Warner Inc., London, England
Lucinda Low, Steptoe & Johnson LLP, Washington, DC
Lucy Martinez, Freshfield Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, New York, NY
Selinda Melnick, Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge, Wilmington, DE
Anthea Roberts, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, London, England
Meg Tahyar, Davis Polk & Wardwell, Paris, France

Dispute Resolution/Litigation
Young Lawyers
Obtaining evidence abroad was greatly simplified by the adoption of the Hague Evidence Convention of 1970 by many countries, but significant and often surprising obstacles remain: How to obtain evidence in non-Hague countries? How to avoid criminal sanctions attached to "blocking statutes"?  How to adopt appropriate litigation tactics to address national differences in procedure and culture when seeking discovery abroad?  Join us for a lively debate and mock oral argument around a case study that will focus on the deployment of a winning international fact discovery strategy.  Experts from the U.S. and foreign jurisdictions will identify both common pitfalls and successful tactics in interntional fact finding.

Co-Sponsoring Committees:
International Litigation Committee, Europe Committee, and International Commercial Disputes Resolution Committee

Program Co-Chairs:
Alex Blumrosen (Co-Moderator), Bernard-Hertz-Béjot, Paris, France
Charles D. Schmerler (Co-Moderator), Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P., New York, NY

Speakers:
Carla Herron, Shell Oil Company, Houston, TX
Arnaud Nuyts, Liedekerke Wolters Waelbroeck, Kirkpatrick, Brussels, Belgium
Blaise Stucki, Schellenberg Wittmer, Geneva, Switzerland

Corporate Counsel
Employee transfers from overseas into the United States and from the United States to other countries can sometimes become legal disasters.  These transfers implicate immigration, labor, tax, pension, and social security laws.  A successful international transfer must take these different legal issues into account well before the event.  This distinguished panel will use hypothetical case studies to explain the potential tricks and traps that can arise in typical international transfers.  The panelists will cover possible strategies for avoiding the most common problems, including ways to deal with visa issues, cross-border taxation, and retirement-related premiums and payments.

Co-Sponsoring Committees:
Immigration and Naturalization Law Committee, International Tax Committee, International
Employment Law Committee and Canada Committee

Program Co-Chairs:
Frans Duynstee, Vans Mens & Wisselink, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Anders Etgen Reitz, Bech-Bruun, Copenhagen, Denmark
Margaret Stock, U.S. Army Reserve, Anchorage, AK

Moderator:
Thomas Griebe, Taylor Wessing, Hamburg, Germany

Speakers:
James R. Beyer, Accenture Legal Group, Chicago, IL
Philippe Despres, Gide, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Parul Jain, Nishith Desai Associates, Legal & Tax Counseling Worldwide, Bangalore, India
Sergio Karas, Karas & Associates, Toronto, ON, Canada

Dispute Resolution/Litigation
Regulatory
Should fiscal measures of governments be treated as a special domain and thereby receive supreme and unfettered immunity? It is not self-evident why taxation measures should have special status in investment treaty arbitrations. For example, environmental regulations consitute no less a sovereign prerogative than taxation and finance. This program will examine the decided and ongoing investment treaty arbitrations involving taxation measures and will consider evolving international arbitration mechanisms contained within double taxation treaties.

Sponsoring Committee:
International Tax Committee

Program Co-Chairs:
Riyaz Dattu (Moderator) and Scott Wilkie, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP., Toronto, ON, Canada

Speakers:
Judith Gill, Allen & Overy LLP, London, England
Robert Green, Caplin & Drysdale, Chartered, Washington, DC
Janice McCart, Blake, Cassels and Graydon LLP, Toronto, ON, Canada
Gaetan Verhoosel, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, Paris, France

Transactional
This program will explore the different types of conflicts (including ethical and cultural) which can arise for lawyers who represent foreign subsidiaries of U.S. parent companies. It is intended to be a discussion of how these situations arise and how to deal with them when they do. As counsel, do you represent the parent corporation or the foreign subsidiary (or both), and does your representation also encompas the officers, board of directors; and shareholders? Does it matter? Which entity is paying your fees?

Sponsoring Committee:
International Commercial Transactions,Franchising and Distribution Committee

Program Chair:
Salli Anne Swartz (Moderator), Phillips Giraud Naud & Swartz, Paris, France

Speakers:
Carolyn Herzog, Symantec Corp, Herndon, VA
Bart Legum, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, Paris, France
John Lowe, Qioptiq, Paris, France
Janet Wright, Dell Inc., Round Rock, TX

Law Practice
Young Lawyers
Blackberries, remote computer access, digital data rooms, and internet-based legal research have become the norm in the lives of attorneys. Unfortunately, these technological innovations have hardly reduced billable hour requirements or the expectations of senior partners.  Panelists will offer a variety of perspectives on options available to young lawyers attempting to find an appropriate work-life balance without the office and the profession consuming their personal lives.

