Past International and Comparative Law Center Events

Coronavirus / COVID-19 Resources

Graphic: COVID-19 virus.

For those who want to go beyond our very brief introduction to some of the international law aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are a number of resources on-line that we would recommend. For research purposes, the American Society of International Law (ASIL) has unlocked and made free all of its on-line resources, including articles in the American Journal of International Law, that relate to pandemics. The starting point for that resource can be found here. In addition, there are a number of blogs that cover international and national security law that are providing detailed ongoing coverage of the myriad law and policy aspects of the pandemic. We would recommend:


Martin Presents at Columbia University Symposium

Professor Craig Martin presented a paper on climate change crisis implications for the international law regime that governs the use of force and armed conflict, at a climate change symposium at Columbia University Law School in New York City on March 3, 2020. A draft of the article, which will be published in the Columbia Journal of Environmental Law, is available on SSRN.

Photograph: Craig Martin presenting at Columbia University.


2020 Jessup International Law Moot Court Team

The Washburn Law Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition Team participated in the Rocky Mountain Regional Round at the University of Denver Strum School of Law in late February this year. The 2019-20 Jessup problem involved the complex legal issues arising from violent incursions by armed criminal cartels, the construction of a wall of fully-autonomous weapons system along a common border, the imposition of unilateral tariffs, the arrest and detention of a foreign minister for war crimes, and the overlapping jurisdiction of international tribunals. Washburn Law was represented by Brett Combs (1L representative); Ivan Moya and Deisy "Pam" Saenz (applicants); Lillian A. Chin (of-counsel to both sides); Tyler R. Laudick and Desiree "Desi" K. Smith (respondents); and Professor Craig Martin (faculty advisor) (left to right in photo).

Photograph: Washburn Law's 2019-2020 Jessup Moot Court team.


James May Discusses Dignity in Law

Professor James May of Widener University Delaware School of Law, a scholar, expert, and activist on issues relating to climate change law, visited Washburn Law on February 5-6, 2020, speaking to the students, presenting a paper to the faculty, and appearing as a guest expert in Professor Martin's climate change seminar. He spoke on the relationship between the concept of dignity in both constitutional law and international human rights law, and the efforts to respond to the climate change crisis

Photograph: James May.


Martin Presents at Osaka University

Professor Craig Martin attended the Asian Law and Society Conference at Osaka University, Japan, where he presented a paper on the climate change crisis and the law on the use of force, as part of the Presidential Panel on the Anthropocene and the Law. Professor Martin is pictured with Professors Mark Levin of the University of Hawaii, and Sang Soo Lee and Yong Chul Park of the Sogang University in South Korea.

Photograph: Craig Martin with Professors Mark Levin, Sang Soo Lee, and Yong Chul Park.


Martin Speaks on Torture at Westminster College

Professor Craig Martin gave a talk on torture at Westminster College in Fulton Missouri, a venue famous for Winston Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech, in October 2019. The local Fulton newspaper provided a review of the event.

Photograph: Craig Martin speaking at Westminster College. Photo courtesy Helen Wilbers / Fulton Sun.


Westbrook Presents on International Trade in Kansas

Professor Westbrook presented "Recent Developments in Agricultural Trade” at the Agribusiness Symposium in Hutchinson, Kansas, in September 2019. The presentation focused on the U.S-China trade war and efforts to pass the new NAFTA, now known as the USMCA.


Recent Graduate Begins LL.M. in Czech Republic

Marvin Tador, who graduated from Washburn Law in 2019, and was the Clerk of the ICLC for the 2017-2019 academic years, commenced an LL.M. at Charles University in the Czech Republic this Spring. He is pursuing his interest in international human rights and international climate change law. Prior to his studies at Washburn Law, Marvin was an officer in the United States Army, during which time he served in Europe.

Photograph: Marvin Tador.


Rich Teaches Freedom of Speech in Georgia

Professor Bill Rich co-taught a one-week summer school course involving comparative analysis of freedom of speech as practiced in the United States, the European Court on Human Rights, and the Constitutional Court of Georgia. The course took place at the Constitutional Court in Batumi, Georgia. Thirty students from law schools throughout Georgia participated.


Martin Presents on Climate Change in Philippines

Professor Craig Martin presented a new article, "Atmospheric Intervention: The Climate Change Crisis and the Jus ad Bellum Regime," on a panel chaired by Judge Hisashi Owada (ret'd) of the International Court of Justice, at the Asian Society of International Law Biennial Conference in Manila, The Philippines, in August 2019. The article will be published Spring 2020 in the Columbia Journal of Environmental Law.


Sourgens Co-Chairs Oxford Conference on International Investment

Professor Freddy Sourgens again co-chaired the Investment Claims Summer Academy convened by Oxford University Press in Oxford in July 2019, bringing together practitioners and academics to discuss cutting edge issues in international arbitrations between states and foreign investors. Professor Sourgens also serves as a peer reviewer for Oxford University Press.


Elrod Presents in London

Professor Linda Elrod presented a paper entitled “Hearing the Voices of Children: Requiring Council in International Cases,” at the international Conference on Gender, Inclusivity and Protecting the 21st Century Family, sponsored by the University of Westminster and the International Centre for Family Law, Policy and Practice, in London, UK, in July, 2019. She also moderated a separate panel at the conference, and attended a conference dinner at the House of Lords.


