International Law

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Further to Ann’s post at the end of August, this year’s International Business Transactions seminar series launches next week. See the flyer below for information on next week’s session. (I wish I could attend, but I have a conflict–hubby’s birthday!)

To register for the series so that you get information on upcoming programs of interest, fill out the brief survey here. Hat tip to friend-of-the-BLPB Kish Parella (who organizes this series) on all this! I was able to participate in a few sessions last year, and they were terrific.

St. Mary’s University School of Law, the oldest Catholic university in the Southwest and the only law school in San Antonio, Texas, is seeking exceptional candidates for tenured and tenure-track faculty positions to start in the 2027-2028 and 2028-2029 academic years. We are building on our deep history of academic excellence and servant leadership, and we are eager to welcome new members into our vibrant intellectual community. 

We are particularly interested in candidates with outstanding academic credentials, successful practice experience, a demonstrated record of scholarly research and publication, and a dedication to teaching excellence. We place great emphasis on fostering a supportive and engaging learning environment, and we are eager to find candidates who excel in the classroom and inspire students to achieve their best.

We are open to passionate and innovative teachers and scholars in all areas, including but not limited to civil procedure, contracts, property, and legal writing. We are hiring one clinical professor in any subject area, with a preference for criminal law specialization.  

We do  have opportunities for some select Chair appointments for strong lateral candidates in the areas of business law (to include tax), international law, natural resources, and oil and gas. These include the…

I recently had the privilege of jotting on an insightful article written by friend-of-the-BLPB Kish Parella (Kishanthi Parella, Corporate Governance & International Law, 76 Ala. L. Rev. 417 (2024)). You can find the jot here. Read it for a summary of the article’s thesis and impact. But my bottom line is this:

Parella’s work is compelling at the current moment given U.S. and global uncertainties regarding judicial and governmental enforcement. In addition to the earlier mentioned tariff wars, armed conflicts between Russia and Ukraine and in Gaza represent potentially large destabilizing forces in international political and economic relations that may impact the existence or effectiveness of traditional adjudicative and regulatory enforcement. Parella’s work suggests that stakeholder governance may provide a pragmatic and valuable way forward to better ensure corporate compliance with international law and, as a result, transnational corporate financial and operational sustainability.

It is a good read, full of interesting and consequential observations relevant to business associations law and international law (which is an intersection that Kish’s work often explores).

Friend of the BLPB Paolo Farah reached out to let me know about severl discussion groups, described below, that he is organizing for the 2025 Southeastern Association of Law Schools Conference this summer. If you have interest in participating, please contact Paolo at PDFarah@mail.wvu.edu.

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“Transforming Global Agriculture and Cultivating Tomorrow: Farmers’ Rights, Animal Law, Trade, Sovereignty, Ethics, and Innovation for Sustainable Progress“

This session unites diverse perspectives to explore challenges and opportunities in agriculture. By integrating disciplines like law, trade, ethics, and innovation, the panel addresses critical issues such as protecting farmers’ rights, evolving animal law, the effects of international trade, and food sovereignty’s role in sustainable development. Topics include ethical considerations, technological advancements, and policy frameworks essential for navigating transformation. Panelists will offer insights into fostering global and domestic collaboration to build equitable, sustainable agricultural systems while tackling climate change, biodiversity loss, and food security challenges, driving meaningful progress for a sustainable future.

“Enhancing Experiential Learning in Environmental, Energy, and Sustainability Law and Policy Education“

This discussion group explores innovative ways to integrate real-world experiences into legal education. Bringing together educators, practitioners, and policymakers, it highlights approaches to teaching environmental, energy…

[Posted at the request of friend-of-the-BLPB Paolo Farrah]

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to share the Call for Papers for an ESIL-supported event titled “Towards a Global Ecological-Economic Legal Framework,” organized in collaboration among our three interest groups: the ESIL IG on European and International Rule of Law, the ESIL IG on International Environmental Law, and the ESIL IG on International Economic Law. The event will take place at École Normale Supérieure – Paris Sciences et Lettres (ENS-PSL) on 6-7 June 2025.

The Call for Papers is open until 28 February 2025, and you can find further details here.

We look forward to receiving your abstracts and to meeting you in Paris in June 2025.

Best regards,
Paolo Farah

(On behalf of the ESIL IG on European and International Rule of Law, ESIL IG on International Environmental Law, and ESIL IG on International Economic Law)

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…