Midyear Update — March 2016 Executive Director’s Note:

We have heard from many of our alum-

ni and friends that, as much as our an-

nual printed CILE Notes are valued by

them, they would like to hear news and

updates from us on a more frequent

basis. We are therefore pleased to pre-

sent this Midyear Update, reporting on

CILE’s activities as we reach the mid-

way point between the publication of

each year’s Notes. We also plan to

provide you with updated information

on a more frequent basis through social

media (see the links at the end of this

report) and email.

As you will see, our 2015-16 academic

year has already seen a full schedule of

lectures and events, faculty travel, and

other CILE related activities. We have

enjoyed getting to know our largest

ever class of LLM students both as

scholars and friends, benefitted from

interaction with a growing and talented

community of SJD students, and bene-

fitted greatly from hosting this year’s

visiting professors and scholars. legal

system and traditions that they have

studied with us.

We hope that you enjoy reading the

stories that follow, and I encourage all

the alumni reading this, whether JD,

LLM or SJD, to send me your own career

updates and personal news for inclu-

sion in the Alumni News section of the

CILE Notes, which we expect to go to

press in late August 2016.

Richard Thorpe

Celebrating the 20th

Anniversary of CILE

CILE celebrated its 20th anniversary

with a two-day program of high-

profile international speakers and

events at Pitt Law, Sept. 10 and

Sept. 11, 2015. The anniversary cel-

ebration kicked off with a dinner on

Thursday, Sept. 10, that brought

together CILE alumni, other mem-

bers of Pitt’s international studies

community and supporters of CILE

from the local business and legal

community. Guests at the anniver-

sary dinner were addressed by Pro-

fessor Ronald Brand, the Academic

Director and founder of CILE, and

by alumni and friends of CILE who

shared their perspectives on CILE's

history and mission.

The next day’s events began with

events designed for the Pitt Law

student community, including a

morning panel where CILE alumni

shared the impact of CILE on their

professional careers with current Pitt

Law students. A keynote address

then was delivered by Mr. Jeffrey

Kovar, the Assistant Legal Adviser

for Western Hemisphere Affairs at

the U.S. State Department, who dis-

cussed his involvement in the re-

cent reopening of diplomatic rela-

tions with Cuba and related legal

issues. A series of afternoon panels

brought together Pitt Law faculty

and their international colleagues

to discuss a variety of subjects in

international law, including Islamic

law, international commercial law,

and international human rights.

(continued next page)

Pitt Law LLM or JD grad?

Please update your contact

information at:

http://law.pitt.edu/alumni/updateinfo

CILE’s 20th Anniversary (continued from p. 1)

Chancellor Emeritus Mark A. Nor-

denberg closed the formal pro-

gram with a discussion of the

growth of international programs at

the School of Law during the 20

years of CILE, and the importance

of a global reach for the entire Uni-

versity of Pittsburgh.

Videos of each of the anniversary

events and talks, and a slideshow

reflection on 20 years of CILE, can

be found on our anniversary

webpage at http://law.pitt.edu/

cile20.

Upcoming Events

23rd McLean Lecture on World Law

5:30 p.m., March 28, 2016

Teplitz Memorial Courtroom

Barco Law Building

Our guest of honor and speaker this

year will be the Honorable Joan

Donoghue, Judge of the Interna-

tional Court of Justice in The

Hague, who will speak on “The In-

ternational Court of Justice:

Caught between Common Law

and Civil Law Traditions."

2016 High School International

Criminal Court Moot Competition

April 22-23, 2016

Barco Law Building

Pitt Law 2016 Commencement

Sunday, May 8, 2016

20th Anniversary Photo Gallery

CILE Founder and Academic Director Professor Ronald Brand (l) and CILE Advisory

Board member Max Laun (JD ‘88) (r) address guests at the anniversary dinner

Jeffrey Kovar delivers the keynote address on September 11, 2015, launching an

afternoon of presentations on issues in international and comparative law

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Speakers at our afternoon events on September 11, 2015: (front row, l to r) Vivian Curran, Matiangai Sirleaf, Richard Weisberg,