Elrod Presents at Cambridge

Professor Linda Elrod presented a paper entitled “Evolving Capacities and Weight to be Given Children’s Wishes in Custody Proceedings,” at the Convention on the Rights of the Child Implementation Project: Article 5 Colloquium, at Robinson College, University of Cambridge, UK, in July, 2019.


Sourgens and Rich Advise Nepalese Judiciary

Professors Freddy Sourgens and Bill Rich attended by video-conference a May-Day Conference at the Shangri-La Hotel in Katmandu, Nepal, to discuss how Nepalese courts and lawyers could employ both international and foreign law in the Nepalese domestic legal system. This was part of an ongoing initiative at Washburn Law to assist the Nepalese judiciary, executive, and bar in international and comparative law capacity building.


Janet Jackson Presents at Conference in The Netherlands

Professor Janet Jackson (center in photo below) presented on race and the law at the 405th Lustrum Conference at the University of Groningen, in June 2019. Speakers from a number of countries addressed the theme of diversity and inclusion. Jackson and her talk at the conference was featured in the University of Groningen Alumni Magazine.


Martin Publishes Article on Use of Force

Professor Craig Martin published an article entitled "Challenging and Refining the 'Unwilling or Unable' Doctrine," in the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law. The article examines a doctrine of international law used to justify the use of force against terrorist organizations in the territory of other states.


Faculty Work on Georgia Rule of Law Project

Professor Bill Rich continued to work on cooperative projects involving the Republic of Georgia and supported by the United States Agency for International Development. In the Spring of 2019 he and Prof. Craig Martin contributed to a research project on the comparative constitutional analysis of the proportionality doctrine, which has been translated into Georgian and distributed within Georgian legal circles.

Prof. Rich and Prof. Jeff Jackson also continued work with small groups of Washburn students on memoranda explaining how issues pending before the Constitutional Court of Georgia would be addressed under US doctrine. Those memos were used by students in the Constitutional Law Clinic at Free University of Tbilisi, which filed amicus curiae briefs on the related issues with the Constitutional Court.


Martin Visiting Fellow at University of Amsterdam

Professor Craig Martin will spend the Spring semester as a Visiting Fellow at the Amsterdam Center for International Law (ACIL), at the University of Amsterdam, in The Netherlands. While there he will be conducting research on climate change and the jus ad bellum regime.


Concannon Serves on Uniform Law Commission

Professor James Concannon, Senator Robert J. Dole Distinguished Professor of Law, served as Style Committee Liaison to the drafting committee of the Uniform Law Commission that completed the Uniform Registration of Canadian Money Judgments Act. The act was approved at the ULC annual meeting in July. Prof. Concannon teaches conflict of laws at Washburn.


Sourgens Publishes Article on Constitutional Aspects of Climate Change

Professor Sourgens published "States of Resistance," 14 Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy 91 (2019). The article discusses the constitutionality of climate measures by U.S. states in defiance of the Trump administration’s abandonment of Paris Agreement commitments made during the Obama administration.


Westbrook Publishes on Int’l Investment and Corruption

Professor Amy Westbrook recently published two articles:

  • "Securing the Nation or Entrenching the Board? The Evolution of CFIUS Review of Corporate Acquisitions," 102 Marquette Law Review 643 (2019) (discussing the activities of the committee that monitors foreign investment into the United States); and
  • "Cash for Your Conscience: Do Whistleblower Incentives Improve Enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act?” 75 Washington and Lee Law Review 1097 (2018) (discussing the use of whistleblower bounties to combat U.S. company/issuer bribery of foreign officials).

Sourgens Publishes Lauded Book on Evidence in International Arbitration

Professor Freddy Sourgens published, with co-authors Kabir Duggal and Ian A. Laird, Evidence in International Investment Arbitration, (Oxford University Press, 2018). The book has already been well received, and was launched at Oxford in the summer of 2018. [Embed video if possible: https://oxia.ouplaw.com/page/709 (first item on page)]


Janet Jackson Visiting at Groningen, The Netherlands

Professor Janet Jackson was a visitor at the University of Groningen, in The Netherlands, for the 2018-19 academic year. She taught a Masterclass course on Leadership Through Collaboration for the Honours College, and co-taught Legal English with Dr. Aurelia Colombi Ciacchi of the Faculty of Law. While there she also guest lectured on "Implicit Bias and Cultural Consciousness" for the Global & Intercultural Engagement Program of the Faculty of Arts; and conducted a guest lecture on Academia and Civil Society, at the University of Amsterdam, PPLE College.


Martin Visiting Scholar at University of Pennsylvania Perry World House

Professor Craig Martin spent the Fall semester as a "Global Order Visiting Scholar" at Perry World House, an inter-disciplinary institute for the study of global affairs, at the University of Pennsylvania. While there he was working on a project on the “unwilling or unable” doctrine, a controversial aspect of the law of self-defense in international law, and began work on climate change law. While there he moderated a panel in a high-profile conference, Competing Visions of the Global Order, featuring Joe Biden, Susan Rice, and Nick Clegg among others.


