The American Branch of the International Law Association’s annual International Law Weekend is the largest gathering of international law practitioners, government officials, academics, and students each fall. Held at the New York Bar Association on October 22, and at Fordham Law School from October 23-24, over 1,000 participants attended the conference which featured three keynote addresses, two late breaking developments panels, and 33 other panels dedicated to the theme “[R]evolution in the International Legal Order.”
CWRU Law Professor Michael Scharf concluded his four-year term as President of the ABILA by presiding over the opening Presidential Panel, featuring a free-ranging fireside chat about the future of international law in this time of tumult between Scharf, ASIL President Oona Hathaway, and Oxford Professor Dapo Akande, the UK’s nominee to be a judge on the International Court of Justice.
At the ABILA’s annual Board of Directors Meeting on October 23, the Board voted 29-1 in favor of a Statement that Scharf drafted opposing the new Trump Administration sanctions designed to “destroy an institution dedicated to international justice that is supported by 125 other States, including every NATO member State but Türkiye and most of America’s allies.”
The final panel of the conference was a standing room only book launch for Scharf’s Memoir, “Adventures and Misadventures in International Justice,” with a panel featuring Scharf, Paul Williams (President of the Public International Law & Policy Group), Milena Sterio (Co-Director of Studies of the ABILA), and Mark Ellis (Executive Director of the International Bar Association).
At the ABILA Members Meeting on October 24, Scharf was elected Chairman of the Board of the American Branch of the International Law Association, for a four-year term. He is succeeded as President of the ABILA by Amity Boye, Executive Director of NYU Law School’s Appellate Project.