On the occasion of the American Branch’s centennial year, the International Law Weekend Organizing Committee was pleased to highlight young and new voices in international law throughout ILW 2022 to encourage reflection on both the past and future of international law. The American Branch has always prioritized the inclusion of the next generation and the ILW 2022 program reflected this commitment.

Several moderators intentionally featured Young Discussants to their panels to promote a reimagination and reinvention of international law in line with the conference’s theme, “The Next 100 Years of International Law.” Some of these panels included Civil War Peace Agreements: Interpretation, Implementation and Legal Context; The International Trade Regime’s Foundations in an Era of Increased Geopolitical Context; The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties in Investor-State Disputes: History, Evolution, and Future; and The Fourth Environmental Era: Climate Justice.

International Law Weekend 2022, New York

Over the summer, the ILW Organizing Committee also invited the submission of abstracts relating to “The Next 100 Years of International Law” from new and emerging professionals who have been in the field of international law for five years or less to form an Emerging Voices Panel. In particular, the committee posed the question: “Which foundations from the last century of international law should remain in the next century and which should be reimagined?” Given the extraordinary challenges to the international legal order – threats to the peace, persistent economic and social inequalities, environmental and global health risks, and populist isolationism – the committee recognized that the present circumstances offer the opportunity to reevaluate the core features of international law.

The committee received a record number of applicants and ultimately five young professionals were selected to present their abstracts at ILW 2022 on the Emerging Voices Panel. Under the moderation of Carolina Arlota (Associate Research Scholar, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia Law School; Co-Chair, ABILA Committee on International Environmental and Energy Law) and Lisa Reinsberg (Executive Director, International Justice Resource Center), this fruitful panel included Emily T. Behzadi (Associate Professor of Law, California Western School of Law), Julian Huertas (Doctoral Candidate, University of Toronto Faculty of Law), Maria Pena Ermida (PhD Candidate and Researcher, Católica Global School of Law), Michal Swarabowicz (Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow, University of New South Wales in Sydney), and Sarah Zarmsky (PhD Candidate and Assistant Lecturer, Human Rights Centre, University of Essex). The topics ranged from cultural heritage protection to a case study of online harm using international criminal law to economic warfare.

International Law Weekend 2022, New York.

Read more about the Emerging Voices Panel from the perspective of American Branch 2022 Student Ambassador Freya Doughty (J.S.D. Candidate, Washington University in St. Louis School of Law) here.