Co-Sponsoring Committees:
Young Lawyers Interest Network and Senior Lawyers Interest Network

Program Co-Chairs:
O. Kip Dillihay II, Wolf Theiss Rechtsanwälte GmbH, Vienna, Austria
Kiera S. Gans (Moderator), DLA Piper US, LLP, New York, NY
Christine L. Turner, Seward & Kissel LLP, New York, NY

Speakers:
Manette Dennis, Ostrager Chong Flaherty & Broitman P.C., New York, NY
John P. Dunn, Jones Day LLP, Cleveland, OH
Kendyl Hanks, Haynes and Boone LLP, Dallas, TX and New York, NY
Chuck Routh, Garvey Schubert Barer, Seattle, WA

Public International Law
This roundtable discussion will bring together experienced U.S. government, U.S. military, UN and NGO experts to discuss their views, experiences, and lessons learned, and to assess progress in building a coordinated capacity to strengthen the rule of law abroad and achieve sustainable peace.  Panelists will identify remaining gaps and suggest ways forward to enhance the coordination of the rule of law in peacekeeping and post-conflict reconstruction and stabilization interventions.

Program Chair:
Melanne A. Civic (Moderator), U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC

Speakers:
David Gordon, U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command, Fort Bragg, NC
Michelle Hughes, U.S. Joing Force Command (USJFCOM), Suffolk, VA
Stephane Jean, United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (UNDPKO), New York, NY
Natalija Stamenkovic, International Relief and Development, Arlington, VA

Regulatory
Transactional
In a globalizing economy, employers must be able to send employees wherever they are needed and to quickly hire employees from abroad.  Differing national immigration laws and polcies often hinder the mobility of labor.  Immigration laws increasingly require companies to develop new recruitment policies, to track employees’ immigration status, and to contact immigration authorities regarding departuresand changes in employment conditions. The concept of an “immigration audit” is becoming a new reality in many companies.

This panel will address the new compliance burden and the challenges of effective immigration programs, the impact of immigration law, and policies on business location, staffing of complex multi-jurisdictional projects and analysis of business visitor programs.

Co-Sponsoring Committees:
Immigration and Naturalization Law Committee, U.S. Lawyers Practicing Abroad
Committee, International Employment Law Committee, Latin American and Caribbean
Committee, U.N. and International Institutions Coordinating Committee, and Africa Committee

Program Co-Chairs:
Susan Cohen (Moderator), Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo P.C., Boston, MA
Ellen G. Yost, Fragomen, Del Rey Bernsen & Loewy LLP, New York, NY

Speakers:
Ayesha C. Blackwell, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, New York, NY
Baba Zipkin, IBM's Global Services Department, New York, NY

Law Practice
Charisma can’t be taught . . . or can it? The once-elusive “magic of charisma” has now been studied, analyzed, and broken down into a science - the science of first impressions, the art of conversation, the power of body language. You only get one chance to make a great first impression. Within a few seconds, people judge your socio-economic background, your level of education, and even your level of success. Within minutes, they assess your trustworthiness, competence, and level of intelligence. Although these evaluations happen in an instant, they can last for years; first impressions are often indelible. How can you turn this to your advantage?                                                               

Co-Sponsoring Committees:
Young Lawyers Interest Network, Law Student, L.L.M., and New Lawyer Outreach Committee, and Information Services, Technology, and Data Protection Committee

Program Co-Chairs:
Demetrios Eleftheriou (Moderator), American Express, New York, NY
Magda Theodate, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, DC

Speaker:
Olivia Fox Cabane, Spitfire Communications, New York, NY

Dispute Resolution/Litigation
Part 2 of this program begins with an update of important recent legal developments on international litigation and arbitration in the European Union and other jurisdictions.  This will be followed by a roundtable discussion addressing issues raised by the mock argument in Part 1 and a discussion as to how the New York Convention is working after five decades.  This will encompass such topics as to whether the refusal grounds of Article V are being routinely misapplied in various jurisdictions, the ease or difficulty of obtaining enforcement, and the efficacy of the New York Convention generally.  Finally, there will be a discussion on the choice-of-court convention and what its effect will be on the New York Convention and arbitration generally.  Audience participation in this part will be actively sought to obtain views from practitioners around the world. 

