ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION

The fundamentals of international commercial arbitration, including the reasons for its growth as a preferred method of international business dispute resolution; arbitration agreements and their enforcement; the arbitral process; a survey of arbitration centers and systems; the enforcement of arbitral awards; the relevance of international treaties, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards.

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE U.S. LEGAL SYSTEM

An Introduction to the U.S. Legal System: This course examines the pillars of the U.S. legal system with a special focus on the Constitution, the role of and the relationship between the federal courts and state courts, federalism, and the common law. The structure of the U.S. legal system and the role of the system’s various actors are identified and analyzed. Consideration is also given to legal reasoning and the manner in which U.S. courts apply legal precedent.

BANKING LAW

Overview of the evolvement of the New International Financial Architecture in light of on-going globalization of financial markets, financial crisis and terrorism. Both policy and practical impacts will be explored.

BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS

Major forms of business organizations, including multinational enterprises, their advantages and disadvantages, tax implications, general procedures for formation, financing, control, operation, and dissolution; overview of laws regulating business enterprises, including state, federal, and international regulatory agencies; securities regulation; stock markets and trading.

CONTRACT LAW

Introduction to the case and statute law of contract in the United States, including some comparison with doctrinal concepts and classifications in civil law countries; discussion of the relationship of contract and tort law in areas such as products liability, and survey of basic problems of drafting contracts in a foreign legal language.

INTERNATINAL

An examination of the principal forms of transacting international business, including international sales contracts, distributorships and representation agreements, technology transfers, direct foreign investments, and joint ventures. The course will consider the international, national, and contractual legal aspects of each type of transaction, including such matters as relevant treaties, applicable national laws and regulations, international payment methods, currency clauses, dispute settlement, sovereign immunity, and options for structuring the transactions themselves.

INTERNATIONAL LITIGATION IN U.S. COURTS

The course will provide a general introduction to conflicts of law principles (private international law) followed by U.S. courts, including discussion of the following subjects: jurisdiction to prescribe applicable law; jurisdiction to adjudicate jurisdiction over the subject matter and over the parties judicial abstention doctrines, such as forum non conveniens and the Act of State Doctrine; application of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act; recognition of foreign judgments; and the application in the United States of international conventions on service of process and on the taking of evidence abroad.

INTERNATIONAL TAX LAW

The profits from transactions involving international trade and investment are almost always subject to potential income taxation by at least two countries. While everyone does not have the time and inclination to become a tax specialist, no one involved in the negotiation, structuring or implementation of international transactions can afford to be unaware of at least the principal considerations that attend the taxation of those transactions. This course will provide a basic introduction to the methods used by the United States and other governments to tax the income of international transactions (trade, investment and labor), consider the economic and political implications of different approaches to international taxation and explore some of the techniques that have been developed to mitigate tax burdens on income derived from such transactions.

PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY

The course will provide a general introduction to the role of a lawyer in the United States adversarial legal system through ethical codes and professional values. Participants will be asked to identify possible counterpart ethical codes and professional values in their own countries. The course will explore ethical principles and professional values for international lawyers.

STOCK MARKETS, TRADING AND SECURITY REGULATIONS

U.S. CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

The doctrine of constitutional supremacy and judicial review; the doctrine of separation of powers, including discussion of the organization, functioning, and powers of the three branches of the federal government; relationships between federal and state governments; interstate commerce; due process of law; substantive civil and political rights.

FACULTY
(Other faculty members added as courses are modified)

                           
CHARLES B. DOLEAC is a partner in the Portsmouth, New Hampshire law firm of Boynton, Waldron, Doleac, Woodman & Scott, and a court-appointed mediator for the New Hampshire Superior Courts. A graduate of the University of New Hampshire and New York University Law School, he is a past recipient of a National Endowment of the Humanities Professions Fellowship to study the role of the legal profession. Mr. Doleac has served for many years as a moderator and developer of programs at the Aspen Institute. He is certified by the Josephson Institute's applied ethics program, and has developed and moderated applied ethics programs for lawyers, court-appointed mediators, and law enforcement professionals in the United States and Canada.

JUDGE DAVID EVANS is Judge of the 193rd Judicial District Court, Dallas County, Texas. He is a member of the Curriculum Committee for the Texas Center for the Judiciary and has served as an Instructor at the Texas College for Judicial Studies. He received his law degree from Southern Methodist University, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Air Law & Commerce. Judge Evans has served as an Adjunct Instructor in Law at the Trial Techniques Program at Emory University Law School and was formerly associated with the Dallas, Texas law firm of Haynes and Boone.

CHARLES H. GUSTAFSON is Professor of Law and Associate Dean for International and Graduate Programs at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. He teaches in various areas of public international law, international trade and investment and federal taxation. He is a co-author of several casebooks on federal income taxation, including Taxation of International Transactions (West, 1997), as well as articles on issues of international law and/or taxation. He has practiced with law firms in New York and Washington, served in the Office of the Legal Adviser to the Department of State and lectured at universities on every continent. He spent several years as a member of the Faculty of Law at Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria. He has also served as consultant to various United States Government agencies and to several international organizations and as an arbitrator in commercial and investment disputes. He received his B.S. degree from the University of Buffalo and his J.D. degree from the University of Chicago.

SUSAN KARAMANIAN is Associate Dean for International and Comparative Legal Studies and Professorial Lecturer in Law at the George Washington University Law School in Washington, DC. Dean Karamanian joined the Law School in 2000 after a 14-year career at Locke Liddell & Sapp LLP in Dallas, Texas. Dean Karamanian obtained a B.S. from Auburn University, a B.A. from Oxford University and a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law. While in private practice, Dean Karamanian represented foreign and domestic clients in a variety of commercial disputes. She also maintained an active pro bono docket, in which she represented inmates on Texas death row in their post-conviction appeals. Dean \pard softlineKaramanian was vice president of the American Society of International Law from 1996-1998 and continues to serve as a counselor and member of the advisory committee. She is a member of various boards and committees including the board of the Association of American Rhodes Scholars and a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the Texas Bar Foundation.

STEPHEN ZAMORA is Professor of Law and former Dean at the University of Houston Law Center. He received his B.A. degree in Political Science from Stanford University and his J.D. degree from the University of California at Berkeley. He served as Chief Articles Editor for the California Law Review. Professor Zamora is a member of the California and District of Columbia Bar Associations and was in private practice in Washington D.C. He has served as an attorney for The World Bank and has been a Senior Fulbright Lecturer at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. He is a member of the American Society of International Law (ASIL) and served as chair of its International Economic Law Interest Group. He is a member of the Board of Editors of the American Journal of Comparative Law; and General Editor of Basic Documents of International Economic Law. Professor Zamora is the author of numerous articles on international economic law, international banking and international monetary law.