Past Events
Time: 3:00 - 6:30 pm (Eastern Time)
Location: Zoom Webinar
As the United States welcomes a new administration under President Biden, the Indiana International & Comparative Law Review hosts a discussion on the administration’s direction regarding international law and human rights. Specifically, this evening’s speakers will start the conversation on the U .S. international law agenda, the coexistence of human rights and the rule of law, and the need for multilateral cooperation in light of strained international relations and human rights issues - specifically as it relates to the Korean Peninsula.
Agenda (all times are Eastern Standard Time):
3:00-3:15 pm:
Welcome and Introduction
Professor Frank Sullivan, Jr., IU McKinney School of Law
3:15-4:15 pm:
Professor Dr. Frank Emmert, LL.M., FCIArb, IU McKinney School of Law
Title: "An International Law Agenda for the Biden Administration”
Frank Emmert joined the McKinney faculty and became the Executive Director of the Center for International and Comparative Law beginning in 2003. Before his appointment at IU, he was a visiting professor at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York. He has also served as Dean of Concordia International University Estonia School of Law, Executive Director of the Academy of European Law at the European University Institute, and Lecturer in European and International Law at the European Institute of Basle University. He has taught courses for credit at the Universities of Strasbourg (France), Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Warsaw and Krakow (Poland), Ljubljana and Maribor (Slovenia), Charles University Prague (Czech Republic), St. Gall (Switzerland), the College of Europe (Poland), Stanford Law School, Rutgers University School of Law and IU Bloomington (USA), American University Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan), Universidad de Guadalajara and Tec de Monterrey (Mexico), Université Saint-Ésprit de Kaslik (Lebanon), as well as Alexandria University Faculty of Law and Cairo University Faculty of Law (Egypt).
Prof. Emmert is fluent in German and English, conversant in French, and speaks some Spanish and Italian. He regularly advises governments and multinational enterprises in matters of business and trade law, law reform, and court reform. As a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, he participates in international commercial arbitrations when appointed by parties to a dispute. He speaks frequently at conferences and seminars around the world. Some 150 publications and presentations can be downloaded from ResearchGate.
4:15-4:20 pm: Break
4:20-5:20 pm:
Justice Steven David, ’82, Indiana Supreme Court
Title: "Never Doubt the Oath that You Have Taken. Human Rights Matter if the Rule of Law Means Anything!”
» Link to Justice David's IICLR Article, "Dear Mom & Dad"
Justice Steven David was appointed to the Indiana Supreme Court in 2010. He now serves as the senior member of the Court. Prior to being named the 106th Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court, Justice David built a multi-faceted career of private practice, corporate counsel experience, and stellar service as a military lawyer.
Justice David’s 38 years of public service includes 16 years as a trial court judge in Boone County and 28 years of military service. As Circuit Court Judge, Justice David presided over civil, criminal, family and juvenile matters. He was the recipient of the coveted Robert Kinsey Award, awarded to the most outstanding Juvenile Court Judge in Indiana. He served in the United States Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, earning the rank of Colonel and holding a Top Secret SCI security clearance. His service included active and reserve time and two post 9-11 mobilizations, including service in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay Cuba. His dedication to the military, pro bono services, and the rule of law earned him a number of military and citizen awards, including the Defense Superior Service Award, the nation’s third highest non-combat medal.
Justice David is currently an adjunct professor at IU McKinney School of Law and is a frequent public speaker. In his spare time, he enjoys golfing and participating in triathlons, marathons, and IRONMAN events. His personal motto is: “WORK HARD, DO GOOD, BE PROUD, HAVE FUN, and D0 WHAT’S RIGHT.” He and his wife, Catheryne Pully, reside in Columbus, Indiana and are members of St. Luke’s United Methodist Church.
5:20-5:25 pm: Break
5:25- 6:25 pm:
Former Justice Michael Kirby, High Court of Australia
Title: "Retreat from Multilateralism: Peace and Security on the Korean Peninsula”
The Honorable Michael Kirby served as Judge of the Federal Court of Australia (1983-1984), President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal (1984-96), and Justice of the High Court of Australia (1996-2009). In addition to his judicial duties, Michael Kirby has served on three university governing bodies and was elected Chancellor of Macquarie University in Sydney (1984-93). He also served on many national and international bodies. Amongst the latter have been service as a member of the World Health Organization’s Global Commission on AIDS (1988-92); as President of the International Commission of Jurists, Geneva (1995-98); as UN Special Representative for Human Rights in Cambodia (1993-6); as a member of the UNESCO International Bioethics Committee (1995-2005); as a member of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Judicial Reference Group (2007- 09) and as a member of the UNAIDS Reference Group on HIV and Human Rights(2004-present).
His recent international activities have included a meeting at the Vatican as co-chair of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute to seek Pope Francis’s support in decriminalizing homosexuality, and chairing the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on DPRK (North Korea) (2013-14). His current areas of interest and work include law and alternative dispute resolution; international law reform; LGBTIQ matters; animal welfare; and HIV/AIDS and the global right to health. He has received dozens of honorary degrees from universities around the world, including Indiana University, which awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) in 2009. In May 2017, he was invested by Japan with the insignia of the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star in Tokyo, with an audience with the Emperor of Japan.
Justice Kirby has given years of service to Indiana University—as a member of the Kinsey Institute’s Board of Governors, as a two-time Branigin lecturer at the invitation of IU’s Institute for Advanced Study, as IU’s first George P. Smith Distinguished Professor and Chair in the Maurer School of Law, and as IU’s 2009 Commencement speaker. During that Commencement ceremony, President Michael A. McRobbie presented Justice Kirby with an honorary IU doctorate. In 2019, President McRobbie presented him with the Indiana University Bicentennial Medal.
6:25-6:30 pm: Closing remarks
