Dear Members,

The year is off to a fantastic start!

It is with a great deal of pride that I announce that 1,500 latest edition law books have been shipped to the University of Liberia and Grimes School of Law in Monrovia, Liberia, thanks to the Section’s contributions of energy and financial assistance to this project. I would like to extend special thanks to Lane Ayres for his great work in making this happen and to all behind this project, including Salli Swartz, Edna Udobong, Victor Mroczka, Marilyn Kaman, Cara Lee Neville, and all members of the subcommittees of the Africa Committee, growing out of the ILEX Africa Delegation to Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Ghana led by past Chair Deborah Enix-Ross in March 2007. Finally, I would like to extend our gratitude to West Publishing and Thomson-Reuters for generously supporting this program.

At the end of August, past Chair Jeff Golden, Vice Chair Salli Swartz, and I attended AIJA’s Annual Congress in Paris.  Other Section (and former AIJA) leaders there included Markus Zwicky, Frans Duynstee, Nicole Van Ranst, Jan Swinnen, Demetrios Eleftheriou, Christian Lundgren, Par Remnelid, Claudio Cocuzza, Malcolm McNeil, Michelle Sindler, Pierre-Yves Gunter, Joren De Wachter, Steven De Schrijver, Dieter Hofmann, Daniel Marugg, Adi Seffer, Duarte de Athayde, Ronald Meissner, Patrick Goudreau, Cristobal Porzio, Ernst Giese, Joaquin Rodriguez Zarza, Joao Traca, Irina Anghel, Sonia Cortes, Sonia Gumpert, Dieter Hoffman, Randall Anderson  — and more.  Led by Europe Committee Co-Chair Christian Lundgren and International Securities and Capital Markets Committee Co-Chair Daniel Bushner, ABA International’s panel on “Securities – U.S. and European Offerings” was of excellent quality and very well attended.  Par and the other AIJA leaders continuously praised the Section, making us feel right at home with this wonderful group of young, mostly European, lawyers.

I am also very proud of the testimonial given by Duarte de Athayde, President of AIJA, about our commemorative book, ABA International, Leading the World’s International Lawyers Since 1878: “it is an outstanding historical record that enriches the legal community!” If you haven’t ordered your copy yet, I hope you will do so soon.  The book not only provides a great background on the history of the Section, it showcases our role in the development of international law for the past 130 years. Click here to read more about the book and order your copy today.

Next stop, The Hague: It’s hard to believe, but our ILEX delegation to the “World’s Courthouse” starts in a few days.

Then, Brussels 2008!

Click here for more.

Aaron Schildhaus, Section Chair