Message from the Associate Dean |
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Greetings from the University of Kansas School of Law and the International & Comparative Law Program!
International and comparative law are areas in which KU Law has long excelled. From the many scholarly contributions our faculty make to these fields, to the wonderful students from around the world who enhance our community, to the programs we offer students to study in Ireland, Italy, Scotland, Turkey, Costa Rica, and beyond, KU Law continues to grow its reputation as a school that embraces the whole world of law.
In this edition of our International & Comparative Law newsletter, you’ll learn about visiting scholars and their work; our visit with Tashkent University scholars; an S.J.D. scholar’s achievements; recent research; faculty service; alumni news and more.
Kind regards,
Dr. Andrew Torrance
Paul E. Wilson Distinguished Professor of Law and Associate Dean of International and Graduate Law
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International and Comparative Law Faculty
Numerous KU Law faculty are involved in international and comparative law, including:
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KU Law welcomes visiting scholars from Uzbekistan and the United Kingdom |
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The University of Kansas School of Law regularly hosts visiting scholars from around the world. These scholars are warmly welcomed and integrated into the life of the law school. Due to travel restrictions still left over from the COVID-19 pandemic, KU Law was unable to host visiting scholars until this past spring.
Dr. Richard Lang is a senior lecturer in law at Cardiff University in Wales. He joined the KU Law faculty this summer to work on his monograph entitled “Are human rights too complex?” and continued his research and discussions on Brexit and other consequences. Read more
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‘Understanding Islamic Law’ book thoroughly updates text on changing legal world |
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Raj Bhala, Brenneisen Distinguished Professor of Law at KU, has recently published the third edition of his landmark 2011 text, “Understanding Islamic Law (Shari’a),” thoroughly updating it to account for the shifting legal and geopolitical landscape.
Among the updated content is the edition’s first analysis of constitutions of countries that practice Islamic law, such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, and the origins, nature and ideology of the Taliban and its return to power in Afghanistan. Unlike previous editions, this one is accompanied by a publicly accessible website maintained by the publisher, Carolina Academic Press, for further updating.
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International community has fallen short of Stockholm conference environmentalism goals, law professor writes |
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John Head, Robert W. Wagstaff Distinguished Professor of Law at KU, has published a new scholarly article arguing that while the goals of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment were noble, the international community has fallen short of meeting the aims of the conference.
Head’s article, published in the London-based LEAD Journal, highlights three main structural deficiencies in reaching the goals.
“In looking at the state of international environmental law 50 years later, sadly we’ve fallen short of the vision of Stockholm,” said Head.
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Laura Hines, Bander Almohammadi, and Melanie Daily at Almohammadi's dissertation defense. |
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S.J.D. student defends dissertation |
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The University of Kansas School of Law is one of the few law schools in the United States to offer a Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.), a research doctorate in law. The S.J.D. program is designed for students interested in deep legal research and writing, and a career as a legal scholar or a senior public official.
Saudi Arabian student Bander Almohammadi defended his S.J.D. dissertation titled The Benevolent Principles from Different Religious Traditions and Their Implications in International Economic Law in May 2023. Congratulations, Dr. Almohammadi, on earning your KU Law Doctor of Juridical Science! Dr. Almohammadi was also awarded the “Outstanding Graduate Senior” Award from the KU Student Senate.
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Pictured (left to right): Abbigail Murphy, Kelly Ludlum, Shannon Greene, The Hon. Justice John Edwards of the Irish Court of Appeal, Alex Rea, John Langmaid, Alexandra Holdsworth, Reagan Hoskin and James Richey. |
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KU Law students travel abroad to Ireland |
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The KU School of Law offers two formal study abroad programs in Ireland and Istanbul, Turkey. This is the first summer since the pandemic that KU Law was able to take thirteen students to Ireland for three weeks where they were able to experience the communities of Limerick, Galway and Dublin and gain insight into law from around the world.
“Studying in Ireland was the experience of a lifetime as the learning went well beyond the classroom,” said Reagan Hoskin, 2L, “I appreciated the perspective on European law and thought we gained in class as well as the opportunity to explore Irish history, culture and food. This experience has grown who I am both personally and professionally.”
Students learned from U.S. and Irish faculty in courses covering emergent issues in international and comparative law concepts in areas such as national security, international market regulation and the globalization of family privacy.
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KU Law community mourns passing of professor emeritus |
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The University of Kansas School of Law community mourns the passing of Professor Emeritus Robert C. Casad, who died April 21, 2023. He was 93.
