Welcome to The International Section of the New York
State Bar Association
The International Section of the New York State Bar
Association (sometimes informally referred to as “NYSBA
International”) is dedicated to the promotion of the international
practice of law on all planes of international life – whether
commercially or for the public good – and the support of the rule
of law throughout the world. The Section,
which was founded a little over 20 years ago, has approximately 2200
members. While the majority of the
Section’s members are admitted to the Bar of the State of
New York, many members are licensed attorneys in other states of
the United States or other countries. All licensed
attorneys who are resident or non-resident members of the New York State
Bar Association are invited to join the Section. Members in good
standing may identify and locate the names and contact information of
other Section members for purposes of referral, collaboration and
friendship by clicking on the Directory tab to the left and
searching for names by country, state (within the United States), and/or
practice specialty.
On September 15, 2009, the Section’s Executive
Committee adopted three long-range Missions: (1) Custodian of New York
Law as an International Standard, (2) Guardian of the New York
Convention on the Enforcement and Recognition of Arbitral Awards and the
international arbitral process and (3) Monitor of International Law
Development at the United Nations. Further
details about these Missions and their implementation may be found by
reading the Executive Committee Blog. These Missions are non-exclusive and the Section envisages
undertaking additional important and exciting Missions in the
future.
The Section has more than thirty Committees covering
virtually every aspect of the private practice of international law and
also public international law. Committees typically organize educational and networking
opportunities for their members and sponsor initiatives to improve the
state of the law in New
York, the United
States and
internationally. Click on the Committee
Rosters tab to your left to learn more about the
Section’s Committees. Guidelines for Committee Co-Chairs may be
found by clicking on the Executive Committee Blog to the left. All
members of the Section who work in the New
York offices of non-U.S.
law firms are especially invited to join in the programs and social
events sponsored by the Section’s Foreign Lawyers
Committee.
The Section provides to its members a wide array of
conferences, seminars, web-conferencing, and informational and
educational meetings. Look to the upper
right hand corner of this page for upcoming
events. For 2010, plans are well under
way for programs on international arbitration and litigation at the
NYSBA Annual Meeting in New York City (January 27-28, 2010), a revival
of our much acclaimed “Fundamentals of International
Practice” in connection with the Biennial New York City Meeting of
the ABA International Section in mid-April, the Second Annual Meeting of
our India Chapter in Mumbai (March 25-27, 2010), a Program on Cross
Border Litigation on June 10-11 in Ottawa, Canada, a Conference on
Cross-Border Investment in connection with the Union Internationale des
Avocats in New York City (September 10-11, 2010), our Annual Seasonal
Conference in Sydney, Australia (see below), in addition to a rich
variety of meetings and seminars in New York City on many topics
throughout the year. Audio and written
materials from the 2009 Fundamentals Program may be accessed by clicking
on Section Meeting
Materials to the left.
The Section has more than fifty chapters in many of
the most important legal jurisdictions of the world, which provide
educational and networking opportunities for Section members abroad and
foster cooperation and dialogue between the Section and the legal
communities of other countries. Check the
list of Chapters by clicking on the Committee
Rosters link to the left to see “if there is a Chapter
near you.” Guidelines for Chapter Chairs may be found by clicking
on the Chapters Blog to the left. The Section sponsors
a three-day conference in the fall of each year in an important
jurisdiction outside the United
States. Recent conferences have been held
in London
(2005), Shanghai (2006),
Lima (2007) and Stockholm (2008). The 2009 Conference
is took place from October 26 to 29, 2009 in
Singapore and had as
its theme, “New York and the
New Asia: A Partnership for the Future.” The 2010 conference will take
place in Sydney,
Australia, from October 27-30 and will have as its theme, “The
Southern Hemisphere Meets International Practice.”
The International Section publishes the New
York International Law Review (devoted to substantive studies
of United States and international jurisprudence bearing on important
issues of international law), the International
Law Practicum (devoted to information about cross-border and
transnational legal issues for international practitioners), and
the New
York International Chapter News (devoted to information on
current issues and updates on international law, country news,
member news, firm news and Section activities.). The Section will soon
be inaugurating a mechanism for Section members to post on the web
significant articles on international law and practice that they have
authored, through the Google Knols project..
The Section annually confers an Award
for Distinction in International Law and Affairs. At its Annual Meeting Program and Lunch on January 28, 2009,
the Association conferred its 2009 Award upon the Honorable Jon O.
Newman, former Senior Judge and former Presiding Judge of the U.S.
Federal Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The recipient of the 2010 Award will be announced
shortly. At its
Annual Meeting Program each year, the Section also awards the
annual Albert
Pergam Award for a distinguished contribution to legal
scholarship by a law student. Look to the
lower right of the webpage for more
details on this annual competition.
Beijing Arbitration Commission Reception Held July 30, 2009
A joint reception co-hosted by the Beijing Arbitration Commission
(BAC), the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) Beijing Chapter and
the Beijing Lawyers Association (BLA) Arbitration Committee was held at
Beijing on July 30, 2009. Mr. Michael Galligan, Chair of NYSBA
International Section, delivered his opening remarks from New York City
through telephone. Madam Wang Hongsong, Secretary-General of BAC, made a
keynote speech entitled “Beijing Arbitration Commission: An
Emerging International Arbitration Center”. More ...
From the International Section Executive Committee Blog: Thoughts on
the International Section at Twenty-one, by Michael Galligan, Section
Chair
Twenty-one years ago,
Lauren Rachlin and a group of like-minded individuals won approval from
the NYSBA leadership to unite the International Law and International
Practice Committees of the NYSBA into one unified section, the
International Law and Practice Section (recently renamed “the
International Section”). As the Section approached its
twenty year anniversary in 2006, Chair Jack Zulack, and Chair-Elect
Ollie Armas, announced at the Executive Committee’s Annual Retreat
the launching of Task Force 2026 (“Long-Range Planning Task Force
of the International Law and Practice Section/The Next 20 Years”)
– a project aimed at imagining and planning for what this Section
might and should look like twenty years into the future.
Under Chair Marco Blanco’s leadership in 2008, the
Section focused strongly on articulating the mission and goals of our
Committees, revived our Foreign Lawyers Committee (formerly the
“Counsel of International Legal Consultants”) and with the
assistance of Executive Vice-Chair (now Chair-Elect) Steven Krane,
established formal ties with the International Bar
Association.
This year, we are working
to bring this Section to a new level of effectiveness and impact by
moving vigorously in: two, superficially contradictory, but profoundly
complementary, directions: to increase the
Section’s level of service and involvement with the legal
community of our home state of New York and, at the same time, to expand
and fortify the Section’s outreach to legal communities throughout
the world. Just as the depth of the roots of
the great maple trees that grace the broad landscape of this State
supports the wide expanse of their branches, we aim to intensify and
expand our activities and profile in this state in order to also support
the vigor of our outreach to South as well as East Asia, Eastern as well
as Northern Europe, Africa as well as Latin America and the Middle
East.
Read
the full blog post.
|
|
International
