Program Overview

Wednesday, November 8
St. John’s School of Law - Queens Campus

Theme: Judicial Independence and Judicial Dialogue
The first day will provide thematic overview of the main topics of the conference.

1 p.m. Opening Address
The Honorable Richard J. Goldstone
Chancellor, University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg, South Africa Former Justice, Constitutional Court of South Africa; and former Chief Prosecutor,
International Criminal Tribunals for Yugoslavia and Rwanda

2 p.m. What Are the Limits of Cross-Border Judicial Dialogue?
Much has been written about the growing amount of formal and informal contacts between the domestic judiciaries of different countries. This panel will consider the uses and possible abuses of such crossborder communication and coordination.

Moderator
Brian Z. Tamanaha
St. John’s School of Law

Panelists
The Honorable Richard J. Goldstone
Former Justice, Constitutional Court of South Africa

The Honorable Diane P. Wood
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

3:30 p.m. Closing

Thursday, November 9
St. John’s School of Law - Manhattan Campus

Theme: Economic Globalization and the Judiciary
The second day of the conference will focus on how the globalization of the
economy is affecting the work of lawyers and judges.

2:15 p.m. Globalizing Economy, Globalizing Profession
How has the globalization of the world economy affected the legal profession? How have the substance and process of lawyering changed due to the increased number of crossborder economic links, as well as the growth of information technology and the rapid transmission of ideas? What may this imply for judges?

Moderator
Mary C. Daly
Dean and John V. Brennan Professor of Law and Ethics
St. John’s School of Law

Panelists
Peter D. Trooboff
Covington & Burling

Robert S. Wai
Osgoode Hall Law School

3:45 p.m. Coffee Break

4 p.m. International Arbitration and Domestic Judiciaries
International commercial arbitration is becoming perhaps the primary method of dispute resolution among multinational corporations and between such corporations and governments.  Supported by treaties and domestic laws, arbitral awards
are, if anything, easier to enforce than the judgments of foreign judiciaries. How does international arbitration affect the work of domestic judges and vice versa? In particular, how have recent challenges to arbitral awards and ongoing debates about whether appeals from such awards should be allowed affected domestic judges?

Moderator
Mark L. Movsesian
Visiting professor, St. John’s School of Law

Panelists
Charles H. Brower
The University of Mississippi School of Law

Lucy Reed
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; former General Counsel of the
Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization

5:30 p.m. Closing

Friday, November 10
St. John’s School of Law - Queens Campus

Theme: International Tribunals, International Law, and Domestic Courts
The final day of the conference will consider how international law and institutions affect the work of domestic judges. 

9 a.m. The Relation of Domestic and International Judiciaries
How do international courts and tribunals interact with domestic courts and tribunals?

How is this similar or different to interactions among different national courts? Are domestic and international courts part of a single integrated legal system or should they be viewed as institutions of separate systems with some overlapping competences?

Moderator
Christopher J. Borgen
St. John’s School of Law

Panelists
José E. Alvarez
Columbia Law School; President, The American Society of
International Law

Pieter H.F. Bekker
White & Case; former staff attorney,
Registry of the International Court of Justice

10:30 a.m. Panel - International Law in Domestic Courts
Beyond the specific interactions of international courts and domestic courts, discussed in the previous panel, how does international law inform or affect domestic adjudication?

Moderator
Donald F. Donovan
Debevoise & Plimpton

Panelists
Martin Flaherty
Fordham University Law School

David L. Sloss
St. Louis University School of Law

Noon Closing