Conferences and Lectures of the Dean Rusk Center

The Dean Rusk Center plays an active role in the international arena by hosting conferences, colloquia and lectures that bring scholars, practitioners, government officials, business leaders, students and alumni together to discuss relevant international law and policy issues. Rusk Center conferences and lectures seek to increase the understanding of international law and policy decisions, as well as contribute to the solution of challenges of global significance.

Our goal is to provide a forum for true legal and policy debate. In addition to promoting the academic value of these programs we also remain concerned with exposing how the legal and policy issues at hand actually play out in a practical sense, and seek to gain insight from participants who are directly affected by changes in these laws and policies. Through the publication of our conferences and lectures we extend these insights to the legal community at large.

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Conferences



• International Commercial Arbitration: Fifty Years After the New York Convention , was a one-day conference held at the Dean Rusk Center on January 30, 2009. The event, co-sponsored by the Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law, featured Gary Born as keynote speaker and other leaders in the field of international commercial arbitration including, Robert Davidson, Executive Director of JAMS Arbitration Practice; William K. Slate, II, President, American Arbitration Association; and Anne Marie Whitesell, Former Secretary General of the ICC International Court of Arbitration. To view a full program for the event, click here.
Listen to streaming audio files of the event:

• Panel 1: The New York Convention - the Next 50 Years and discussion
  
• Panel 2: Federal Arbitration Act Reform and discussion
  
• Keynote Address by Gary Born and discussion
  
• Panel 3: Beyond Commercial Arbitration - Lessons from Other Models and discussion
  
• The Report of the Secretaries of State: Bipartisan Advice to the Next Administration

In commemoration of the 30th Anniversary of the Dean Rusk Center for International Law, the University of Georgia School of Law joined the Southern Center for International Studies on Thursday, March 27, 2008 in presenting the 16th Report of the Secretaries of State. Secretaries Henry Kissinger, James Baker III, Warren Christopher, Madeleine Albright and Colin Powell came together in a unique forum moderated by newscaster Terence Smith of "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." The conference was videotaped and will be available as a streaming video later this year.


• View an edited one-hour version of the Secretaries of State Conference
• View a Copy of the Transcript
• View news coverage of this event
• Colloquium on Rome II: The 2007 EU Regulation on the Law Applicable to Non-contractual Obligations - European and American Perspective, was a one-day colloquium held at the Dean Rusk Center on November 5, 2007. The event, co-sponsored by the Georgia Society for International and Comparative Law, featured presentations by Diana Wallis (vice president of the European Parliament) and other American and European experts in private international law, who explored new European Union legislation on the law applicable to torts and compared it to approaches in U.S. law.


• The International Fight Against Terrorism: A Colloquium on the Prospects for Further Cooperation Between the European Union and the United States, was a two-day colloquium held at the Dean Rusk Center in partnership with the Center for European Law, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, on April 13-14, 2007. Speakers from around the globe convened in Athens to address a range of transcendent issues relating to terrorism and security affecting both the EU and the U.S., including common challenges and achievements, data mining, and the conflict between freedom of the individual and governmental measures taken to protect civil society. The conference opened with a keynote address delivered by Jonathan Faull, Director General for Justice, Freedom and Security at the European Commission. This was followed by two panel discussions and an evening dinner with U.S. Congressman from Georgia, Jim Marshall, as the keynote speaker. A third panel was held the following day to conclude the colloquium's activities.
• International Trade under the Rule of Law, a conference held March 23 & 24, 2006, in Dean Rusk Hall, was organized and sponsored by the Dean Rusk Center and designated an American Society of International Law Centennial Regional Meeting. The conference focus was on the dispute settlement system of the World Trade Organization (WTO), with a view toward discussing the need for a superstructure of international law governing trade and economic cooperation between states. From the time the dispute settlement system was established pursuant to the Uruguay Round negotiations, questions concerning the reform of enforcement measures and the system as a whole, the role of Appellate Body decisions in global governance, and the issue of who benefits most from the system have continued to challenge practitioners and scholars alike. This conference was an assembly of distinguished international panelists, comprised of diplomats, academics, legal practitioners, and government officials, who addressed and explored these and other questions relating to international trade under the rule of law.
• The Limits of International Law, a Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law symposium, in conjunction with the School of Law and the Dean Rusk Center, held on October 28 and 29, 2005 in which the internationally prominent authors of the book, The Limits of International Law (OUP) and additional top scholars presented and discussed the the new relevance of international law.
• U.S.-China Trade: Opportunities and Challenges, a Rusk Center conference with two days of panel discussions, was held April 14 & 15, 2005. Speakers with special expertise on the U.S.-China economic relationship provided unique insights to the conference audience. Panels were composed of business, legal, and policy participants drawn from government, academia, and the private sector. The panel discussions focused on investment and services & market access on day one in Atlanta, Georgia, and on agriculture, textiles, intellectual property, and export controls on day two at the University of Georgia in Athens. The Deputy Secretary of Commerce gave the keynote address in Atlanta.
• Agriculture and the WTO: Subsidies in the Cross Hairs, held in the Hatton Lovejoy Courtroom in the UGA School of Law on November 16, 2004, features noted experts from senior levels of government, the private sector, and the legal profession addressing current developments in multilateral negotiations and the WTO cases on agriculture and analyzing their impact on the future of the world agricultural market.
• From Autocracy to Democracy: The Effort to Establish Market Democracies in Iraq and Afghanistan, focused the legal, political, economic, and security issues facing post-war Iraq and Afghanistan, UGA School of Law, Spring 2004.
• The Use (and Abuse) of Science in the Resolution of Environmental Disputes, held at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education, May 26-28, 2004.
• The Transatlantic Relationship-Aviation Policy: Clearing the Way to a More Open Market, held at the UGA School of Law, Dean Rusk Hall, April 10-12, 2003.
• International Coastal Management: Tools for Successful Regional Partnerships and Initiatives, held at the UGA School of Law, Dean Rusk Hall, June 13-14, 2003.
• Conservation-Heritage Law 2002, in cooperation with the UGA School of Environmental Design (SED), Institute of Ecology and International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), held at UGA School of Law, Dean Rusk Hall, April 4-6, 2002.
• Governing the Global Ocean, held at the UGA School of Law, April 4, 2000.