Co-Sponsoring Committees:
International Commercial Dispute Resolution Committee and International Litigation Committee

Program Co-Chairs:
Lorraine Brennan (Co-Moderator), Kilpatrick Stockton LLP, New York, NY
Guy S. Lipe (Co-Moderator), Vinson & Elkins, Houston, TX

Speakers:
Robert F. Brodegaard, Thompson & Knight LLP, New York, NY
Pierre Yves Gunter, Python Schifferli Peter & Associates., Geneva, Switzerland
Valeria Macchia, Perez Alati, Grandona, Benites, Arntsen & Martinez de Hoz, Buenos Aires, Argentina
María Vicien Milburn, General Legal Division - Office of Legal Affairs, United Nations, New York, NY
Kevin O’Gorman, Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P., Houston, TX
Benjamin H. Sheppard, Jr., University of Houston Law Center, Houston, TX
Louise Ellen Teitz, Roger Williams University School of Law, Bristol, RI

Corporate Counsel
Around the world, attorneys from different countries are using the internet, related technologies and various mobile devices to conduct and conclude negotiations for transactions. Virtual, online negotiations raise legal challenges as the rules regarding electronic signatures, contract formation, evidence, and related issues vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. This lively, interactive session will convey best practices for conducting international transactions in the online world.

Sponsoring Committee:
Information Services, Technology, and Data Protection Committee

Program Co-Chairs:
Jeff Aresty, InternetBar.org, Wayland, MA
Jacqueline Klosek (Moderator), Goodwin Procter LLP, New York, NY

Speakers:
Leigh Brown, Minter Ellison Lawyers, Sydney, Australia
Reinout Rinzema, Stibbe, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Cyril Shroff, Amarchand Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co., Mumbai, India
Alison J. Youngman, Stikeman Elliott LLP, Toronto, ON, Canada

Young Lawyers
Law Practice
The Pathways to Employment in International Law Program is a unique forum that brings law students and new lawyers together with experienced legal practitioners to explore opportunities for employment in international law.  Speakers give advice and guidance on gaining practical experience and improving legal networking skills, as well as sharing their own paths to careers in international law.

In addition, meet editor and contributing author Salli A. Swartz, who will sign your copy of the NEW edition of one of our Section’s best-selling books, Careers in International Law. Regularly $59.95 for Section members, and $69.95 for non-members, this revised and updated edition will be available onsite for a special Spring Meeting-only price of $40.00 for members and $50.00 for non-members.  The book provides advice to those who are seeking to enter or expand their international law practice.

Program Chair:
Jen Green (Moderator), Linklaters LLP, New York, NY

Speakers: 
Representatives from large law firms, NGOs, government, and corporate counsel will be represented on the panel.

Dispute Resolution/Litigation
The Alien Tort Statute (ATS), which grants U.S. federal courts subject matter jurisdiction over torts commited in violation of the law of nations against non-U.S. citizens, was enacted in 1789 and rediscovered in the 1980s as a vehicle for litigating – and potentially compensating victims of – alleged human rights violations..  Many of the recent cases filed under the ATS have no meaningful connection to the United States.  In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Sosa, courts are now being asked to consider whether the ATS can be applied extraterritorially to such claims.  Talisman Energy is one such case, which, with several others, challenges the appropriateness of ATS litigation as a legal weapon for redressing conduct and injury that occurred wholly outside of the United States..  Come hear a distinguished panel discuss recent legal trends and issues that are expected to determine the efficacy of these claims, how corporations have responded both in the courtroom and in the boardroom, the related public relations battle, and the impact that principles of international law may have on these newest uses of the statute and of the ATS on those principles.

Co-Sponsoring Committees:
Canada Committee, International Litigation Committee, International Human Rights Committee, and Private International Law Coordinating Committee

Program Co-Chairs:
William G. Bassler (Moderator), U.S. District Court Judge (Retired), New York, NY
H. Scott Fairley, Theall Group LLP, Toronto, ON, Canada

Speakers:
Professor William Aceves, California Western School of Law, San Diego, CA
Karen Asner, White & Case LLP, New York, NY
Judith Brown Chomsky, Elkins Park, PA, Cooperating Attorney, Center for Constitutional Rights, New York, NY
Kristin L. Myles, Munger Tolles and Olson LLP, Los Angeles, CA

