The Herbert L. Bernstein Memorial Lecture in International and Comparative Law began in 2002 and honors the many contributions to Duke Law School and to the legal community made by the late Professor Bernstein.
Herbert L. Bernstein was a member of the Duke Law faculty from 1984 until his death in 2001. Professor Bernstein's instruction and scholarship concentrated upon contracts, conflict of laws, and comparative law, as well as international economic integration. He taught the European Union Law class at Duke, a subject particularly close to his heart: during the early years of the European Community/European Union, he was involved in the litigation of major cases in the European Court of Justice. For several years, he also served as the Faculty Director of the Law School's Summer Institute of Transnational Law in Brussels.
Professor Bernstein was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1930. Following World War II, he studied and practiced law in Hamburg, and was elected to the prestigious Max-Planck Institute for Foreign and Private International Law. While in private practice, Professor Bernstein continued his studies at the University of Hamburg, where he earned a doctorate in law magna cum laude. He came to the United States in 1962 to study at the University of Michigan, where he obtained his J.D. degree magna cum laude. Before joining Duke Law School, he taught at University of California at Berkeley, University of Hamburg in Germany, and University of Southampton in the United Kingdom.
Professor Bernstein published frequently in both German and English. His bibliography includes the book "Understanding the CISG in Europe" (1997) (co-authored with Joseph Lookofsky, presenter of the 2007 lecture).
The Annual Bernstein Lecture series brings a distinguished comparative and international law scholar to give a public lecture to the Law School community each year.
Professor Nicola Lacey
All Souls College at Oxford University.
Thursday, April 4, 2013
12:15 pm, Room 3041
Duke Law School