Martin Teaches Equality Rights in Batumi Georgia

Professor Craig Martin taught a course on comparative constitutional law, focusing on issues of equality rights and non-discrimination, to students from five universities in Georgia. The course was conducted in the beautiful Constitutional Court in Batumi, on the Black Sea Coast.


Bahadur Teaches Torts at UWI in Barbados

Professor Rory Bahadur and Prof. Cumberbatch of the University of the West Indies co-taught a comparative torts course during the second session of Washburn Law’s Barbados Summer Abroad Program in the summer of 2019. The program this year consisted of 5 Washburn students and 20 UWI students from the all over the Caribbean. In addition to the classroom engagement and learning about British Commonwealth law the Washburn students were immersed in a different culture for six weeks.


Washburn Students Study Abroad at Osaka University

Professor Craig Martin took a class of 10 Washburn Law students to Japan in June 2018, for the inaugural Study Abroad in Osaka Program. Part of Washburn Law's cooperation agreement with Osaka University, Martin taught a 3 week long course on comparative constitutional law to a class comprised of students from both Washburn Law and Osaka University faculty of law.


Washburn Law Co-Hosts 2018 Great Plains Colloquium

Washburn Law's International and Comparative Law Center co-hosted the 4th Annual Great Plains International and Comparative Law Colloquium, held this year at the University of Kansas School of Law. Faculty members from six law schools in the region workshopped and discussed scholarship on issues ranging from women's rights in international trade law, global migration rights, health law in Japan, the relationship between the growth of legal systems and GDP, protecting ecosystems from climate change, judicial discretion at the International Criminal Court, and the disclosure of non-financial factors in global financial regulation. Faculty participating in this year's colloquium (pictured left to right) were: Raj Bhala (University of Kansas), Timothy Lynch (University of Missouri-Kansas City), John Head (University of Kansas), Rob Leflar (University of Arkansas), Gerrit De Geest (Washington University), Andrea Boyack (Washburn University), Matthew Kane (University of Oklahoma), Virginia Harper Ho (University of Kansas), Craig Martin (Washburn University), Lua Yuille (University of Kansas), and Matthias Van Der Haegen (Ghent University, visiting Washington University).

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Jessica Dorsey Discusses Her International Law Career

Photograph: Jessica Dorsey.

Jessica Dorsey, '08, spoke to students on Thursday, November 16, 2017, about careers in international law and about her own work in the field. She is currently the Senior Legal and Policy Officer at Rights Watch (UK), as well as an Associate Fellow at the International Center for Counter-Terrorism-The Hague, working on human rights, humanitarian law, and counterterrorism issues. After graduating from Washburn Law, Jessica obtained an LL.M. from Utrecht University, and spent several years in the Ph.D. program at the University of Amsterdam, before moving to work full time on issues of international humanitarian law and human rights. You can listen to Jessica's presentation below.


Sourgens Participates in Conferences

Photograph: Freddy Sourgens (left) with Antonio Parra at the 2017 Oxford University Press Investment Claims Summer Academy.Professor Freddy Sourgens organized or participated in several recent national and international conferences, including:

  • Co-Chair, Oxford University Press Investment Claims Summer Academy, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, UK (July 6-7, 2017).
  • Co-Chair, 11th Juris Annual Investment Treaty Arbitration Conference, Washington DC (April 25, 2017).
  • Moderator, "Jurisdiction," American Society of International Law & University of Missouri Works in Progress Conference, Columbia, Missouri (February 3, 2017).
  • Moderator, "Legal Theory," American Society of International Law & University of Missouri Works in Progress Conference, Columbia, Missouri (February 3, 2017).

Sourgens Recent Scholarly Activity

Professor Freddy Sourgens wrote and/or edited a number of scholarly items during the first part of 2017, including:

  • Investment Treaty Arbitration and International Law, vol. 10 (edited with Ian Laird, Borzu Sabahi, and Todd Weiler, 2017).
  • "Carbon Custom," 50 New York University Journal of International Law and Politics __ (forthcoming January 2018).
  • "The Privacy Principle," 42 Yale Journal of International Law 345 (2017).
  • "Supernational Law," 50 Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law 155 (2017).
  • "Value and Judgment in Investment Treaty Arbitration," 2017 Journal of Dispute Resolution __ (forthcoming, October 2017) (invited response piece as part of American Society of International Law conference).
  • "The Washington Discourse," 10 Investment Treaty Arbitration and International Law vii (Ian Laird et al. eds.: Juris Publishing, 2017) (with Kabir Duggal).
  • "Evidence in Investor-State Arbitration- The Need for Action," Kluwer Arbitration Blog (March 16, 2017).
  • Editor in Chief, Investment Claims (Oxford University Press) (appointment effective July 2017)

Professor Martin Gives Symposium Keynote Address

Professor Craig Martin gave the keynote address at a symposium on hate speech laws, equality rights, and freedom of speech in Japan, the U.S., and Canada, at UC Hastings College of Law in San Francisco, on Friday September 22, 2017. Other speakers included Professors Rory Littles and Setsuo Miyazawa of UC Hastings, Alice Yang and Hiroshi Fukurai from the University of California Santa Cruz, and Junko Kotani of Shizuoka University, as well as Shoichi Nagayoshi, Deputy Consul General of Japan in San Francisco.