Corporate Counsel
Customs/Trade
Manufacturers that export relatively innocuous (albeit potentially dangerous) products through wholly owned foreign subsidiaries are afraid of, and may altogether avoid, the reputedly more litigious countries. But is that really necessary?  This program addresses many structural considerations associated with wholly owned distribution networks, including choice of entity and choice of jurisdiction, and compares parent-subsidiary vs. brother-sister structures. Focus will be on structures that are designed to help the manufacturer-parent avoid having "minimum contacts" with certain of the more litigious common-law and civil-law destination country jurisdictions and thus minimize its exposure to the long-arm jurisdiction of the strict liability ("chain of control") statutes therein. Then, these structures will be compared with alternative, tax-advantaged structures for selling products in these common-law and civil-law jurisdictions and assess whether or not both types of structures can be harmonized to give the parent-manufacturer one overall optimal structure.

Co-Sponsoring Committees:
International Commercial Transactions, Franchising, and Distribution Committee, Commercial Transactions Committee, and International Tax Committee

Program Co-Chairs:
Frans Duynstee, Van Mens & Wisselink, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
William D. Rohrer (Moderator), Carlton Fields P.A., Miami, FL

Speakers:
Teresa Dufort, McMillan Binch Mendelsohn, Toronto, ON, Canada
Jeffrey Cohen, Carlton Fields, P.A., Miami, FL
Daniel Schulz, Smith and Partners, Böblingen, Germany
Tim Smith, Smith & Partners, Böblingen, Germany

Transactional
An interactive presentation with leading lawyers in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the United States and Germany regarding the impact that the governing law of an M&A agreement may have and how it may affect the enforceability of the contract and the outcome of a contractual dispute. After attending this session, you will have a better understanding of:
(a)        certain formalities in major jurisdictions that may affect your contract in unintended ways;
(b)        how the interpretation of common clauses or expressions by courts in certain jurisdictions may not be as you have contemplated (e.g., meaning of  best efforts,  negligence, etc.);
(c)        what provisions of public policy will override the choice of governing law; and
(d)        why settling on the geographic mid-point of the co-contracting parties may not necessarily be the best choice for the governing law of your contract.

Co-Sponsoring Committees:
International Mergers and Acquisitions and Joint Ventures Committee and International Commercial Dispute Resolution

Program Co-Chairs:
Fabiano Deffenti, Carvalho, Machando, Timm & Defenti, São Paulo, Brazil
Manuel Liatowitsch, Schellenberg Wittmer, Zurich, Switzerland
Justin Vineberg (Moderator), Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, Montréal, QC, Canada

Speakers:
Caroline M. H. Goodall, Herbert Smith LLP, London, England
Florian S. Joerg, Froriep Renggli, Zürich, Switzerland
Hartmut Krause, Allen & Overy LLP, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
William Savitt, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, New York, NY

Books are the crown jewel of ABA International’s publication program, and we always welcome new book proposals. Publications Chair Mark Wojcik and representatives from ABA Publishing will be available at this session to discuss how your idea can become a successful new book for the Section.

Sponsoring Committee:
Publications Committee

Program Chair:
Mark Wojcik, The John Marshall School of Law, Chicago, IL

Dispute Resolution/Litigation
Young Lawyers
The antitrust division of the U.S. Department of Justice has become increasingly active in its investigation of corporations and individuals for anti-competitive behavior and the pursuit of directors of non-U.S. companies is increasingly commonplace.  The gap between UK and U.S. attitudes to antitrust enforcement remains huge, and strong concerns are being expressed in the UK over implications for British businesspeople.  This program explores key issues surrounding international enforcement of U.S. laws, focusing on issues raised by the UK-U.S. extradition arrangements and, in particular, the first UK extradition case to reach the House of Lords - that of Ian Norris, who is being sought by the U.S. DoJ on grounds of price-fixing and obstruction of justice.

Sponsoring Committee:
International Criminal Law Committee

Program Chair:
Alistair Graham (Moderator), White & Case LLP, London, England

Speakers:
Peter Binning, Corker Binning, London, England
Linda Regis-Hallinan, Linklaters LLP, New York, NY

Customs/Trade
Some disputes in the World Trade Organization (WTO) come back again and again and again: bananas, lumber, and airplanes among others.  This raises substantive and procedural questions regarding the WTO’s ability to handle complex disputes. In light of expectations that disputes will increase due to the failure of WTO members to conclude the Doha Round, a well-functioning dispute resolution system is critical. This panel will examine the procedural and susstantive challenges raised by these disputes and discuss possible improvements to the system.

