International Law

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We just finished our second week of the semester and I’m already exhausted, partly because I just submitted the first draft of a law review article that’s 123 pages with over 600 footnotes on a future-proof framework for AI regulation to the University of Tennessee Journal of Business Law. I should have stuck with my original topic of legal ethics and AI.

But alas, who knew so much would happen in 2023? I certainly didn’t even though I spent the entire year speaking on AI to lawyers, businesspeople, and government officials. So, I decided to change my topic in late November as it became clearer that the EU would finally take action on the EU AI Act and that the Brussels effect would likely take hold requiring other governments and all the big players in the tech space to take notice and sharpen their own agendas.

But I’m one of the lucky ones because although I’m not a techie, I’m a former chief privacy officer, and spend a lot of time thinking about things like data protection and cybersecurity, especially as it relates to AI. And I recently assumed the role of GC of an AI startup. So…

An ambitious question, yes, but it was the title of the presentation I gave at the Society for Socio-Economists Annual Meeting, which closed yesterday. Thanks to Stefan Padfield for inviting me.

In addition to teaching Business Associations to 1Ls this semester and running our Transactional Skills program, I'm also teaching Business and Human Rights. I had originally planned the class for 25 students, but now have 60 students enrolled, which is a testament to the interest in the topic. My pre-course surveys show that the students fall into two distinct camps. Most are interested in corporate law but didn't know even know there was a connection to human rights. The minority are human rights die hards who haven't even taken business associations (and may only learn about it for bar prep), but are curious about the combination of the two topics. I fell in love with this relatively new legal  field twelve years ago and it's my mission to ensure that future transactional lawyers have some exposure to it.

It's not just a feel-good way of looking at the world. Whether you love or hate ESG, business and human rights shows up in every factor and many firms have built…

Last month, I posted about an experiment I conducted with students and international lawyers. I’ve asked my law student, Kaitlyn Jauregui to draft this post summarizing the groups’ reasoning and provide her insights. Next week, I’ll provide mine in light of what I’m hearing at various conferences, including this week’s International Bar Association meeting. This post is in her words.

After watching The Social Dilemma, participants completed a group exercise by deciding which social issues were a priority in the eyes of different tech industry stakeholders. The Social Dilemma is a 2020 docudrama that exposes how social media controls that influences the behavior, mental health, and political views of users by subjecting them to various algorithms. Director Jeff Orlowski interviewed founding and past tech employees of some of the biggest companies in Silicon Valley to bring awareness to viewers.  

Groups of primarily American college students, primarily American law students, one group of Latin American lawyers, and one group of international lawyers completed the exercise. Each of the groups deliberated from the perspective of a CEO, investor, consumer, or NGO.  Acting as that stakeholder, the team then ranked the following issues in order of importance: Incitements to…

It's a lovely Friday night for grading papers for my Business and Human Rights course where we focused on ESG, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. My students met with in-house counsel, academics, and a consultant to institutional investors; held mock board meetings; heard directly from people who influenced the official drafts of EU's mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence directive  and the ABA's Model Contract Clauses for Human Rights; and conducted simulations (including acting as former Congolese rebels and staffers for Mitch McConnell during a conflict minerals exercise). Although I don't expect them all to specialize in this area of the law, I'm thrilled that they took the course so seriously, especially now with the Biden Administration rewriting its National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct with public comments due at the end of this month.

The papers at the top of my stack right now:

  1. Apple: The Latest Iphone's Camera Fails to Zoom Into the Company's Labor Exploitation
  2. TikTok Knows More About Your Child Than You Do: TikTok’s Violations of Children’s Human Right to Privacy in their Data and Personal Information
  3. Redraft of the Nestle

…

I’ve been thinking about environmental, social, and governance issues (“ESG”) for almost twenty years — long before they became mainstream. As an in-house lawyer at a public company prior to joining academia, I had no choice. I teach, research, and consult on these issues now and have a whole lot of thoughts about them, which I'll share in coming posts. 

I had the honor of presenting on "ESG and India in 2022" yesterday. ESG is a hot topic in India, as it is everywhere – – I have either attended or spoken on half a dozen panels on ESG this year to introduce the topic to lawyers. If you're not familiar with the term or think it's completely irrelevant to what you do for a living, here are some common classifications for investors that integrate ESG into their portfolio selection and investment process. 

Environmental: climate change, water, alternative energy, pollution & waste management

Social: human rights, workplace standards, worker health safety, diversity & equal opportunity, labor relations, land grabs

Governance: bribery & corruption, board diversity, corporate political contributions, executive compensation, disclosure & transparency, board independence, tax avoidance

If you're a transactional lawyer, chances are you or your clients…

I am delighted to announce that Professor Lécia Vicente from LSU Law is joining us as a guest blogger at the BLPB this month. Her posts will be on Sundays through the end of the month.  You can find her work on SSRN here.