Photograph: Professor Craig Martin giving keynote address at the Hate Speech symposium at the University of California-Hastings College of Law.
Graphic: Poster from Hate Speech: Laws in Japan in Comparative Perspectives symposium at UC Hastings College of Law.


Washburn Law Hosts 2017 Great Plains Colloquium

The International and Comparative Law Center hosted the 3rd Annual Great Plains International and Comparative Law Colloquium at Washburn Law on May 2, 2017. Faculty from Washburn University School of Law (Craig Martin, Freddy Sourgens, and Andrea Boyack), the University of Kansas School of Law (Raj Bhala and Virginia Harper Ho), and Creighton University School of Law (Michael Kelly) were featured. They workshopped six scholarly projects at various levels of development, canvassing a range of issues spanning human rights on the internet, global good faith and transnational law, the use of force against non-state actors, the Chinese use of banks to advance environmental policy, comparative approaches to consumer debt, and applying literary and constitutional interpretation to World Trade Organization (WTO) jurisprudence. The feedback both from those who participated in the Colloquium, and many who were not able to attend but expressed a strong desire to participate next year, suggests that this is becoming a successful event at Washburn Law.

Photograph: Attendees at the 3rd annual Great Plains International and Comparative Law Colloquium held May 2017 at Washburn Law.
Pictured (left to right): Michael Kelly, Freddy Sourgens, Raj Bhala,
Craig Martin, Andrea Boyack, Virginia Harper Ho.


Harold Hongju Koh To Give Foulston Siefkin Lecture

Graphic: Cover of 40th Foulston Siefkin Lecture handout featuring Harold Hongju Koh.The 40th Foulston Siefkin Lecture will be given by Harold Hongju Koh, Sterling Professor of International Law at Yale Law School on Friday, March 31, 2017, at 12:10 p.m. in Room 102. In his lecture, "The Trump Administration and International Law," Professor Koh will explore the key arenas of U.S. foreign policy and examine whether and to what extent the Trump administration can permanently change the nature of the U.S. relationship with international law and institutions. Learn more about Professor Koh.


Washburn Law Faculty Hosts Chinese Law Scholar

Dr. Xing Lijuan, an Assistant Professor at City University of Hong Kong, and Associate-Director of the Hong Kong Center of Maritime and Transportation Law, visited Washburn Law in February to present an article to the faculty. Her article, "Integrated Jurisdiction: A Reflection on China's New Approach to Ocean Governance," explored and explained the Chinese perspectives on the overlapping maritime claims in the South China Sea. Dr. Xing, who has a Ph.D. in Economics from Dongbei University, also studied at the University of Kansas, where she received an S.J.D.

Photograph: Dr. Xing Lijuan speaking to Washburn Law faculty.
Dr. Xing presenting to faculty at Washburn Law.


Sourgens Organizes Oil and Gas Conference

Professor Freddy Sourgens co-organized and directed the Third Annual Houston Oil and Gas Investment Arbitration Conference held on September 16, 2016. The conference was headlined by a keynote from Ecuador's Attorney General, Dr. Diego Garcia Carrion. Speakers included attorneys from Baker McKenzie, Clifford Chance, King & Spalding, Dechert and Crowell & Moring. Professor Sourgens also spoke at the conference, discussing the recent set aside by the Dutch courts of the $50 billion awards against the Russian Federation in favor of Yukos shareholders.


Sourgens Lectures at Columbia Law

Photograph: Freddy Sourgens.Professor Freddy Sourgens presented a lecture at Columbia Law School in September, on "Supernational Law - How Investment Tribunals Avoid Favoring the Interests of Multinationals Over the Public Policy Concerns of Host States," as part of a colloquia series organized by the Vale Center on Sustainable Development and the Law School. The presentation was live-streamed, and can be viewed online.


Martin Continues Debate Over Japan's War Powers; Teaches at Osaka

Professor Craig Martin continued to be active in the vibrant debate over the recent effort by the Japanese government to "reinterpret" the war-renouncing provision of the Constitution. In August 2016, he presented "The Legitimacy of Informal Constitutional Amendments and the 'Reinterpretation' of Japan's War Powers" at a conference on Japan's constitutional amendment process at the University of New South Wales, in Sydney, Australia. The article of the same title will be published in 40 Fordham International Law Journal later this year.

Professor Martin also returned to Osaka University Graduate School of Law in August 2016 to teach An Introduction to Anglo-American Constitutional Law.


Sourgens Recent Publications

Professor Freddy Sourgens had a productive summer of scholarship - he had accepted for publication "The Privacy Principle," Yale International Law Journal (forthcoming 2017). Earlier this year he published a number of works related to international and comparative law, including:

He also co-edited the ninth volume of Investment Treaty Arbitration and International Law (Juris Publishing, 2016) and continues to serve as Managing Editor for Oxford University Press' Investment Claims reporter.

Professor Sourgens was also appointed to the committee responsible for drafting this year's Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition Compromis.


Bahadur and Alaka Collaborate on Georgian-language Textbook

Professors Rory Bahadur and Aïida Alaka travelled to Georgia in July 2016 to collaborate with Georgian law professors on the development of a Georgian-language legal writing textbook, and to hold workshops in Batumi on legal writing and interactive teaching methods.


