A year-round workshop on international and comparative law sponsored by the Center for International & Comparative Law and convened by Professor Ralf Michaels along with other Duke faculty, the Global Law Workshop offers an exciting opportunity for the Duke Law School community to engage in current issues in international and comparative law. Law and the legal process can no longer be contained within national borders. As much as today's challenges cross national boundaries--be they environmental, security-related, or economic issues--so do law and the study of law, by becoming increasingly global.
The workshop meets seven or eight times during both semesters. Prominent legal scholars present their latest work in the field of international or comparative law. Although there is always a variety of topics, each semester is held together by a loose theme. In the fall of 2007, that theme was interdisciplinary approaches to comparative law. In the spring of 2008, the theme was comparing institutions. In the fall of 2008, the theme is international finance, law, and development. Professor Gulati is the co-convener of the workshop in the fall of 2008.
The workshop is unique in that it is run, and regularly attended, by Duke and UNC faculty active in the field. This offers students a great opportunity to meet and hear a number of faculty, and fascinating guest speakers, in one single class.
In addition, the workshop is open to Duke's burgeoning SJD and visiting scholars community, most of whom have an international focus. For both JDs and LLMs this offers a unique venue to interact with more advanced students and professionals.
Schedule: Fall Semester 2008
International Finance, Law, and Development
Monday, 4:30 – 6:00 pm
Room 4042
(Unless otherwise noted below.)
| Date | Speaker | Title / Topic |
| August 25 | Introductory Session | |
| September 8 | W. Mark C. Weidemaier UNC Law School |
"Disputing Boilerplate" (Arbitration clauses in international debt contracts) |
| September 15 | Gregory Shaffer University of Minnesota Law School |
"International Trade and Finance" |
| October 3 Friday 12:15-1:15 pm Room 4042 (optional session) |
Mark J. Ramseyer Harvard Law School |
"Insurance Markets in Japan" |
| October 6 | Anna Gelpern Rutgers School of Law Newark |
"The Global Mortgage Finance Crisis" |
| October 27 | Christine Windbichler Humboldt University Berlin School of Law |
"The Structural Requirement of Independent Financial Oversight: A Comparative Analysis" |
| November 3 | Amy Cohen Ohio State University Mortiz College of Law |
"Nepal and Involvement of NGOs in Local Development and Finance" |
| November 17 | Dania Thomas Keele University School of Law Staffordshire |
"The Argentine Financial Crisis and the Aftermath: Focus on Gender Empowerment via Local Cooperatives" |
| November 24 | Wrap-Up Session |
Attendance
There are 7 sessions total in each semester. The first session is designed to introduce students to the theme of the semester, and to review techniques for writing reaction papers.
Workshop attendance is mandatory. In an exceptional case when you cannot attend, please send an email to the workshop conveners Professor Michaels and Professor Gulati the day before class with an explanation. A reaction paper must be written for a workshop that you have had to miss.
Laptops will be banned from all speaker sessions, but will be allowed in the two sessions without speakers.
Paper Submission, Presentation, and Questions
The paper upon which the speaker will base his/her talk will be sent out one week in advance. In the workshop, the speaker will introduce the paper for approximately 30 minutes; the remaining time is reserved for a Q and A session. Attendees are encouraged to bring questions to the workshop, including those they raise in their reaction papers.
Evaluation
Evaluation is based on class participation (20%) and reaction papers (80%). There is no final examination.
Reaction Papers
Each student must submit a reaction paper for each of the five following speaker sessions, even if you cannot attend a session. Your reaction papers should be about 3-5 pages in length. You should not summarize the paper. Nor should you feel you have to react to everything in the paper. Instead, pick one or several points that strike you as especially interesting, and write about them. This is not a research paper, so you should not have to engage in research, nor should you use any footnotes or references (except, where necessary, to the paper). Instead, you should engage with the argument of the paper. Possible questions include these: Is the argument successful? Are the assumptions plausible? Are alternative explanations conceivable? What are implications of this research or these findings? How does this relate to other papers we have seen? What other research could be inspired by this paper? Etc. Please note you do not have to criticize the author--you should feel free to do so, but you should not feel obliged. What is most important is that you make your arguments as close to the paper as you can. Do not start discussing things only loosely related to the paper--address the argument the author him/herself makes.
Reaction papers should be forwarded, as word documents, to Neylân Gürel with cc to Professor Michaels and Professor Gulati no later than 11:00 pm on Sunday, the day before the workshop. (We will deduct points for papers that are late.) Please put your name on the paper. Please name the document with the speaker's name followed by an underscore and your name. For example, if your name is Miller and you comment on a paper by Ramseyer, your document should be named Ramseyer_Miller.doc. Please use, as subject line for the e-mail, the following model: "Shapiro reaction paper Miller"
Reaction papers will be returned to students with a preliminary grade after the workshop. This ensures some feedback on your work. Papers will be graded either as "check plus," "check," or "check-minus." Once submitted, papers are final and cannot be corrected / improved.
We look forward to an exciting class. We have what we think is an excellent list of speakers lined up, and we are sure we all will learn a lot.
Ralf Michaels
Mitu Gulati