Co-Sponsoring Committees:
International Trade Committee and International Litigation Committee

Program Chair:
Mélida Hodgson (Moderator), Miller & Chevalier Chartered, Washington, DC

Speakers:
Valerie Hughes, Finance Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada
John Magnus, Tradewins LLC, Washington, DC
Viji Rangaswami, U.S. Congress, Ways and Means Committee, Trade Subcommittee, Washington, DC

Law Practice
Multi-office transnational law firms have increasingly taken on the characteristics of their corporate clients.  Australia currently and England in the near future will permit third-party ownership of law firms (albeit with certain limitations).  International business is transnational, the regulation of the legal profession remains, in most respects, national.  What are the ethical, quality control and management/business implications of these developments for Canadian, U.S., and other lawyers, as well as law firms?  How will this impact the interests of their clients and how will their clients react?  Why are law firms different from architectural, public relations, and brokerage firms?

Co-Sponsoring Organization:
The ABA Center for Professional Responsibility and the ABA Standing Committee on Professional Discipline

Program Chair:
Ethan Burger, International Legal Malpractice Advisors, LLC, Adjunct Georgetown University Law Center, Chevy Chase, MD

Co-Moderators:
George R. Clark, Washington, DC
Simon Potter, McCarthy Tétrault, Montréal, QC, Canada

Speakers:
Henry Bryans, Aon Risk Services, Inc. of New York, Radnor, PA
Michael Ellenhorn, Longbridge, International, London, England
Andrew Holroyd, The Law Society of England and Wales, London, England
Professor Laurel Terry, Penn State Dickinson School of Law, Carlisle, PA

Public International Law
Global warming can make the Northwest Passage the shortest route between the Atlantic and the Pacific and has accelerated claims to the Arctic’s potentially vast mineral resources.  The U.S. considers the straits international waters.  Canada has reaffirmed its claim of internal waters and is reinforcing its military presence there.  Senior officials from both countries will debate this environmentally and strategically sensitive issue.

Co-Sponsoring Committees:
Canada Law Committee and the Law of the Sea Committee

Program Co-Chairs:
Del Atwood (Co-Moderator), Senior Crown Attorney, New Glasgow, NS, Canada
Margaret L. Tomlinson (Co-Moderator), Washington, DC
Brian D. Wallace, Phelps Dunbar LLP, New Orleans, LA

Speakers:
Commander James Kraska, Chief, International Negotiations Division and Oceans Policy Adviser, Joint Staff, The Pentagon, Washington, DC
Elizabeth May, O.C., Leader of the Green Party of Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada
John Norton Moore, Director, Center for Oceans Law and Policy, University of Virginia School of Law and former Ambassador to the Law of the Sea Negotiations, Charlottesville, VA

Customs/Trade
Regulatory
In today’s global marketplace, industries ranging from consumer product manufacturers to food processors face increased exposure and threat from trade-distorting non-tariff barriers in the guise of technical and safety standards.  Countries are turning increasingly to different types of home market protection such as technical barriers to trade (TBT) and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) restrictions.  When legitimately applied, these measures serve to protect human, animal and plant health and ensure product quality.  There is a growing trend, however, to couch market-driven, protectionist actions in the sheep’s clothing of TBT and SPS measures.  Given the possible “bet the business” consequences of such measures, industries and trade lawyers should understand that international trade laws can be brought to bear on such illegal market restrictions.  Experts will discuss these latest trends in international trade and provide valuable tips on how to identify and remedy such illegitimate and unjustified non-tariff barriers.

Sponsoring Committee:
International Trade Committee

Program Co-Chairs:
Stephen S. Kho (Moderator), Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Washington, DC
Jay Taylor (Speaker), McDermott, Will & Emery LLP, Washington, DC

Speakers:
Daniel Brinza, Office of the United States Trade Representative, Washington, DC
Darci Vetter, International Trade Counsel, Senate Finance Committee, Washington, DC

Corporate Counsel
Young Lawyer
Counsel for multinational employers, as well as corporate compliance officers, have been challenged in recent years by several new and increasingly difficult phenomena:  new U.S. and E.U. laws that protect whistleblowers and prohibit employment discrimination; e-mail’s emergence as the primary form of corporate communication; and an increasing convergence toward discovery of e-mail and other electronic evidence from the U.S. to corporate communications worldwide.  As a result of these developments, employment discrimination and whistleblower cases, which at one point were purely domestic in their focus, have gone global.  And the conflicts between U.S. and overseas views of privacy and the propriety of pretrial discovery, not to mention cultural differences, have become an ever more important issue for multinational companies.  This program, in the form of a roundtable, will provide a practical discussion of these new developments and how multinational companies are responding to these issues.