Elrod Speaks in London

Professor Elrod spoke on "The Proposal for a New Uniform Law on Family Law Arbitration" at a plenary session for the Conference on Culture, Dispute Resolution and the Modernised Family in July 2016. The conference was held July 6-8, 2016, for International Centre for Family Law, Policy and Practice in association with King's College London. This "invitation only" conference is held every three years and drew 200 judges, scholars, lawyers and mediators from 45 countries.


2016 Washburn Law Barbados Program

Professors Tonya Kowalski, David Rubenstein and Joseph Mastrosimone were back at the University of the West Indies for the administration of, and teaching at, Washburn's study abroad program. It is a 6 week program in which Washburn students study alongside students from the University of the West Indies. Professor Kowalski administers the program, Professor Rubenstein taught comparative constitutional law, and Professor Mastrosimone taught comparative labor law.


Sourgens and Martin Serve on ASIL Interest Groups

Professors Freddy Sourgens and Craig Martin were both elected to the executive committees of Interest Groups at the American Society of International Law (ASIL) Annual Meeting in April 2016. Professor Sourgens was elected Vice-President of the Private International Law Interest Group; Professor Martin was re-elected to the Executive Committee of the Lieber Society, the Interest Group focused on the law of armed conflict.

Professor Sourgens was also elected to the Academic Council of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration.


Washburn Law Hosts 2016 Great Plains Colloquium

The International and Comparative Law Center hosted the 2nd Annual Great Plains International and Comparative Law Colloquium at Washburn Law on May 6, 2016. The colloquium involved 9 scholars from University of Missouri-Kansas City (Timothy Lynch and Rana Lerh-Lenardt), the University of Kansas (Raj Bhala and Virginia Harper Ho), the University of Arkansas (Lisa Avalos and Rob Leflar), and Washburn Law (Craig Martin, Freddy Sourgens, and Andrea Boyack). Topics discussed during the colloquium ranged from currency manipulation under the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Consumer Social Responsibility mechanisms in China, Supernational Law in international investment arbitration, rape investigation failures as human rights violations, constitutional war powers of Canada, and new health care law in Japan. The Center and Washburn Law look forward to continuing the annual colloquium with wider and deeper participation by other schools in the region.

|Photograph: Attendees at the 2nd annual Great Plains International and Comparative Law Colloquium held May 6, 2016 at Washburn Law.
Pictured (left to right): Timothy Lynch, Rob Leflar, Craig Martin,
Virginia Harper Ho, Andrea Boyack, Rana Lerh-Lenardt,
Lisa Avalos, Freddy Sourgens, Raj Bhala.


Washburn Law Signs Agreement With Osaka University

Photograph: Osaka University Law School Dean Yutaka Takenaka (left) with Dean Thomas Romig.Washburn Law has entered into an exchange and cooperation agreement with the law schools of the internationally renowned Osaka University, located in Osaka, Japan. The agreement was signed by Dean Yutaka Takenaka of Osaka University, President Jerry Farley of Washburn University, and Dean Thomas Romig of Washburn Law, during Dean Takenaka's visit to Washburn on March 3, 2016. The agreement will provide opportunities for the faculty of each school to conduct research and to teach at the partner school, and it will similarly create study abroad opportunities for students of both schools. Washburn Law will also seek to accept individual students from Osaka University for semester-long visits, and to admit graduates of Osaka University into Washburn Law's LL.M. program. Washburn will explore the development of a summer study abroad program at Osaka.

Osaka University is one of Japan's most prestigious universities, typically ranked among the top five of all universities in Japan, and in the top 50 of all universities in the world. It has three separate law schools, serving the undergraduate level, graduate school for future scholars, and a professional school for prospective lawyers. Learn more...

Photograph: Yukata Takenaka (left) and Thomas Romig (right) sign agreement while Washburn President Jerry Farley looks on.
Yukata Takenaka (left) and Thomas Romig (right) sign
agreement while Washburn President Jerry Farley looks on.


Leflar Discusses Japanese Patient Safety Reforms

Professor Robert Leflar of University of Arkansas School of Law, one of the handful of experts on Japanese law in the American legal academy, visited Washburn Law on March 3, 2016 to present a work-in-progress to the faculty. His paper, the working title of which was “The Iridescence of Japanese Patient Safety Reforms,” explored various issues arising from the recent reforms to the Japanese legal regime governing medical accidents and patient safety. There was considerable discussion among the faculty regarding how the system and its reforms might compare to the regime's counterpart in American law.

Photograph: Robert Leflar presenting to faculty at Washburn Law.
Robert Leflar presenting to faculty at Washburn Law.


Martin Presents at The Hague

Professor Craig Martin spoke on the "reinterpretation" of Japan's war-renouncing constitution at the Asser Institute in The Hague, the Netherlands, on February 26, 2016. He was responding to His Excellency Justice Shunji Yanai of the International Court for the Law of the Sea, and Chair of the Advisory Panel that made the recommendations for reinterpretation to the government of Japan. The Keynote Address was given by H.E. Justice Hisashi Owada of the International Court of Justice.

Photograph: Craig Martin presenting at The Hague.
Craig Martin (left) presenting at the Hague.