Laura Pedraza-Farina, Mark Nordenberg; (middle row, l to r) Jack Graves, Harry Flechtner, Mike Madison, David Thaw; (back

row, l to r) Paul Herrup, Ronald Brand, Jeffrey Kovar, Pierluigi Perri

See more photos from the 20th anniversary celebration on CILE’s Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/cilepitt/photos_stream

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Events

CILE Guest Jurcek Zmauc Describes Career Paths

for Lawyers in Diplomacy and Business

On February 2, 2016, Jurcek Zmauc spoke to an audience of Pitt Law

students, faculties and friends on “Lawyers in Diplomacy and Busi-

ness” at an event co-sponsored by CILE and Pitt Law’s Innovation

Practice Institute. Mr. Zmauc’s presentation drew on his experiences

in a career that has ranged across legal practice, government ser-

vice, international business and law school teaching and administra-

tion.

Mr. Zmauc is the President of the Slovenian American Business Associ-

ation and is a Secretary of the Office for Slovenes Abroad of the Re-

public of Slovenia. A native of Maribor, Slovenia, he received de-

grees in law from the University of Maribor and from the University of

Ljubljana. His career has included service as the Republic of Slove-

nia’s Counsel General in Austria and as its Counsel General in Cleveland, Ohio, and as the Deputy Minister

and Director of the Division of Southeast Europe of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia. In addition to

his government service, Mr. Zmauc has taught civil and international business law at the University of Mari-

bor, and has served as Director of its Center for International Cooperation.

Visiting Professor Zlatan Meškić Discusses

Constitutional Developments in Bosnia

On February 11, 2016, CILE sponsored a presentation by Visit-

ing Professor Zlatan Meškić on “The Bosnian Constitutional Di-

lemma - from the Dayton Peace Agreement to the EU Mem-

bership.” Professor Meškić discussed the complicated inter-

play between ethnic and multinational politics in Bosnia &

Herzegovina, the constitutional legacy of the Dayton peace

process, and the external pressures for constitutional change

to facilitate Bosnia’s admission to membership in the European

Union.

Professor Meškić (Bosnia) is an associate professor of European

Union law and vice dean for academic research in the law faculty of the University of Zenica. In addition to

Pitt Law, he has been a visiting professor in the law faculties of the University of Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herze-

govina), University of Tuzla (Bosnia and Herzegovina), University “Džemal Bijedić“ in Mostar (Bosnia and Herze-

govina), University of Tirana (Albania) and the Europa-Institute at the University of Saarbrücken (Germany).

Professor Meškić is the chief editor of the Journal “Annals of the Law Faculty University of Zenica,“ as well as a

member of the editorial board of the Journal “Nova Pravna Revija” (“Neue Juristische Umschau” (Sarajevo)

and Evropsko pravo (European Law, Skopje, Macedonia). Professor Meškić received his doctorate from the

Faculty of Law of the University of Vienna in 2008.

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The LLM Class of 2016 In August 2015, we welcomed our larg-

est LLM class thus far to Pitt Law with

two weeks of orientation activities.

During their first week on campus, our

LLM students attended a series of lec-

tures and training sessions designed to

introduce them to the case method,

Socratic questioning and the other

characteristics of the US law school

experience. In addition to general law

school and University orientation activi-

ties, during their second week in Pitts-

burgh we took our traditional LLM ori-

entation trip to Fallingwater, which as always provided a valuable opportunity to students and CILE staff to

get to know one another in a less formal setting.

The core of the Fall semester academic experience for

our LLM students is our Introduction to American Law

course, taught by Professor Brand with the assistance of

guest presentations from a wide range of Pitt Law facul-

ty . In addition to providing a general overview of the US

legal system, our guest speakers provide introductions to

core subject areas such as contracts, torts and proce-

dure, giving a foundation for the elective courses that

our LLMs take alongside our JD students.

Our LLM students engage with the larger population of JD students out-

side the classroom as well as within. In addition to participating in the

general life of the law school, there are a variety of activities and sched-

uled events that connect LLM and JD students. One popular activity is

the language exchange organized by Pitt Law’s Pat Wysor, where LLMs

and JD students will meet weekly to trade conversation in our LLM stu-

dents’ home languages, simultaneously improving our JD students’ lan-

guage skills, building LLM students’ conversational talents in English, and

making lasting friendships.

