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IICL Lectures and Conferences
Dedicated to promoting dialog and scholarship in the spectrum of international commercial law, the Institute of International Commercial Law at Pace Law School, in co-sponsorship with the Pace International Law Society (ILS), has created the International Commercial Law Lectures. These lectures take place live at Pace Law School in White Plains, New York, in the Spring semester of the academic year, and simultaneously broadcasted live throughout the world on the Internet.
October 26, 2012
International Arbitration in Study and Practice: How-To's for Excelling in the Vis Moot and Today's International Commercial Arbitration World
Sponsored by: Allen and Overy, White & Case, ICC, and USCIB
Morning program for students, afternoon program for practitioners and arbitrators, with a Tribute to the Moot's organizer, Pace Prof. Emeritus Eric Bergsten.
Brochure: click here
View conference videos:
Part I: Welcoming Remarks
Loukas Mistelis, Professor of Law & Director, School of International Arbitration, Queen Mary, University of London
Vikki M. Rogers, Director, Institute of International Commercial Law, Pace Law School
Arbitration Proceedings: Making Room for Further Efficiency
Moderator, Kathleen Scanlon, Partner, Law Offices of Kathleen M. Scanlon PLLC
Hansel T. Pham, Senior Associate, White & Case LLP
Effective Use of Witness Statements in International Commercial Arbitration
Loukas Mistelis, Professor of Law & Director, School of International Arbitration, Queen Mary, University of London
The Role of Technology in the Facilitation of Efficient Arbitration Proceedings
Mark D. Beckett, Partner, Latham & Watkins LLP
Have Institutional Rules More or Less Harmonized?
Part II: Moderator, Vikki M. Rogers, Director, Institute of International Commercial Law, Pace Law School
Franco Ferrari, Professor of Law & Director, Center for Transnational Litigation and Commercial Law, New York University School of Law
Recent trends in the Application of the CISG in U.S. Courts
Alejandro Garro, Adjunct Professor of Law, Columbia Law School
Discussion of the 2012 UNCITRAL CISG Case Law Digest and Recent CISG Advisory Council Opinions
Part III: DEBATE: Should the United States Adopt the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration?
Moderator: Caline Mouawad, Partner, King & Spalding LLP
Debaters: Henry Weisburg, Partner, Shearman & Sterling LLP v. Louis B. Kimmelman, Partner, Allen & Overy LLP
Part IV: Tribute to Pace Law School Professor Emeritus Eric Bergsten and the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot
James J. Fishman, Professor of Law, Pace Law School
John D. Feerick, Professor of Law, Fordham University School of Law
April 7, 2010, 3:30PM
Second International Commercial Law Lecture
with Columbia Law School Professor Alejandro Garro
"The Emerging International Rules on Cross-border Secured Financing and Registration: Challenges and Prospects"
Classroom Building, Room G02, Pace Law School
Co-sponsored by the IICL and the Pace International Law Society
Although difficult to verify empirically, there is a growing consensus that secured credit is socially and economically good. Firstly, because the possibility of taking security is said to facilitate the growth of credit and economic activity, encouraging lenders to make loans that they would not otherwise make. Secondly, because if credit is secured, the lender’s risk is lowered, reducing the interest rate charged to the secured debtor. Much of the availability and cost of credit is also said to depend on the normative framework governing asset-based lending.
Recognizing the importance of harmonization and modernization of secured credit law for the development of both national and international trade, a number of international organizations have prepared legal instruments on various aspects of secured credit law. In his presentation, Professor Garro examines the different formats adopted by those organizations, addresses the most significant policy issues underlying the simplification and modernization of personal property security law (including the adoption electronic filing systems), and discusses how a comparison of the secured credit law is essential to shape the law governing domestic as well as cross-border secured transactions.
Professor Garro teaches comparative law, international sales, and international commercial arbitration at Columbia University.
April 14, 2009, 3:30PM
Inaugural International Commercial Law Lecture
with Dr. Ingeborg Schwenzer
Director of the Global Sales Law Project and Professor of Private Law
University of Basel Faculty of Law (Switzerland)
"The CISG – Success and Pitfalls"
Tudor Room, Preston Hall, Pace Law School
Co-sponsored by the IICL and the Pace International Law Society
The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) has now gained worldwide acceptance. Today the CISG has 72 member states, nine out of ten leading trade nations being member states. It can be estimated that about 70% to 80% of all international sales transactions are potentially governed by the CISG.
In her presentation Professor Schwenzer examines the role of the CISG in international trade practice, as well as its influence as a role model for reforming sales law on international and domestic levels. She discusses why the CISG can be regarded superior to choosing any domestic sales law. Although the overall advantages of the CISG are now undisputable there remain several criticisms regarding the application of the CISG to international commercial transactions, which still seem to nourish a strong adverse view on the Convention in certain legal systems. Having a closer look at these criticisms, however, reveals that they are in part unfounded as they stem from general misunderstandings and in all other cases appropriate solutions can be developed. Especially, it will be proven that the CISG very well suits the necessities of modern trade, including commodity trade.
Professor Schwenzer is a full professor of Private Law at the University of Basel/Switzerland. She is the editor of Schlechtriem/Schwenzer, Commentary on the CISG, member of the CISG Advisory Council, and director of the Research Project “The Global Sales Law.”