Curriculum Guide · Courses

Professors M. Feldman & Stewart

LL.M Course 843 (cross-listed) | 2 credit hours

With increasing frequency, trans-border activities implicate the interests and jurisdiction of two or more different legal systems. Whatever else the term “globalization” might describe, this phenomenon affects virtually the entire range of civil, criminal, commercial, banking, family and environmental activities. Today’s legal practitioner does not have to specialize in international legal matters to encounter international conflicts of jurisdiction. This course aims to provide students with the necessary framework – conceptual as well as practical – for dealing with such situations.

More particularly, this course will examine:

(1) the international law bases for national jurisdiction to prescribe, enforce and adjudicate legal rules involving foreign acts and persons, e.g., nationality, objective territoriality and passive personality (the Lotus ), the effects doctrine (Alcoa), protective principle, and universal jurisdiction in humanitarian law,

(2) mechanisms for dealing with conflicts of jurisdiction between states with particular attention to conflicts with serious foreign policy implications,

(3) the foreign policy implications of private litigation, and

(4) parallel legal proceedings and anti-suit injunctions.

We will focus specifically on disputes among sovereign states and private interests arising out of national assertions of jurisdiction over foreign persons and events. Our discussions will be based on case studies in such areas as anti-trust, trade sanctions, international banking, and the war on terror. We will address litigation in U.S. courts against foreign states and foreign officials in such areas as expropriation, human rights, and terrorism, and private litigation against multinational corporations relating to human rights and environmental impacts in foreign countries.

These are cutting-edge issues that challenge practicing lawyers and political activists working in government agencies, corporate law firms and public interest practice. There are no prerequisites, but some familiarity with international law and transnational litigation would be advantageous.