Apart from their assigned mod courses, 1L students may only enroll in courses offered as 1L electives. A complete list of these courses can be found on the 1L Elective Listings page. 1L students must use the 1L class number listed on the course description when enrolling.
261.24 sec. 001 - Global Dispute Resolution (Spring 2025)
Instructor: Joan Donoghue
View all teaching evaluations for this course - degree students only
Units: 2
Grading Designation: Graded
Mode of Instruction: In-Person
Meeting:
M 3:35 PM - 5:25 PM
Location: Law 111
From January 13, 2025
To April 29, 2025
Course End: April 29, 2025
Class Number: 33501
Enrollment info:
Enrolled: 23
Waitlisted: 8
Enroll Limit: 23
As of: 01/21 03:55 AM
Just how global is international dispute resolution? In her award-winning book Is International Law International?, Professor Anthea Roberts laments the extent to which public international law textbooks rely on the perspectives and jurisprudence of the author’s home country. There are valid reasons to focus on the country in which a student is most likely to practice law. However, the practices and procedures of international courts and tribunals have their origins in both civil law (especially French) and common law traditions. Those in the field of international adjudication and arbitration – including judges, arbitrators, counsel, law clerks, and scholars – are therefore advantaged by an appreciation of the differing perspectives that stem from the two traditions, which reveal themselves in almost every international case. The objective of this course is to enhance the ability of the students to engage with the field of international adjudication and arbitration.
Professor Joan Donoghue will draw on her experiences as President (2021-2024) and Judge (2010-2024) of the International Court of Justice and as a member of investor-state arbitral panels. The course will cover key differences between the two major legal traditions, the historical origins of present-day courts and tribunals and the present-day manifestations of the uneasy synthesis of the two traditions. Topics will include the sources of law, the role of prior judicial decisions, the pre-hearing phase (e.g., discovery or not), the use of documentary versus witness evidence, the conduct of oral proceedings, approaches to scientific evidence (such as evidence on environmental damage) and the differences in the structure, logic and style of common law and civil law judicial decisions.
Students will be required to submit a 12-15 page research paper in the form of a memorandum by a law clerk to a judge or arbitrator. The Professor will model her interactions with students on her engagement with law clerks, identifying topics early in the semester, providing feedback to each student and inviting in-class exchanges, as would take place among a group of law clerks. The course will include guest lecturers (via video-conference).
The student’s grade will be based on the written research paper. Each student will be required to present the research paper orally towards the end of the semester and will be asked to serve as a commentator on the papers of one or more other students. Class participation will be taken into account if needed to serve as a tiebreaker for students at grade borderlines.
There are no prerequisites. Students who have some background in evidence, international law, arbitration and/or the civil law tradition will be able to draw on that knowledge in the class. In addition, a student who is able to work with French-language materials may wish to make use of such materials. However, the ability to work in another language is not required.
Attendance at the first class is mandatory for all currently enrolled and waitlisted students; any currently enrolled or waitlisted students who are not present on the first day of class (without prior permission of the instructor) will be dropped. The instructor will continue to take attendance throughout the add/drop period and anyone who moves off the waitlist into the class must continue to attend or have prior permission of the instructor in order not to be dropped.
|
Requirements Satisfaction:
|
Submit teaching evaluations for this course between 14-APR-25 and 29-APR-25
Exam Notes: (P) Final paper
(Subject to change by faculty member only through the first two weeks of instruction)
Course Category: International and Comparative Law
This course is listed in the following sub-categories:
Public Law and Policy
Social Justice and Public Interest
If you are the instructor or their FSU, you may add a file like a syllabus or a first assignment to this page.
Readers:
No reader.
Books:
Required Books are in blue
- French Law A Comparative Approach SECOND ED 2018
Eva Steiner
ISBN: 9780198790891
e-Book: Yes
e-Book procurement note: hard copy seems to be out of print but I bought used paperback.
Price: To Be Determined - Judicial Deliberations A Comparative Analysis paperback 2009
Mitchel Lasser
ISBN: 9780199575169
e-Book Available: Yes
e-Book procurement note: The Peace Palace Library has the book in e-book so it must exist. I own 2009 paperback
Price: 61
Note: prices are sampled from internet bookstores. Law-school Bookstore prices are unavailable at this time.