Washburn Faculty in Tbilisi

Professors Aida Alaka, Rory Bahadur, and Tonya Kowalski traveled to Tbilisi, Georgia in December 2015 to conduct a series of workshops at Free University. The four separate workshops, conducted for local faculty and attorneys serving as adjuncts, covered subjects ranging from case briefing, case law literacy, scholarly writing, multi-modal teaching techniques, and the development of text books.

Photograph: Rory Bahadur (left), Tonya Kowalski, and Aida Alaka teaching at Free University in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Rory Bahadur (left), Tonya Kowalski, and
Aida Alaka (left) teaching at Free University.


Washburn Role in Georgia Extended

Washburn Law was selected, under a new five year grant from the State Department and USAID and in cooperation with the East-West Management Institute, to work on improving legal education in Georgia (the former Republic of Georgia). This is a new grant, which will build on the work Washburn did under a previous five year grant. Faculty and students will be working predominantly with Free University of Tblisi on improving various aspects of legal education. Many of Washburn's faculty have spent time at Free University, teaching and training local faculty. Students of both schools have collaborated on the preparation of amicus briefs for Georgia's Constitutional Court.

Photograph: Scenic view in Tbilisi.


Janet Jackson at European Clinical Conference

Professor Janet Jackson attended the 3rd Annual European Network of Clinical Legal Educators Conference in Budapest, Hungary, in October 2015. She gave a presentation, "Comparing the U.S. and European Experience in Business Law Clinics that Promote Social and Economic Justice," with Professor Susan Jones of George Washington University Law School.

Photograph: Janet Jackson (left) with Susan Jones in Budapest, Hungary.
Janet Jackson (left) with Susan Jones.


Sourgens Co-chairs Oxford Conference

Professor Freddy Sourgens, along with Diane Desierto (University of Hawaii) and Ian Laird (Crowell & Moring LLP and Columbia University), co-chaired the inaugural Annual Investment Claims Summer Academy, convened by Oxford University Press and held at Oxford in the summer of 2015. The conference brought together a select group of expert scholars and practitioners in the field to discuss investor-state arbitration. His Excellency Judge James Crawford was the keynote speaker.

Photograph: Freddy Sourgens (center) with Ian Laird (left) and Diane Desierto.
Freddy Sourgens (center) with Ian Laird and Diane Desierto


Rubenstein and Waugh in Barbados

Professors David Rubenstein and Curtis Waugh taught courses in Washburn Law's six-week study abroad program at the University of the West Indies at Cavhill, Barbados. Students from both schools study together in courses co-taught by Washburn and UWI faculty members. Rubenstien taught a course in comparative constitutional law, while Waugh taught international alternative dispute resolution (ADR).

Photograph: Curtis Waugh with students in Washburn Law's 2015 study abroad program in Barbados.
Curtis Waugh with students in Barbados during
Washburn Law's 2015 study abroad program.


Kowalski Returns to Symbiosis Law School in India

Professor Tonya Kowalski returned to Symbiosis Law School (SLS) in Pune, India to serve as visiting scholar-in-residence for a month this summer. She taught a one-week, intensive legal analysis, writing, and moot argument course for entering students, assessed arguments from the first-year class, and delivered a faculty seminar. Professor Kowalski also advanced discussion with SLS leadership to develop further initiatives between the two law schools.


Martin and Glashausser in Japan

Professors Craig Martin and Alex Glashausser were both in Japan over the summer. Craig Martin taught two intensive courses at Osaka University, one an introduction to Anglo-American Constitutional Law at the Graduate School of Law and Politics, the other on the war renouncing Article 9 of Japan's Constitution at the Cross-Border Innovation Institute (pictured).

Photograph: Professor Martin with cross-border innovation institute students at Osaka University.

Alex Glashausser was a visiting scholar at Waseda University Faculty of Law, where he conducted research on international law and its interaction with the Alien Tort Statute, and participated in colloquia engaged in discussion of that and other topics. Professors Glashausser (left in photo) and Martin met up at Waseda in August for the annual East-Asia Law and Society Conference at Waseda University. Craig Martin presented a paper at the conference on Japanese government efforts to reinterpret Article 9.

Photograph: Professors Glashausser (left) and Martin at Waseda University.


Washburn Law Hosts Great Plains Colloquium

The International and Comparative Law Center hosted the inaugural Great Plains International and Comparative Law Colloquium at Washburn Law on May 14, 2015. The colloquium, which began with a lunch and ended over dinner, involved 10 scholars from 3 schools in the region (Washburn Law (WU), the University of Kansas (KU), and the University of Tulsa (TU)) workshopping 5 projects, ranging from the evolution of international trade in both practice and scholarship, the creation of safe harbors from international intellectual property, and law and lawlessness in Syria, to legal and institutional reforms to address ecological collapse in the Mediterranean, and constitutional reinterpretation of Japan's "peace" constitution. The colloquium was a first step in what the Center hopes will be a collaboration with neighboring schools to create a more integrated community of international and comparative law professors in the region, and a dynamic environment for international and comparative law scholarship.

Photograph: Attendees at the 2015 Great Plains International and Comparative Law Colloquium held May 14, 2015 at Washburn Law.
Pictured (left to right): Sam Halabi (Tulsa), Raj Bhala (KU),
Virginia Harper Ho (KU), Freddy Sourgens (WU),
Craig Martin (WU), Amy Westbrook (WU),
John Head (KU), Ali Khan (WU), Patricia Judd (WU).


