A year-round workshop on International and Comparative Law convened by Professors Francesca Bignami and Ralf Michaels, the Global Law Workshop offers an exciting opportunity for the Duke Law School community to engage in current issues in international and comparative law. Law and the legal process can no longer be contained within national borders. As much as today's challenges cross national boundaries -- be they environmental, security-related, or economic issues -- so do law and the study of law, by becoming increasingly global.
The Workshop meets seven or eight times during both semesters. Prominent legal scholars present their latest work in the field of international or comparative law. Although there is always a variety of topics, each semester is held together by a loose theme. In the fall of 2007, that theme was interdisciplinary approaches to comparative law. In the spring, the theme is comparing institutions.
The Workshop is unique in that it is run, and regularly attended, by Duke Faculty active in the field. This offers students a great opportunity to meet and hear a number of faculty, and fascinating guest speakers, in one single class.
In addition, the Workshop is open to Duke's burgeoning SJD and Visiting Scholars' community, most of whom have an international focus. For both JDs and LLMs this offers a unique venue to interact with more advanced students and professionals.
Schedule: Spring Semester 2008
Friday, 3:00 – 4:30 pm
Room 4042
| Date | Speaker | Title / Topic |
| January 11 | Introductory Session | |
| February 1 | Martin Shapiro UC Berkeley |
"Independent Agencies in the EU and Globally" |
| February 15 | Gregory S. Alexander Cornell University |
"Can Constitutions be Transformative? The Role of Background Traditions and Culture" |
| February 22 | Amalia D. Kessler Stanford University |
"The Adversarial Principle of US Procedure: Why did Antebellum America Not Adopt European Conciliation Courts?" |
| February 29 | Russell A. Miller Washington & Lee University |
"Comparative Law in the Era of Global Terrorism: A Case Study of Germany's Militant Democracy" |
| March 21 | Eric A. Feldman U. of Pennsylvania |
"Suing Doctors in Japan: Structure, Culture, and the Rise of Malpractice Litigation" |
| March 28 | Wrap-up session | |
Evaluation
Evaluation is based on class participation (20%) and reaction papers (80%). There is no final examination.
Reaction papers
There are 7 or 8 sessions total in each semester. The first session is designed to introduce students to varieties of comparative and international law scholarship and to the theme of the semester, and to review techniques for writing reaction papers. Each student must submit a reaction paper for each of the 6 following speaker sessions. The last or penultimate session will compare the empirical and normative approaches used by the invited speakers. Each reaction paper should be ca 5 pages long, double-spaced, and typed using 12-point Times New Roman font.
Reaction papers should be forwarded to gurel@law.duke.edu no later than 5:00 pm on Thursday, the day before the workshop. They will be returned to students with a preliminary grade after the workshop. This ensures some feedback on your work. Papers will be graded either as "check plus," "check," or "check-minus." Once submitted, papers are final and cannot be corrected / improved.
Attendance
Workshop attendance is mandatory. In an exceptional case when you cannot attend, please send an email to the workshop conveners, Professors Bignami and Michaels the day before class. A reaction paper must be written for a workshop that you have had to miss. Laptops will be banned from all speaker sessions, but will be allowed in the two sessions without speakers.
Paper Submission, Presentation & Questions
The paper upon which the speaker will base his/her talk will be sent out one week in advance. In the workshop, the speaker will introduce the paper for approximately 30 minutes; the remaining time is reserved for a Q and A session. Attendees are encouraged to bring questions to the workshop, including those they raise in their reaction papers.