Our annual Rule of Law presentations began in Febru-

ary with a session focusing on legal developments in

Kosovo, led by the four Kosovar students (thee LLMs

and one MSL candidate) in this year’s class. An up-

coming Rule of Law panel will feature LLM students

from Bosnia, Iraq, Kenya, Palestine and Ukraine talking

about rule of law challenges and the legal systems in

each of their home countries.

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Selected Other News

What follows is only a sample of current student activities and alumni news for the

academic year to date — watch for a complete account in CILE Notes this fall!

Pitt Law Team Advances in Paris International Arbitration Moot

A team consisting of Allison Hall (JD ‘17),

Valerie Howell (JD ‘17), Annie O’Brien (JD

‘16), and Marisa Rodrigues (JD ‘17), and

coached by Professor Vivian Curran, was

chosen from over 80 teams to be one of 16

teams to advance to the second round of

the Concours international d’arbitrage de

Paris. This challenging competition is con-

ducted entirely in French; most of our team’s competitors consist entirely of native French

speakers, and Pitt Law’s team is generally the only non-Canadian team from North America

to participate in the competition. The eight finalists from the second round will select two

students each to travel to Paris to compete in the finals.

Alumni News

Rick Grubb (JD ‘10) has joined the US Department of State as a Foreign Affairs Officer work-

ing in the area of national security strategy.

Moien Odeh (LLM ‘15) has become the first Israeli Arab to be selected as a contributor to

the World Bank’s yearly report on Women, Business and the Law.

Tom Kraemer (JD ‘90) is practicing commercial law in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Ravi Reddy (JD ‘06) is also in Afghanistan, where he works with the United Nations Assistance

Mission in Afghanistan and recently participated in writing their annual report on civilian

casualties in the conflict there.

LLM Alumna Interviewed On Ukrainian Anti-Trust Changes

Pitt Law alumna Maria Nizhnik (LLM ‘03), now serving as the First Deputy Chairman of

Ukraine's Antimonopoly Committee, was interviewed in February by Ukraine To-

day about recent changes to Ukraine's antitrust legislation. Video of her inter-

view (in English) is linked at http://uatoday.tv/society/exclusive-interview-with-

first-deputy-chairman-of-ukraine-rsquo-s-antimonopoly-committee-582301.html

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Selected Faculty Activities

What follows is only a sample of the international engagement of Pitt Law faculty in the

academic year to date — watch for a fuller account in CILE Notes this fall!

Professor Jessie Allen

Professor Jessie Allen participated in the third

Adelaide Blackstone Symposium, Blackstone and His

Critics, held at the University of Adelaide in

conjunction with the Australian and New Zealand Law

and History Society Conference. At the conference

she presented her paper, “Blackstone: Expositor and

Censor of Law both Made and Found,” and chaired

another session.

Professor Allen gave a talk on Dec. 7, 2015, titled

“Critical Commentaries: Reading Blackstone for Fun

and Provocation,” at University of Technology Sydney

Law School, in Sydney, Australia.

Professor Ronald A. Brand

CILE Academic Director Ronald Brand’s travels took

him to The Hague, Bahrain and Bosnia in October

2015. From October 15 to October 18, 2015, Professor

Brand led a session designed to prepare Middle East

law school teams for the 2016 Willem C. Vis Interna-

tional Commercial Arbitration Moot. Students and pro-

fessors in attendance were from law schools in Af-

ghanistan, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia,

and Tunis. Pitt Law alumna Janet Checkley (‘14) assist-

ed Professor Brand in the training sessions.

On Oct. 19, Professor Brand lectured on U.S. Legal Ed-

ucation at the University of Sarajevo Faculty of Law.

On Oct. 20, he spoke on “Private International Law in

the United States and the European Union,” at the

same institution. On Oct. 21, Professor Brand spoke on

“Private International Law in the United States and the

European Union,” in the class on Private International

Law at the University of Zenica Faculty of Law, in Zen-

ica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Professor Ronald Brand

was a featured speaker in a conference on “Private

International Law on Stage – National, European and

International Perspectives,” held at the University of

Zenica Faculty of Law in

Zenica, Bosnia and Herze-

govina on Oct. 23. His top-

ic was “Progress and Status

of the Choice of Court

Convention in the United

States.” The conference

was sponsored by the Ger-

man Open Regional Fund

for South-East Europe, and

the South-East Europe Law

Schools Network (SEELS).