Co-Sponsoring Committees:
International Employment Law Committee and International Corporate Counsel Committee

Program Chair:
Philip Berkowitz, Nixon Peabody LLP, New York, NY

Speakers:
Marjorie Culver, Paul Hastings, New York, NY
Andrew Finlay, Scotiabank, Toronto, ON, Canada
Thomas Mueller-Bonanni, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Düsseldorf, Germany 
George A. Pierce, Toyota Tsusho America, Inc., New York, NY
Salli Swartz, Phillips Giraud Naud & Swartz, Paris, France

Public International Law
The program will discuss the use of the International Criminal Court and Ad Hoc Tribunals in combating international atrocity crimes, including genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. It will also discuss networking and cooperation among the tribunals.

Sponsoring Committee:
International Criminal Law Committee

Program Co-Chairs:
John Washburn (Moderator), American NGO Coalition for the ICC, New York, NY
Bruce Zagaris, Berliner Corcoran & Rowe LLP, Washington, DC

Speakers:
Michael Scharf, Case Western University School of Law, Cleveland, OH
Thomas C. Viles, Berliner Corcoran & Rowe LLP, Washington, DC
Ruth Wedgwood, School of Advanced International Studies, Washington, DC

Regulatory
Transactional
This program is presented in cooperation with the Inter-Pacific Bar Association.  The fast pace of legal and regulatory developments in the People’s Republic of China (China) continues to challenge foreign investors.  This program will review recent changes to law and regulation in China, as these changes affect foreign investment projects. Specifically, this program will review the continued evolution of alternative dispute resolution options: China’s revised labor contract law; amendments to regulations on real estate transactions; and other hot topics.

Co-Sponsoring Organizations:
Inter-Pacific Bar Association and China Committee

Program Co-Chairs:
Michael Burke (Co-Moderator), Williams Mullen, Washington, DC
José Rosell (Co-Moderator), Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP, Paris, France

Speakers:
Elizabeth Cole, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, Shanghai, China
Susan Ning, King & Wood, Beijing, China
Amy Sommers, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey L.L.P., Shanghai, China
Jingzhou Tao, Jones Day LLP, Beijing, China

Law Practice
A professional brand reflects the complete product an attorney offers. Many skills work in conjunction here:  strong writing, sharp analysis, and stellar client service, just to name a few.  It is important for attorneys to think strategically about how they are delivering and communicating these skills to ensure that clients (both internal and external) seek out their product.  This is especially true in professional service firms, where first impressions are critical to success..  While positive first impressions are invaluable, negative ones can compromise a career or stop it entirely.  Attend this program and learn to create a brand that positions you for plum assignments, to gain access to partners and associates known to be excellent mentors, and to keep your clients coming back for repeat business.  This program will allow you to capitalize on the positive PR that your stellar work product and customer service merit.

Sponsoring Committee:
International Law Practice Management Forum

Program Chair: 
Ingrid Busson (Moderator), Calyon Corporate and Investment Bank, New York, NY

Speaker:  
Diane M. Costigan, New York, NY

Public International Law
Balancing the fulfillment of human needs with the protection of the natural environment to ensure that these needs are met in the long run is a challenge that our world presently faces. Issues include land and natural resource mana gement to ensure proper use, development of renewable energy sources, sustainable industrial and urban developement, as well as the means to achieve sustainable development (e.g., authorisations, environmental assessments, emission trading schemes).  The speakers will address some of the challenges raised by these complex subjects and propose solutions.  There will be specific focus on how energy must be tackled towards a more sustainable development.

Sponsoring Organization:
Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA)

Program Chair:
Carlos de Miguel Perales (Moderator), President of the UIA Commission on Environment and Sustainable Development, Uría Menéndez, Madrid, Spain

Speaker:
Paul J. Kaufman, General Counsel, PPM Energy Inc., Portland, OR
Christopher J. McKenzie, Beveridge & Diamond, P.C., New York, NY
Luiz Fernando SantAnna, Demarest & Almeida, São Paulo, Brazil

Regulatory
Customs/Trade
We continue to hear about the increasing pace of anti-bribery enforcement outside the United States, but where do things really stand?   Do the enforcement agencies have the resources and international cooperation they need to investigate and prosecute transnational bribery?  What does this mean for companies operating internationally?

Sponsoring Committee:
Inter