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The Center for International and Comparative Law promotes the study and understanding of international and comparative law, and of the political and economic institutions that support the international legal order.

Center News

• Prof. Mortimer Sellers was elected to serve as honorary president of the International Association of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy (IVR) at the World Congress in Seoul Korea.  Of note, he is only the second American since 1909 to serve in this prestigious role.

• In January 2024, Prof. Nienke Grossman was appointed to the Inter-American Juridical Committee, following nomination by the United States. The Committee serves the Organization of American States (OAS) in an advisory capacity to promote the progressive development and codification of international law. Its members are distinguished international law experts from across the Inter-American region. Grossman will attend the next regular session in March. 
  
  
• Exec. Dir. Janet Lord moderated and presented at the American Society of International Law’s ASIL Abroad conference in early June 2024 in Geneva, leading a simulation on disability and armed conflict and framing key principles that ought to inform a disability-cognizant approach to international humanitarian law. She was joined at the conference by UBalt Law student  Zoe Kroll, an incoming CICL Fellow. Lord later attended the 17^th Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) at UN headquarters, and spoke at a panel on advancing international disability rights in the 21^st century.
  
  
• In Spring 2024, Prof. Ioanna Tourkochoriti launched a Business and Human Rights Network as part of CICL’s human rights law initiatives. The network is composed of leading business and human rights scholars and practitioners and aims to pursue a research agenda on Environmental, Social, Governance issues and, specifically, to investigate and provide guidance on issues related to human rights due diligence in global supply chains.
  
  
• At the American Society of International Law’s Annual Meeting in April 2024, CICL was represented by its faculty leadership, Prof. Mortimer Sellers, Prof. Nienke Grossman and Prof. Ioanna Tourkochoriti. Sellers and Grossman participated in numerous ASIL events and panels and were joined at the conference by several students in UBalt Law’s International Law Society.
  
  
• Prof. Tourkochoriti delivered a Feb. 2, 2024, lecture at American University Washington College of Law based on her Cambridge book volume, Freedom of Expression, the Revolutionary Roots of American and French Legal Thought. The lecture event included commentary by three discussants: Prof. Günter Frankenberg (Max-Planck Institut Frankfurt), Prof. Mark Graber (University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law), and Prof. Fernanda Nicola (American University Washington College of Law). The event was chaired by Prof. Padideh Ala’I (American University Washington College of Law).
  
  
• CICL provided opportunities for two UBalt Law students to engage in international treaty processes. Prof. Stephen Stec participated in the Plastics Convention treaty negotiation in Ottawa, Canada with UBalt Law student Geena Michaelides. CICL Executive Director Janet Lord led a delegation to UN Headquarters in New York, including law student Ahmad Choudary, to advance efforts before the 6^th Committee of the General Assembly to develop a convention on crimes against humanity.

See more CICL archived news >>

Renowned human rights scholar and advocate Gay McDougall delivers the 25^th Annual John Sumner Stead Lecture in International Law on the international community’s response to the Black Lives Matter movement, Oct. 28, 2020.

 

 

Prof. Nienke Grossman has twice visited the United Nations to advise on best practices for choosing judges for the International Criminal Court.

 

Established in 1994, CICL seeks to create opportunities for students and faculty at the Law School for deeper knowledge of, engagement with and excitement about international law. CICL sponsors research, publication, teaching and events about international legal issues, with special emphasis on human rights, women’s human rights, international courts and tribunals, democracy, intellectual property and international business transactions. 

CICL’s Annual John Sumner Stead lecture is a highlight of each year at the University of Baltimore. Past speakers include a diverse group of renowned academics, scholars and practitioners of international law, such as several former presidents of the American Society of International, two former judges on the International Court of Justice, and two United States senators.

CICL has partnered with UBalt’s International Law Society, run by students at the Law School, as well as the American Society of International Law, to host various events at the law school. CICL also collaborates with partners at other University System of Maryland institutions through the System Associates Program and the John Sumner Stead Colloquium on International and Comparative Law.

CICL is proud of a number of opportunities for students to pursue their international law interests at UBalt, including regular coursework and advanced legal research in International Law, our accredited study abroad programs in Scotland and Curacao, participation in international moot court competitions, attendance at CICL events, as well as membership in the International Law Society. We are happy to announce the University of Baltimore became an Academic Partner of the American Society of International Law in the 2019-2020 academic year.

 

                               

 The Executive Committee of the International Association for the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy met at the University of Baltimore in 2018.

 

UB students visited the Organization of American States in April 2019, where they learned about the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights from Commission staff, and met with the Chilean Ambassador to the OAS.