From October 26 to October 30, 2015, Professor Brand

participated as a member of the U.S. Delegation in

the Working Group on Judgments of the Hague Con-

ference on Private International Law, in The Hague,

Netherlands, negotiating a draft convention on the

recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil

and commercial matters. It is anticipated that the

convention draft will be approved by the Hague Con-

ference Council in the spring of 2016 for submission to

a Special Commission for purposes of completing a

final convention text.

Professor Brand traveled to Manama, Bahrain Feb. 7-

14, 2016, where he provided training in oral argument

skills for Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot

teams from Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait,

Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia. Professor Brand was

assisted in the training program by Pitt Law alum, Ja-

net Checkley (JD ‘14). Professor Brand also provided

training for lawyers, professors, and judges to serve as

arbitrators for the Sixth Annual Middle East Vis Pre-

Moot. The entire week of activities was co-sponsored

by the U.S. Department of State Commercial Law De-

velopment Program, the Bahrain Chamber for Dispute

Resolution, the Royal University for Women, and Pitt

Law’s Center for International Legal Education.

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Professor Vivian Curran

Professor Curran’s work on law and languages and on

the Provost’s Committee for the Year of the

Humanities was the subject of an article in the Pitt

Chronicle at http://www.chronicle.pitt.edu/story/year-

humanities-profile-loving-language-law

Professor Matiangai Sirleaf

Professor Sirleaf participated in the World Social Sci-

ences Forum Conference on Transforming Global Re-

lations for a Just World, which took place on Septem-

ber 13-16, 2015, in Durban, South Africa. Professor Sir-

leaf presented on a panel on “The African Court and

the Fight Against Gross Human Rights Abuses in Afri-

ca.”

On November 20-21, 2015, Professor Sirleaf

participated in a conference to commemorate the

70th Anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials, entitled the

Nuremberg Principles 70 Years Later: Contemporary

Challenges. The conference brought together

prominent judges, practitioners, and academics from

across the globe in the field of international human

rights law and international criminal law.

Professor Sirleaf presented her paper, “Regionalism,

Regime Complexes, and International Criminal Justice

in Africa” at Georgetown Law’s International Law

Colloquium before students and faculty on Jan. 29,

2016.

Professor George Taylor

Professor Taylor travelled to Taiwan in November 2015

where he spoke on “Gadamer and Ricoeur: Critical

Horizons for Contemporary Hermeneutics” and “The

Contributions of Hermeneutics Through the Perspec-

tive of Legal Hermeneutics.” He then travelled to the

Philippines, where he spoke on “Practical Hermeneu-

tics: The Legal Text and Beyond” and “Reading Ric-

oeur with the Methods of the Digital Humanities” (co-

authored with Fernando Nascimento).

Professor Rhonda Wassermann

Professor Wasserman gave two presentations at an

international conference on the resolution of mass dis-

putes hosted by the University of Haifa Faculty of Law

on November 26-27, 2015. One talk, entitled

“American Class Actions 101,” provided an overview

of American class action law and practice to an inter-

national audience. The

other talk, entitled

“Transnational Class Ac-

tions in United States

Courts,” posited that re-

cent changes in the Ameri-

can legal landscape en-

hance the risk that transna-

tional class actions in U.S.

courts will fail to achieve

the goals of compensa-

tion, deterrence, and enforcement of the law. Profes-

sors from Oxford University, Tel Aviv University, the Uni-

versity of Leuven (Belgium), Konstanz University

(Germany), City University of Hong Kong, the University

of Haifa, the University of Texas, and UC Hastings Col-

lege of Law presented at the conference, as did

prominent class action practitioners. Former Chief Jus-

tice of the Israeli Supreme Court, Asher Grunis, gave

the keynote address.

For CILE news as it happens throughout the year, follow us on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cilepitt

(Like us to have updates show in your newsfeed and email updates)

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CILE318

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/CILEMedia

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