Osaka University Professor Learns About Washburn Law LL.M. Program

The International and Comparative Law Center hosted Professor Koto Fukui of Osaka University in March. Professor Fukui, who is the Director of International Studies at Osaka University School of Law and the Graduate School of Law and Politics, was visiting to discuss possible exchange and study abroad programs between Osaka University and Washburn University, and the enrollment of Osaka University graduates in Washburn Law's new LL.M. program. Professor Craig Martin, Co-Director of the International and Comparative Law Center, studied at Osaka University, and continues to teach comparative constitutional law courses there each summer.

Photograph: Professor Koto Fukui with Thomas Romig, Aida Alaka, and Craig Martin.


Professor Martin Gives Keynote at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan

Professor Craig Martin travelled to Kyoto, Japan during reading week to present "Article 9 at a Crossroads: The Past, Present and Future of Japan's Peace Constitution," as the keynote speaker at the Ritsumeikan University, College of International Relations Research Group on Pacifism, 6th Annual Seminar, on March 18, 2015. The government of Japan's so-called "reinterpretation" of the war-renouncing provision of the Constitution of Japan, and its likely effort to formally amend the provision in the next couple of years, has lead to increasing debate and analysis in Japan.

Photograph: Craig Martin at Ryoanji in Kyoto, Japan.


2015 Jessup International Law Moot Court Team

Washburn competed in the 2014-2015 Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, traveling to the University of Denver in February for the Rocky Mountain Regional Round of the Competition. Washburn was one of 500 schools from over 80 countries competing in the competition this year, with 19 schools represented in the Rocky Mountain Regional, including Stanford University, Tulane University, the University of Kansas, and Arizona State. The 2014-2015 Jessup problem, The Case Concerning the Secession and Annexation of East Agnostica (409 KB PDF), was inspired by the Crimean crisis of 2014, with claims of unlawful interference in the internal affairs of another state through the encouragement of secessionist movements, claims of self-determination, and allegations of subsequent annexation of territory, along with additional claims arising from a treaty dispute over mineral resources. The Washburn team lost two close split decisions, and thus did not advance to the knock-out round or on to the international round in Washington D.C. Skip Jordan won an individual prize for 10th top oralist, and the team won 8th best Memorial. Pictured: Professor Craig Martin (faculty advisor), James Crux (1L participant), Andrea Plunkett, Skip Jordan, Nicole Southall, Jordan Clothier, and David Cohen.

Photograph: Washburn Law's 2015 Jessup Moot Court team.


Faculty Discuss CIA Detention and Interrogation Report

Dean Thomas Romig and Professor Craig Martin gave a presentation on February 12, 2015 to students about the Senate Select Intelligence Committee's Report on CIA Detention and Interrogation (62 MB PDF). The Report, which is itself over 500 pages long, is an executive summary of a 4,000 page report on CIA conduct during its detention and interrogation of suspected al-Qaeda members in black sites in undisclosed countries, as well as in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The presentation by Dean Romig (right in photo below) and Professor Martin explained the findings of the Report and explored the legal, moral, and policy aspects of the CIA's conduct, and of torture more generally.
Photograph: Tom Romig and Craig Martin discussing CIA detention and interrogation report.


Professor Sourgens Publishes Book

Graphic: Cover of A Nascent Common Law by Frederic Sourgens.Washburn Law's Professor Freddy Sourgens has just had a new book published by Brill. In A Nascent Common Law: The Process of Decisionmaking in International Legal Disputes Between States and Foreign Investors, Professor Sourgens argues that investor-state dispute resolution relies upon an inductive, common law decision-making process, which reveals a necessary plurality of first principles within investor-state dispute resolution. A Nascent Common Law provides an alternative account to current theoretical conceptions of investor-state arbitration. It explains that these theories cannot adequately resolve a key empirical challenge: tribunals frequently reach facially inconsistent results on similar questions of law. It is expected that Prof. Sourgen's book will be an important contribution to both international law theory, and the area of international investment arbitration.


ICLC Co-sponsors Reflections on Ferguson

Graphic: Poster advertising Reflections on Ferguson (Missouri) events at Washburn Law.The International and Comparative Law Center worked with the Center for Law and Government and the Washburn Law Diversity Committee to present a two-day program for students on the social and legal issues surrounding the events in Ferguson, Missouri following the shooting of Michael Brown. The event, held November 10 and 12, 2014, included guest speakers on law enforcement perspectives, and faculty members addressing many of the legal issues, including a comparative and international perspective on the use of force by police and the disparate impact of law enforcement on minorities. A third event in the series is planned for later in the Spring semester.

Photograph: Audience attending Reflections on Ferguson event at Washburn Law.


Faculty Contribute to Comparative Law Scholarship in Georgia

Graphic: Cover of 2014 Georgian Commercial Law Review Journal.Four Washburn Law faculty members, Andrea Boyack, Will Foster, Joseph Mastrosimone, and Mary Ramirez, contributed to a new project in comparative commercial law at Free University of Tbilisi, Georgia. Each published an article in the 2014 edition of Georgian Commercial Law Review Journal. The articles, covering different aspects of commercial law from a comparative perspective, were first presented at a joint conference with faculty members from Free University, at Free University in Tbilisi in May 2013.


