PUBLISHED:November 04, 2009

CICL launches "scholarship roundtable" series

Nov. 4, 2009 — The Center for International and Comparative Law (CICL) launches a series of interdisciplinary scholarship roundtables this week with a two-day gathering of scholars at the Law School.

The Law and Politics of International Cooperation” is the theme of the invitation-only forum at which fifteen scholars will discuss eight works in progress.

Laurence Helfer, Duke’s Harry R. Chadwick, Sr. Professor of Law and CICL co-director, is organizing the scholarship roundtable series.

“The roundtables provide an intimate forum for a small group of legal scholars and social scientists to travel to Duke to discuss their works in progress and receive detailed commentary and feedback from their colleagues,” Helfer says. The roundtable format encourages in depth analysis and discussion, he adds. The assigned commentator (not the author) briefly introduces the paper and raise questions. The remaining hour of each session is devoted to an in-depth review of the paper by the group.

Helfer envisions the roundtable series as way to “introduce junior scholars in international law to their more established colleagues, and to promote new collaborations among scholars who study international cooperation in such disciplines as law, political science, and economics, among others.”

The theme of the next scholarship roundtable, to be held on January 30, 2010, is “Opting Out of Customary International Law.” This event will explore the broader themes developed in a paper on that topic authored by Duke Law professors Mitu Gulati and Curtis A. Bradley, the Horvitz Professr of Law and Professor of Public Policy Studies, and co-director of CICL. Helfer plans to host two or three roundtables each year on a diverse range

The following scholars and commentators will be taking part in the inaugural scholarship roundtable on November 6-7, 2009:
  • Gabriella Blum (Harvard University — Law), Equal Rights, Different Standards: Compliance with the Laws of War
    • Comment: Curtis Bradley (Duke University — Law and Public Policy)

  • Erik Voeten (Georgetown University — School of Foreign Service), Borrowing and Non-Borrowing Among International Courts
    • Comment: Laurence Helfer (Duke University — Law)

  • Andrew Lang (London School of Economics — Law), Legal Regimes and Regimes of Knowledge: Governing Global Services Trade
    • Comment: Andrew Mitchell (University of Melbourne — Law)

  • Pierre-Hugues Verdier (University of Virginia — Law), Mutual Recognition: The New Bilateralism in International Finance
    • Comment: David Fontana (George Washington University — Law)

  • Graham Mayeda (University of Ottawa — Law), Pushing the Boundaries of International Law: Rethinking International Law in Light of Cosmopolitan Obligations to Developing Countries
    • Comment: Annecoos Wiersema (Ohio State University — Law)

  • Leslie Johns (University of California, Los Angeles — Political Science), Strengthening International Courts and the Early Settlement of Disputes
    • Comment: Erik Voeten (Georgetown University — School of Foreign Service)

  • Darren Hawkins (Brigham Young University — Political Science), Partial Compliance: A Comparison of the European and Inter-American American Courts for Human Rights
    • Comment: Samantha Besson (University of Fribourg — Law)

  • Yuval Shany (Hebrew University — Law), Assessing Effectiveness of International Courts: Can the Unquantifiable Be Quantified?
    • Comment: Timothy Waters (Indiana University, Bloomington — Law)