Recent Events

Speaker: Justice Stephen G. Breyer

The American Foreign Law Association is pleased to present Justice Stephen G. Breyer for a conversation about the Supreme Court’s role in considering issues outside U.S. borders. In this original, far-reaching, and timely book, Justice Stephen G. Breyer examines the work of the Supreme Court of the United States in an increasingly interconnected world, a world in which all sorts of activity, both public and private—from the conduct of national security policy to the conduct of international trade—obliges the Court…

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has become a major source of liability for US and foreign firms and individuals with total fines and penalties exceeding $6 billion in 2020, or over 2.5 times the amount of the previous record in 2019, which had already been described as “by many measures, the most significant year ever in FCPA enforcement.” Many of the high-profile cases over the past decade have involved large multinationals such as Total, Alcatel, Eni and Tyson Foods.  Join us…

Speaker: The Honorable Leo E. Strine, Jr. and Radha D. Curpen

Join us for an exciting discussion about Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), one of the hottest investment trends shaping global markets today. ESG has been gaining momentum for years. The pandemic has accelerated its demand and this will carry on through 2021 and help define a post-Covid world. The Honorable Leo E. Strine, Jr. will share his unmatched insights on what this means for corporations in a conversation with Radha D. Curpen. Leo E. Strine, Jr. is Of Counsel in…

Speaker: Professor Harold I. Abramson and AFLA Past President Richard Lutringer

Join Professor Harold I. Abramson, Co-Author of The Singapore Convention on Mediated Settlements:  The Reference Book and AFLA Past President Richard Lutringer for one of the most important recent developments in cross-border private commercial disputes.  The UN Convention on International Settlement Agreements (generally known as the Singapore Convention), was adopted on December 20, 2018, and since signed by 53 countries, including the United States. Six countries have already taken the final step of ratifying the treaty and more are expected…

Speaker: The Honorable Timothy M. Reif, U.S. Court of International Trade

International trade has undergone a transformation in recent years.   What are the legal issues confronting practitioners today and what will the future hold? Judge Timothy Reif sits on the U.S. Court of International Trade in lower Manhattan and presides over a busy docket.  His perspective has been formed by experience negotiating trade deals, policing international trade obligations for the U.S. government, and drafting and passing trade legislation in Congress.  Join us for a presentation that will be of interest not only…

Speaker: Oona A. Hathaway, Yale Law School

On a hot summer afternoon in 1928, the leaders of the world assembled in Paris to outlaw war.  Within the year, the treaty signed that day, known as the Peace Pact, had been ratified by nearly every state in the world.  War, for the first time in history, had become illegal the world over.  But the promise of that summer day was fleeting.  Within a decade of its signing, each state that had gathered in Paris to renounce war was…

Speaker: Winston Ma, Paul Downs

The emergence of unicorns, startups with valuations in excess of $1 billion, has attracted billions of dollars of investment from sovereign wealth funds and government employee pension funds. The capital from these trillion dollar investors has not only fostered the explosive growth of the digital economy worldwide but has triggered a regulatory backlash with reverberations worldwide. Ma and Downs provide insight into the transformation of these vast funds into sophisticated investors of the digital champions of tomorrow and the regulations…

Speaker: Hessam Kalantar, Kalantar Business Law Group

The rapid growth, developmental vision and adaptability of city states such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi over the years has resulted in the UAE becoming the standout leader when it comes to Middle East M&A, mainly because of its ease of doing business and ever-evolving legal framework that facilitates raising and deploying capital, and deal-making in general. Despite the progress, economic challenges remain, and have arguably amplified in the face of COVID19. Hessam Kalantar will talk about M&A in the…