CWRU serves as stage for international legal experts
School of Law hosts 15th annual ASIL Midyear Meeting
Against the backdrop of perfect September fall weather, Case Western Reserve University School of Law hosted the 15th annual American Society of International Law (ASIL) Midyear Meeting, which included an opening session at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens and a gala dinner at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
ASIL selected CWRU from a list of other locations in a competitive bidding process to host the conference, which drew more than 250 lawyers, professors and students from countries as far away as Argentina, the United Kingdom, India, Pakistan and Singapore.
The conference featured speakers such as Judge Leo Gordon of the U.S. Court of International Trade, Rt. Hon. Alex Chalk, former Lord Chancellor and U.K. Secretary of State for Justice, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb (LAW ’18, MGT ’18), chief legal counsel of the City of Cleveland Mark Griffin (LAW ’94), ASIL President Melida Hodges and CWRU School of Law Dean Paul Rose.
The ASIL Midyear meeting was made possible with the generous support of its co-sponsors who, in addition to Case Western Reserve, included Jones Day, Lubrizol Corp., Richard W. Pogue, Benesch and Taft, among others. In addition, conference organizer and Associate Dean for Global Legal Studies Michael Scharf personally donated sling backpacks for all conference attendees, and performed with his faculty-student band, Razing the Bar, at the gala dinner.
The 31 panels showcased 90 selected papers from more than 200 submissions across the field, underscoring the depth of scholarship and CWRU’s role as a hub for global legal dialogue. Sixteen of the papers that were discussed at the conference—along with remarks from some of the speakers—will be published in the spring issue of the Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law.
“This was the most successful ASIL Midyear Meeting to date,” said Michael Cooper, executive director of ASIL. “It will be really hard to top this.”
