The American Association of Law Schools (AALS) Section on International Law is pleased to sponsor two programs at the AALS 2015 Annual Meeting in Washington D.C. from January 3-4, 2015.

The first program is called “Adding Foreign and Comparative Law to Your Course: Guidelines, Materials, and Practical Advice for Law Professors”. Using comparative and international materials can enrich teaching of almost any course and can better prepare law students for the transnational contexts of their future legal work. This panel will provide practical examples, materials, and advice on how to integrate foreign and international law materials in basic first-year courses, as well as some upper-level courses. It will be held on Saturday, January 3, 2015 from 5:15-6:30 pm. Audience participation in sharing ideas is strongly encouraged, but the program will be led by section officers:

Professor Cindy G. Buys, Southern Illinois University School of Law (constitutional law)
Professor Matthew Charity, Western New England School of Law (contracts)
Professor Milena Sterio, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law (criminal law/civil procedure)
Professor Mark Wojcik, John Marshall Law School – Chicago (torts)

The second program is titled “The Influence of International Law on U.S. Government Decision-Making” and will be held on Sunday, January 4 from 10:30 am -12:15 pm. This panel will explore the role that international law plays in informing the policy outcomes arrived at by U.S. government decision-makers. It will examine questions such as: To what extent is international law determinative or even influential, and to what extent does the policy area, the branch of government, or the ideological orientation of the decision-maker matter? As a more practical matter, at what stage in the decision-making process is international law taken into account and who are the most influential actors? How can academics be most influential in that process?

Speakers include:

Mary McLeod, Principal Deputy Legal Advisor, Office of the Legal Advisor, U.S. Department of State

Sandra Hodgkinson, Vice President of Planning and Chief of Staff at Finmeccanica, North America and DRS Technologies. Ms. Hodgkinson formerly served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs and as Deputy to the Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues. She also worked for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq as Director of the Office of Human Rights and Transitional Justice from 2003-04.

Ralph Steinhardt, Professor of Law & Arthur Selwyn Miller Research Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School. Professor Steinhardt is the winner of the Section’s Call for Papers and will present his paper, “International Law and the Administrative State.”

The panel will be moderated by the Section Chair, Professor Cindy G. Buys, from Southern Illinois University School of Law.

Please spread the word to your colleagues. We hope to see you there!