Casad joined the faculty of the University of Kansas Law school in 1959 and devoted the next 38 years of his professional career to scholarship and teaching. He was named the John H. and John M. Kane Professor of Law in 1981 in recognition of his internationally known scholarship in civil procedure, jurisdiction and conflict of laws.
The Casad Lecture Series has featured scholars from around the world who have spoken on International and Comparative Law. Past Casad lecture speakers and topics include:
- “Forced Together, Never Sustainable? Post-Conflict Federalism in Bosnia and Herzegovna," Professor Jens Woelk, University of Trento (April 19, 2022)
- “Comparing Constitutions in the Global Era: Opportunities, Purposes and Challenges," Professor Roberto Toniatti, University of Trento (February 8, 2019)
- Twentieth-Century Sovereign Debtors: From Germany to Greece," Richard M. Buxbaum, University of California Berkeley School of Law (October 8, 2015)
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On September 27-30, KU Law hosted a workshop for scholars interested in books and colonialism. Participants came from Helsinki, Ghent and Lille, as well as New Jersey, Florida and Texas.
This workshop was funded by the Higuchi Award given to Professor Michael Hoeflich.
Questions? Contact Michael Hoeflich, John H. & John M. Kane Distinguished Professor of Law, at hoeflich@ku.edu.
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Tashkent State University of Law visit to KU Law |
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For two weeks, from Monday, September 25 to Friday, October 6, scholars from Tashkent State University of Law visited KU Law to get a firsthand look at the University's offerings. Sardorbek Yuzupov, a previous overseas visiting scholar, was one of the Tashkent State University School of Law scholars who attended the visit.
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- In September 2023, at the University of Kansas, Bhala presented “Trade War: Causes, Conduct, and Consequences of Sino-American Confrontation,” associated with his newest book of the same name.
- The Trade War book was published in October 2023.
- In May 2023, Bhala presented to the American Bar Association (ABA) International Trade Committee on “The Sino-American Trade War: Causes, Conduct, Consequences,” and to the Annual Conference of the Kansas Army National Guard on "The Sino-American Trade War and Beyond."
- The third edition of Bhala's Understanding Islamic Law (Sharī'a) was published in August 2023.
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In February 2023, Bhala delivered the keynote address for the International Conference on “Emerging Trends in International Trade Law with Special Reference to India” at CMR University School of Legal Studies in Bangalore (Bengaluru) which assessed many of the challenges facing the world trading system, particularly from the perspective of India. His presentation was titled, Challenges and Opportunities for India in a Fragmented World Trading System.” Watch the presentation.
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Bhala’s article Waves of Russia Sanctions: American and Allied Measures, Indian and Chinese Responses, and Russian Countermeasures was published in the winter edition of 14 Trade, Law & Development.
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Bhala testified to the U.K. House of Commons International Trade Committee in December 2022 about the use of free trade agreements (FTAs) to advance the rights of women and LGBTQ+ individuals. View the hearing.
- Bhala presented to the International Bar Association (IBA) during its annual conference in November 2022 on “The Fraying of the Multilateral Trading System: Navigating Trade Conflicts in the New Global Environment.”
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Bhala’s article, Combatting Nationalism by Applying Catholic Teaching and Studying Iran’s Constitution, was published in the University of St. Thomas Law Journal, Vol 17, No.3 in November 2021.
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Media appearances included Arpita Jain & Tamanna Inamdar, India Development Debate, PM Modi in U.S., ET Now – Times Television Network, 19 June 2023.
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Christopher R. Drahozal is the John M. Rounds Professor of Law at KU. His recent work in international and comparative law includes:
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Drahozal, along with his co-reporters, completed work on “The Restatement of the U.S. Law of International Commercial and Investor-State Arbitration.” It was published by the American Law Institute in summer 2023.
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Drahozal published a chapter entitled Parties and Affected Others: Signatories and Nonsignatories to International Arbitration Agreements in the “Cambridge Compendium of International Commercial and Investment Arbitration” (Cambridge University Press 2023).
- Drahozal moderated a panel on empirical research on investment arbitration at a conference on “Assessing the Past, Envisioning the Future: International Investment Arbitration Law & Policy” at Bocconi University, Milan, Italy (April 21, 2023).
