The American Society of International Law 104th Annual Meeting will be held March 24-27, 2010 at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Washington, D.C. This year's theme is "International Law in a Time of Change." The two keynote lectures will be delivered by Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin of the Supreme Court of Canada and Harold Hongju Koh, the Legal Adviser to the U.S. Department of State. Additional featured speakers include: Georgetown University Law School Professor Edith Brown Weiss; International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes Secretary-General Meg Kinnear, and George Washington University Law School Professor Dinah Shelton. Onsite registration will be available. Select sessions will be available by live webcast. More

The 14th Annual International Environmental Moot Court Competition concluded yesterday with the Law Society of Ireland, Cork as Applicant facing the University of Maryland School of Law as Respondent. This year's simulated case before the International Court of Justice focused on "Beaked Whales and Marine Seismic Surveys." Student attorneys made arguments under the Espoo Convention, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the duty to prevent transboundary harm under customary international law. More than 80 teams competed worldwide with 19 teams advancing to the international finals in Florida. And the 2010 winner is . . . More

ICJ President Hisashi Owada, Judge Thomas Buergenthal, and Judge Bruno Simma participated in the plenary session on 27 March 2009 at the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law (ASIL). Lucy Reed and Ralph Steinhardt served as the moderators. More

The 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law (ASIL) took place 25-28 March 2009 at the Fairmont Hotel in Washington, D.C. This year's theme, "International Law as Law," focused largely on state responsibility, including R2P, domestic enforcement of international tribunal decisions, treaty ratification and compliance, nuclear nonproliferation, law of the sea, and the role of human rights. Special interest sessions addressed feminism, the global financial crisis, intellectual property rights in China, the future for Guantanamo detainees, legal empowerment of the poor, whaling, and the 2005 Hague Convention on Choice-of-Court Agreements. The following are highlights and event summaries from the plenary, special, and a few of the 30+ regular sessions. More

What was originally intended in 1986 to be a 5-year "pause" in commercial whaling for the purpose of assessing scientific data and improving sustainable whaling management practices is now nearing its 20th anniversary as a de facto ban. In less than two weeks, an expected 600 participants from 61 countries will confer on the fate of the moratorium at the 57th Annual Meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) being held from 30 May to 24 June 2005 in South Korea. The provisional agenda includes annotations stating that Japan no longer considers the ban to be in effect and that Japan has prepared a "strictly confidential" plan to be disclosed at the meeting. Japan's recent media announcements indicate an impending request for a special research permit to kill endangered humpback and fin whales and an expansion of whaling in Antarctic waters, an area of territorial dispute with Australia and other nations. Japan's media announcements have sparked outrage and last-minute requests for additions to the agenda. Australia will be among the nations at the meeting calling for a permanent ban on commercial whaling, an elimination of research permits, and a restructuring of the IWC to focus strictly on conservation. Likewise, New Zealand is threatening to file suit against Japan before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). More