Law School - Syracuse University

Lockerbie Criminal Trial

On April 27, 2001, more than twelve years after Pan Am flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, the Syracuse University College of Law and the Office for Victims of Crime of the United States Department of Justice co-hosted a conference entitled "International Terrorism, Victims' Rights and the Lockerbie Criminal Trial" here at the College of Law.

Global Law-Related Speakers at the College of Law:

Peter Balakian, professor of English and Director of the Center for Ethics and World Societies at Colgate University, gave a guest faculty presentation on "Transmission of Trauma Across Generations: Writing a Memoir About Growing Up in the Suburbs and the Armenian Genocide" in October. A prize-winning poet and author of Black Dog of Fate: An American Son Uncovers His Armenian Past (1997), Balakian has campaigned to draw attention to continuing Turkish efforts to deny the Armenian genocide. As he told the New York Times, his book "chart[s] the affirmative, powerful, and beautiful parts" of his growing up in New Jersey and "this enormous, major moral event of the 20th century."
Professor Deborah Kenn, director of the Community Development Law Clinic, spoke on "Chiapas, Mexico: The Struggle for Indigenous People's Rights." She discussed the military occupation of the State of Chiapas; the struggle of the Mayan people for basic human rights; and the role of NAFTA, international economics, and the United States in the denial of rights and democracy in Chiapas. Professor Kenn showed a selection of her photographs, taken while touring Chiapas with Witness for Peace.
Chinese environmental activist Dai Qing recently delivered a talk entitled, "My Experience with Chinese Law: Observations of a Dissident Journalist." Ms. Qing spent ten months in a maximum security Chinese prison before becoming editor of Echo, a magazine dedicated to preserving indigenous cultures of China and Taiwan.
In conjunction with the Law in London summer program, Solicitor Mark Stephens spoke in November on Internet-related litigation involving libel, copyright, trademark and domain disputes. Stephens is a partner in the London firm of Stephens Innocent, which specializes in entertainment and media law.
The 1997-98 Jurist in Residence of the College of Law was Justice Vivian Lavan of the High Court of the Republic of Ireland. Justice Lavan, who was appointed to the High Court in 1989, was a co-founder of the Free Legal Advice Centres found throughout Ireland, has represented Ireland to the European Association of Judges and the second World-Wide Common Law, and is a member of the Panels of Conciliators and Arbitrators of the International Centre for Investment Disputes. While at the College of Law he met with groups of students and faculty and gave a public lecture on "Ireland and the Role of the European Union Court."
In 1996 the Center inaugurated the Global Alumni Lectureship Program, which invites College of Law alumni specializing in international law back for a day to give a lecture in a course related to their area of practice and a job-related talk co-sponsored by the Professional Development and Career Opportunities Program, as well as to meet informally with students over lunch or dinner. To date the Series has included Cindy Buys '91 (maritime law and international business transactions), Nancy Paterson '83 (international prosecution of war criminals), Douglas Hollowell '91 (international banking) and Nancy Fischer '92 (international trade).
Other recent speakers have included Liam Mahoney of Peace Brigades International, describing his first-hand experiences as an "unarmed bodyguard" in Latin America; Australian disability rights advocate Lee Ann Marks; Eric Rosenthal, executive director of Mental Disability Rights International; Liu Xin, a Chinese law scholar, on Chinese administrative law; and Dan and Doris Sage, local educators who recently served six-month federal prison terms for protesting the U.S. Army "School of the Americas;" and Andrew Mann, a State Department career service officer speaking on the war in the former Yugoslavia and careers in the U.S. foreign service.

Community Service Projects

the Center inaugurated two pro bono projects in which faculty and student Research Associates undertake legal research projects on behalf of international non-governmental organizations. In the fall, third year students Karen Brenizer and Rebecca Peters researched European law on the rights of disabled persons on behalf of Mental Disability Rights International, under the supervision of Professor Donna Arzt and Associate Professor Arlene Kanter. During spring 1999, Karen Brenizer will continue this research while third year student Erika Nordhaus and Professor Arzt will draft a handbook on women's human rights advocacy for Laubach Literacy.

Other Center Events and Programs:

In the fall term, in conjunction with the International Law Society, the Center shows the 10-part International Law Video Course created for the American Society of International Law. Each 30-minute film on fundamental aspects of International Law is introduced by a faculty or student speaker, who afterward leads a discussion related to the particular topic. The video series, which supplements the fall term International Law course and serves as an introduction to the subject for students throughout the university, is also available for individual viewing in the Barclay Law Library. Ask for call no. JX3091.I5 1995 at the circulation desk.
The center helps to fund the travel of numerous students to internationally-themed conferences such as International Law Day in New York City and the annual meeting of the American Society of International Law in Washington, D.C. Of special note, second year student Hee Eun Lee traveled to Boston in March 1998 to present his "special rapporteur report" on the international economic sanctions regime at Suffolk Law School's Student Conference on Law and Social Change. In March 1999, third year student Michael Affleck delivered a paper of his own at the same conference, on the topic of "Treaty Interpretation and the Right to be Free from Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation."
The Center held a day-long conference on "The Law of Electronic Commerce: Netting Around the Globe" at the College of Law in April 1997. Six experts in the field made presentations on topics ranging from "Digital Signatures and Authentication" to "Security and Computer Crime."