Center Co-sponsors Oil and Gas Investment Arbitrations Conference

Professor Freddy Sourgens is part of the organizing team for a conference on "Oil and Gas Investment Arbitrations: Protecting Oil and Gas Projects Against Political Risk", co-sponsored by Washburn University School of Law's Oil and Gas Law Center and International and Comparative Law Center, the University of Houston Law Center, and the International Law Institute, in Houston, October 31, 2014. The conference brings together lawyers practicing in the area of oil and gas and international arbitration, and academics specializing in international arbitration, international law, and oil and gas law. Learn more.

Map: South China Sea.


Professor Martin Joins the Japanese Constitutional Debate

Professor Craig Martin contributed to the increasingly heated debate in Japan this summer regarding Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's efforts to "reinterpret" Article 9, the provision of the Constitution of Japan that renounces war and the use of force. Some of Professor Martin's earlier scholarship examined Article 9 as a model of constitutional constraint, and example of constitutional incorporation of international law principles.

Graphic: Reproduction of Tokyo Shimbun page showing interview with Craig Martin.Professor Martin wrote an op-ed article for the Japan Times critical of the Mr. Abe's "reinterpretation" efforts, which was published alongside an article by Mr. Abe himself defending the initiative. Professor Martin also had a lengthy interview on the subject published in the Tokyo Shimbun (in Japanese; pictured left and below). Outside of Japan he was interviewed regarding his views on the subject on South Korean radio (audio in English; 16:16 minute MP3), by the Vietnamese newspaper vnExpress (in Vietnamese; read Google translation), and the Austrian newspaper Der Standard (in German; read Google translation).

Professor Martin will be traveling to Osaka in Japan in August, to teach a course on constitutional law and conduct research, and expects to continue being active as the debate continues to unfold.

Photograph: Craig Martin being interviewed by Tokyo Shimbun newspaper; courtesy Tokyo Shimbun.
Photo credit: Tokyo Shimbun.

Professor Martin shared additional insights on the debate over "reinterpretation" of Japan's constitution in, "Reexamining 'Myths' About Japan's Collective Self-Defense Change – What Critics (and the Japanese Public) Do Understand About Japan's Constitutional Reinterpretation," published September 8, 2014 in The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. The article was co-authored with Bryce Wakefield, Assistant Professor of Japanese Politics and International Relations at Leiden University.


International Law Issues in the Ukraine Crisis

The Center, along with the student International Law Society (ILS), hosted a Lunch and Learn session in which Professor Craig Martin gave an informal talk and answered questions about the Ukraine crisis and the annexation of Crimea. After providing some background to the crisis Professor Martin explained the international law principles on the use of force, intervention in the internal matters of other states, and the right of self-determination and secession from states, and how all of these might apply in the current crisis. He also explored how the legal arguments and positions advanced by both Russia and the U.S. in the context of this crisis are undermined by their conduct and positions in the past. There was a robust discussion following the presentation.

Photograph: Craig Martin discussing the Ukraine/Crimea crisis.


Visiting University of the West Indies Scholar

The International and Comparative Law Center hosted Visiting Foreign Scholar Dr. David S. Berry, Dean of Law, Faculty of Law from the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus, Barbados. In addition to meeting with various law school faculty and staff, and Washburn University administrators, Dr. Berry made two presentations. Read more...

Photograph: Dr. David Berry talking to students about legal education in the Caribbean.


2014 Jessup International Law Moot Court Team

Washburn Law's Phillip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court team of Brett Shanks, Norah Avellan, Megan Williams, Whitney Mills, Nicole Southall (1L representative), and Michael Fessinger turned in a fine performance at the Rocky Mountain Super-Regional round of the international competition in Denver, Colorado. Brett Shanks earned a top oralist award, the third consecutive year that Washburn advocates have won such an award. Read more...

Photograph: Washburn Law's 2014 Jessup Moot Court team.


Professor Bahadur Teaches in Georgia

Professor Rory Bahadur taught a Comparative Civil Procedure Course to practicing attorneys in Georgia in July of 2014. The course was part of Free University's National Center for Commercial Law Summer School and was taught at the University's training center in Bazelati, Georgia.

Photograph: Rory Bahadur teaching in Georgia.


Professor Kowalski Teaches at Symbiosis Law School

Photograph: Tonya Kowalski at Symbiosis University.Professor Tonya Kowalski was a scholar in residence at Symbiosis Law School, Symbiosis International University in Pune, India, in July and August of 2013. She taught an intensive course on legal analysis, research, writing and oral advocacy skills as part of the moot court program, and lectured to upper years on scholarly writing and analysis. She also presented to the Faculty of Symbiosis on her scholarly work on legal writing pedagogy, and on government-tribal relations in the United States.


Professor Jeff Jackson Teaches in Georgia

Professor Jeff Jackson taught a course on Judicial Independence in Democratic Societies at the Constitutional Law Winter School, sponsored by the Free University of Tiblisi, Georgia, and the Constitutional Court of Georgia, in February, 2014. He managed to take in some of the mountain vistas during his trip.

Photograph: Jeffrey Jackson enjoying the mountains in Georgia.