ILSA Conference Next Monday and Tuesday in Chicago

The International Law Students Association (ILSA) will hold a two-day international conference next Monday (July 30) and Tuesday (July 31) at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago.  It's being organized by John Marshall's sister school in Mexico, the Facultad Libre de Derecho de Monterrey (FLDM).  The 2012 ILSA International Conference is the first one to be held in the United States, although the programming was coordinated through the FLDM in Mexico.  FLDM appears to have one of the largest (if not the largest) ILSA chapters in the world.

Registration for the ILSA Conference opens at 9:30 a.m. and the program begins at 10:30 a.m. Monday with a panel on "The Top Five Legal Issues New International Lawyers Face."  The Keynote Address at 1:30 p.m. will be given by Professor M. Cherif Bassiouni of DePaul University School of Law, who will speak on "How to Be a Realistic Idealist and Enhance International Criminal Justice and Human Right in Light of State Interests and Realpolitik."  From 3:15 to 4:45 p.m. there will be a session on how ILSA chapters can network and build programs.  The session will focus on the benefits and programming ideas for ILSA chapters." The Monday programming concludes with an opening reception.

On Tuesday, July 31, the conference will have a session from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. on "How to Succeed at the Jessup Moot Court Competition."  (ILSA is the group that organizes each year the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition.)

From 10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. there will be a panel on "The International Court of Justice: Can its Founders' 20th Century Ambitions be Realized in the 21st Century?"  Speakers for this panel will be:

• Djurdja Lazic, American Society of International Law
• Professor James Gathii, Wing-Tat Lee Chair in International Law, Loyola University Chicago
• Professor Nienke Grossman, University of Baltimore School of Law
• Professor Ved Nanda, Thompson Marsh Professor of Law, University of Denver Sturm College of Law
• Associate Dean Andrew L. Strauss, Widener University School of Law

The Tuesday afternoon programming will include a panel on "Pathways to Employment in International Law," sponsored by the American Bar Association Section of International Law.  That will be followed by a closing address by Ambassador David Scheffer, who is now a professor at Northwestern University School of Law.

There are still a few spots open if you want to attend.  The programs will be interesting and the focus of the conference will help international law societies get off to a good start for the coming year.  Get more information about the 2012 ILSA International conference at the ILSA website.

(mew)