March 4, 2006
Harvard Law School
Overview
The Harvard International Law Journal hosted its most recent Symposium at Harvard Law School on March 6, 2006. For more information about the Symposium, including the event schedule and audio downloads of Symposium sessions, please see below.
Symposium Statement of Purpose
As forces such as technology and economic integration continue to make the world a smaller place, different legal cultures and regimes are constantly drawn into contact with one another. Agents of globalization have eroded the provinciality of law. Scholars across legal disciplines seeking to ascertain the state of the law in their field must now account for an increasing fluidity triggered by this erosion. Changes brought upon by inter-jurisdictional interactions and influences have jumped to the forefront in our understanding of the law.
What are the processes, then, by which these changes occur? What actors and mechanisms are responsible? What is the extent of these changes? Are the levels of change different across the different fields of law? What distinctions might account for these differences? In order to answer these questions, scholars have turned to the subject of “diffusion of law.” They have developed theories to describe the ways in which legal norms and rules spread across different jurisdictions and cultures.
Yet, at the same time as the legal academy seeks to understand this phenomenon, practitioners encounter it everyday in their work. Judges from around the world meet to discuss domestic implementation of environmental laws. Lawyers at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund engage in legal reform projects in transitional countries. Legislators seek to reform corporate governance for multinational corporations or attempt to combine elements of constitutional democracy with shari’a-based family law. What sort of exchange is going on during these activities? Do academic theories accurately describe the process? What can these practitioners learn from the academic study of diffusion?
This Symposium will bring together scholars and practitioners from across the different fields of law to engage in a self-conscious examination of how law is diffused in this period of globalization. Topics will range from comprehensive theories of diffusion to practical discussions of diffusion in prominent substantive fields.
Schedule of Events
7:30-8:15 Registration and Breakfast — Pound Hall Lobby
8:15-8:45 Welcome and Announcements — Pound Hall 101
Opening Remarks: Elena Kagan (Harvard Law School)
8:45-10:30
Plenary Session: Theories of Legal Diffusion
Pound Hall 101
1 main presenter and 2 respondents:
Moderator: Duncan Kennedy (Harvard Law School)
Keynote: David Westbrook (University at Buffalo Law School SUNY)
William Twining (University College of London)
Pierre Legrand (Universite Pantheon-Sorbonne, Paris I)
10:30-10:45
Coffee Break — Pound Hall Lobby
10:45-12:15 Panel Session 1
Panel A: Family Law — Pound Hall 100
Moderator: Janet Halley (Harvard Law School)
Philomila Tsoukala (SJD Candidate, Harvard Law School)
Alan Watson (University of Georgia)
Maria Rosario Marella (University of Perugia)
Kerry Rittich (University of Toronto)
Panel B: Constitutional Law — Pound Hall 102
Moderator: Frank Michelman (Harvard Law School)
Louis Aucoin (Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy)
Dennis Davis (High Court of South Africa)
Sujit Choudhry (University of Toronto)
Lama Abu-Odeh (Georgetown University Law Center)
12:15-1:15
Lunch Break — Harkness Commons, Second Floor South Room
1:15-2:45 Panel Session 2
Panel A: Private Law — Pound Hall 100
Moderator: Detlev Vagts (Harvard Law School)
Franz Werro (Georgetown University Law Center/University of Fribourg)
Daniela Caruso (Boston University School of Law)
Amr Shalakany (American University in Cairo)
Ugo Mattei (UC Hastings School of Law, Universita’ Degli Studi di Torino)
Panel B: Commerical Law — Pound Hall 102
Moderator: William Alford (Harvard Law School)
Eric Orts (Wharton School of Business)
Werner Ebke (NYU School of Law, University of Heidelberg)
Dan Danielsen (Northeastern University School of Law)
Jeffrey Gordon (Columbia Law School)
Leia Castaneda (SJD Candidate, Harvard Law School)
3:00-4:45 Panel Session 3 (Plenary): Mechanisms of Diffusion
Pound Hall 101
Moderator: Ryan Goodman (Harvard Law School)
Geoffrey Robertson (Sierra Leone Special War Crimes Court, Doughty Street Chambers)
Beth Simmons (Harvard University)
Pieter Bekker (White & Case LLP)
John Ohnesorge (University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Law)
Mark Berlin (Department of Justice Canada)
Elizabeth Andersen (CEELI, American Bar Association)
4:45-5:45 Moderators’ Forum — Pound Hall 101
Moderators report from their panels, discuss connections among substantive areas, and relate these areas to theory.
– Duncan Kennedy
– Detlev Vagts
– Lama Abu-Odeh
– William Alford
– Janet Halley
– Ryan Goodman
5:45-6:00 Conclusion – Pound Hall 101
Audio Downloads (MP3)
1. Plenary Session: Theories of Legal Diffusion
2. Private Law Panel
3. Constitutional Law Panel
4. Commercial Law Panel
5. Family Law Panel
6. Plenary Session: Mechanisms of Legal Diffusion
Map of the Harvard Law School Campus and Area
Title Sponsors: Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP (www.csgh.com), HLS Office of the Dean
Sponsors: Canadian Law Society, East Asian Legal Studies, European Law Research Center, Human Rights Program, International Legal Studies