Professor Vicente teaches Business Associations, a Comparative Corporate Law Seminar, the Louisiana Law of Obligations, and Western Legal Traditions (a comparative and legal methodology course). Her recent scholarship focuses on the several dimensions of property rights within the firm’s contractual framework. She is also expanding her research to include law and development as a result of her consultancy work with developing countries and various other professional engagements, including her roles as:

  • a delegate to the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2019;
  • the Head of Delegation of the African Union at the United Nations’ High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development under the auspices of the United Nations Economic and Social Council in 2016; and
  • an advisor of the African Union at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit for the adoption of the Post-2015 development agenda.

Professor Vicente holds an LL.M. in Comparative, European and International Laws and a Ph.D. from the European…

Professor Kevin Fandl, the President of the ALSB International Section, has posted a really timely article to SSRN: Trump, Xi and the Threat to the World Trade Organization (here).  I’m looking forward to giving it a thorough review just as soon as the new semester settles in!  Here’s the abstract:

Is the WTO big enough for two economic superpowers? China’s explosion onto the world economic stage has allowed new and unexpected challenges to emerge, most significantly, which path globalization should be guided down. For 70 years, the western world has approached globalization from a liberalist perspective, seeing it as a corollary to democracy and rules-based economic growth. Yet China, which benefited enormously from globalization, has exceled in the absence of democracy, challenging the idea that the liberal world order is necessary or even desirable.


With the WTO teetering on irrelevance, this is a moment to lift the hood and examine the engine of economic growth we have relied upon for decades. Though both China and the United States have the economic power to unilaterally pursue trade advantages (think NAFTA or the Belt and Road Initiative), it is not in the interest of either party to abandon the…

The Academy of Legal Studies in Business is in the midst of its annual conference.  And, not surprisingly, it’s completely online.  Although we aren’t able to meet in person this year, the event has been a really great, remarkably smooth experience.  Pre-pandemic, the Program Chair, Professor Robert Bird, at the University of Connecticut School of Business, presciently selected the theme of “Managing Disruption.”

For me, one highlight of the conference thus far has been the opportunity to hear guest speaker Lee Buchheit’s remarks to the ALSB’s International Section on the “State of the Art of Sovereign Debt Restructuring.”  Buchheit is arguably the world’s leading expert on sovereign debt restructuring.  As an FT Alphaville piece put it: Buchheit “has represented nearly every country that has gone bankrupt since the 1980s, sparring with aggrieved creditors and cajoling stricken governments back to fiscal health — and in the process almost single-handedly building up an entire field of international law.”  He didn’t disappoint, giving us a fascinating overview of the major disruption the pandemic is causing in the sovereign debt arena, and the likely challenges that lie ahead, including the risk of a systemic sovereign debt crisis such as happened in the 1980s. …

I had planned to write about the Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation signed by 200 top CEOs. If you read this blog, you've likely read the coverage and the varying opinions. I'm still reading the various blog posts, statements by NGOs, and 10-Ks of some of the largest companies so that I can gather my thoughts. In the meantime, many of these same companies  will be at the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights touting their records. I've been to the Forum several times, and it's worth the trip. If you're interested in joining over 2,000 people, including representatives from many of the signatories of the Statement, see below. You can register here:

The UN annual Forum on Business and Human Rights is the global platform for stock-taking and lesson-sharing on efforts to move the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights from paper to practice. As the world’s foremost gathering in this area, it provides a unique space for dialogue between governments, business, civil society, affected groups and international organizations on trends, challenges and good practices in preventing and addressing business-related human rights impacts. The first Forum was held in 2012. It attracts more…

This from our friend Heather Johnson at Hofstra Law:

This May and June, Hofstra Law will offer a three-credit or five-credit study abroad program on International Financial Crimes and Global Data Regulation. Both programs will begin Sunday, May 19; the three-credit program will conclude on June 1, 2019 and the five-credit program will conclude on June 13, 2019. The courses will be taught by Hofstra University School of Law Professor Scott Colesanti and Professor Giovanni Comande from the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna.

It will be held in Pisa, Italy, and is co-sponsored by the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna. This year, we have added a dinner with the Dean of our Law School, Gail Prudenti and an excursion to Milan to visit the Borsa headquarters!

The deadline is Friday, March 29, 2019 — those interested should apply as soon as possible!

The course is open to law students around the country; students must have completed their full-time 1L course work by the start of this program. Attached to this e-mail you’ll find the up-to-date application, a poster about the program as well as the tentative schedule. Interested students should apply by AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Students joining us from other universities…