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John Head is the Robert W. Wagstaff Distinguished Professor at KU Law. He serves as faculty advisor for both the International Law Society and the Jessup international law moot court team. His scholarly books and articles focus mainly on international and comparative law, with emphasis on the legal aspects of international business, international environmental protection and international economic relations. His recent work in international and comparative law includes:
- Head’s recent book “Deep Agroecology and the Homeric Epics: Global Cultural Reform for a Natural-Systems Agriculture” (Routledge, Earthscan Food & Agriculture Series) has brought to completion a four-book series examining legal, institutional and cultural aspects of transforming global agriculture. Taken together, the books focus on the potential for natural-systems farming to overcome the deficiencies of modern extractive agriculture, thus reversing ecological degradation – especially in temperate-grasslands ecosystems – and offsetting climate change
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Head published the article Planetary Health in Times of Converging Crises: Reflections on Stockholm, Decolonization, Restoration, and Global Ecological Governance in 19 Law, Environment, and Development Journal (2023).
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Head and co-reporter, Emily Otte, published the law journal article More than Friends? U.S.-Canada Cooperative Frameworks on Agriculture and the Environment, 70 Kansas Law Review 447 (2022).
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Head published the chapter Chinese Moral Psychology as Framed by China’s Legal Tradition: Historical Illustrations of of how the friction between formal and informal species of law defines the “legal soul” of China, appearing in “The Routledge International Handbook of Morality, Cognition, and Emotion in China (Ryan Nichols, ed., 2022).
- In addition, Head participated in several conferences, panel discussions, and continuing-education programs including:
- 2022 – presentation on “Dismantling Inequities through Agroecological Reform in Western Continental Europe’s Temperate-Forests Ecoregions," for Law & Society Association annual congress.
- 2022 –presentation on “Planetary Health in Times of Converging Crises: Reflections on Stockholm, Decolonization, Restoration, and Global Ecological Governance,” at Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation annual institute.
- 2022 –presentation on “China’s Legal Soul and Modern Moral Cognition: The Influence of Historical Frictions (cultural aspects of Chinese legal history, with emphasis on formal and informal sources of law), for annual conference of the International Association of Comparative Cultural Psychology.
- 2022 –presentation on “Drawing New Territorial Boundaries for Portugal? A Modest Proposal for Agroecological Governance Reform,” at annual congress of the Mediterranean Studies Association.
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2022 – “Russia’s 2022 Invasion of Ukraine: Legal & Historical Framework on the Aggressive Use of Force in International Relations (jus ad bellum),” continuing legal education presentation for Judge Advocate General lawyers.
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Uma Outka is the William R. Scott Law Professor at KU. Her scholarship explores the legal context for energy transition, with particular interests in energy and environmental justice, renewable energy, electricity regulation, and decarbonization of the electric grid. Her recent work in international and comparative law includes:
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Outka collaborated on a chapter, Energy Communities: Comparative Perspectives from the EU and the United States, with Annalisa Savaresi, professor of international environmental law at the Center for Climate Change, Energy and Environmental Law, University of Eastern Finland. The chapter now appears in the new international volume, Handbook of Energy Law in the Low-Carbon Transition (Giuseppe Bellantuono, et al eds.) (De Gruyter 2023). Other countries represented in this publication include Australia, Brazil, China, Denmark, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Zambia.
- Outka continues to engage at the international level in 2023 through the Scotia Group, an independent international network connecting law, business, finance, politics and academia hosting facilitated Majlis Dialogues, together with RAND Europe, focused on accelerating the clean energy transition and climate finance.
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Najarian Peters is an associate professor of law at KU. In her time at KU Law, Peters has created two new privacy courses which she now teaches: Privacy Law and The Practice of Privacy Law. Her work and scholarship focus on privacy policy, law, governance and emerging technology. Her recent work in international and comparative law includes:
- In July 2023, Peters presented her paper at the 7th annual Slavery Past, Present, and Future conference in Accra, Ghana at Webster University. This paper deals with U.S. law, but was presented in international contexts.
- Peters was recently invited to present her work on Black home-education at the 12th Annual School Choice and Reform conference in Madrid, Spain in January 2024. Similar to her July 2023 presentation, her work deals with U.S. law, but is presented in international contexts.
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Alumni news in international and comparative law |
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Steven Wilhelm, L’74, will be featured in the International Association of Top Professionals (IAOTP)’s Top 50 Fearless Leaders publication at the end of April. Wilhelm will also be inducted into the exclusive IAOTP Hall of Fame and honored at their annual awards gala this December.
Ahmed Mansour, SJD, L’18, met Jill Biden, the president of Al Azhar University and other officials during Dr. Biden’s visit to the Al Azhar mosque in Egypt.
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