International Law

A very interesting post by Dan Harris at China Law Blog entitled “Who Needs International/Foreign Law? Not Us, We’re Americans” has set off a worthwhile discussion on the use (or non-use) of international/foreign law in the US in the private context.  The Transnational Law Blog also has an interesting follow-up entitled “Transnational Commercial Disputes in the USA Ain’t Easy“.  Rather than steal their thunder, I simply recommend reading the posts and responses.

This has been well-announced in the IL blog world, but it is worth repeating that there is an excellent new blog, sponsored by OSI, on the Charles Taylor trial (linked here).  It is an excellent example of the use of blogs for original/firsthand and up-to-date content. 

The Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot officially kicks off tomorrow in Vienna.  Having gone as both a participant and a coach for Harvard, I can wholly recommend the event.  Though there are always issues with somewhat subjective competitions (and now, having been a Jessup judge, I can appreciate how hard it can be to evaluate teams), the spirit of the competition is fantastic and the all-together-at-once aspect is wonderful.  There are teams from all over the world, all in Vienna at the same time, all competing but, equally important, getting to know one another.  It is also THE networking event, especially for Europeans, who are far more dedicated to arbitration as a practice than we tend to be in the US, where it is mostly seen as an offshoot of litigation.

The VIS is a unique and fun event and I am more than a little jealous that I am not there this year.  But I hope to be a judge for it in sometime in the future.  In the meantime, the best of luck to all the participants!!