International Judicial Academy– Upcoming Events

• August 6-18, 2010 – Intellectual Property Seminars in Argentina, Chile, and Peru
• August 9-20, 2010 – Judicial and Court Administration and Caseload Management Seminar in Washington, DC (conducted with the International Law Institute)
• September 26 – October 1, 2010 – Sixth Sir Richard May Seminar on International Law & International Courts in The Hague, Netherlands
• October 9-16, 2010 – Seminar in Washington, DC for judges from multiple countries in South America

Relocation of IJA’s Washington, DC Office

The International Judicial Academy’s Washington, DC office is now located in the building of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace near Dupont Circle.  The new mailing address for the Academy is:

International Judicial Academy
1779 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Suite 715
Washington, D.C. 20036

The email address and phone number for Dr. James Apple, the President of the Academy will remain the same.  Dr. Apple can be reached at 202-628-7801 and ijaworld@verizon.net.  The Academy’s Executive Assistant, Ms. Lucia Druetta, can be reached at 202-628-7802.  Information about the Academy and its publication, the International Judicial Monitor, can be found at www.ijaworld.org and www.judicialmonitor.org, respectively.  The Spanish website address is www.ijaworld.org/esp/. 

IJA Signs 3-Year Agreement With Supreme People’s Court of China

In April, the International Judicial Academy signed a three-year education and exchange program with the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China.  Dr. James G. Apple, President of the IJA, and Mr. Liu Hehua, Director-General of the International Department of the SPC, affixed their respective signatures to two documents containing the terms of the agreement, one in Chinese and the other in English.

Under the terms of the agreement, each party will promote and carry out “exchanges between China courts and the judicial circles of the United States and other countries.” The parties also agreed to “encourage local Chinese courts to participate in the programs” and “to carry out various types of exchanges.”

Collaboration started immediately after the signing of the agreement.  After touring the Supreme People’s Court building and visiting the High People’s Court of Beijing, Dr. Apple, along with Judge Marvin Garbis, and Professor Charlotte Ku, both members of the IJA’s Board of Directors, departed the Chinese capital to visit five cities in southern and western China to promote the agreement among local judges and court officers.  The three IJA officers visited Guanghou, Nanning, Kunming, Chengdu and Chongking. In each city they met with officers of the local courts, individual judges and other court officers. They also visited one law school. 

Acting under the new agreement with the Chinese Supreme People’s Court, in mid-May the International Judicial Academy hosted the Vice-President of the Supreme People’s Court, Hon. Justice Jing Hanchao and a delegation of Chinese judges during a visit to Washington, DC.  In the agenda prepared by the IJA, Chief Judge Paul Michel hosted the Chinese delegation for a visit to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, Following a lunch at the National Press Club, the group visited the American Bar Association.  The following day the delegation visited the Federal Judicial Center, where they received a briefing from FJC Director Judge Barbara Rothstein. The judges also visited the Administrative Officer of the U.S. Courts for a briefing with Townsend Robinson, Deputy Director of the Judge’s Division.

University of Virginia Graduates Join IJA Office in Washington, DC

The Academy is pleased to announce that on July 19, Ms. Lucia Druetta joined the Academy staff in Washington, DC as the new Executive Assistant to the President and Office Manager.  Ms. Druetta is a native of Buenos Aires, Argentina.  She received her law degree from the Argentina Catholic University School of Law in 1999.  She holds two Masters of Law degrees, from the University of Virginia School of Law (2010) and the Austral University School of Law in Buenos Aires (2008).  After graduating from law school, Ms. Druetta clerked for the Federal First Instance Court in Buenos Aires before moving into private practice, most recently as a Senior Associate at Rivera, Druetta & Trossero in Buenos Aires.  Ms. Druetta is a native Spanish speaker and is fluent in English.  She replaces the current Executive Assistant, Christine White, left the Academy to attend the University of Maryland School of Law.

Mr. Taylor Stout will be joining the International Judicial Academy as an intern in August. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Wake Forest University in North Carolina.  He graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in May, 2010, where he was a member of the editorial staff of the Virginia Law Review. His internship will be for four months, after which he will join the Washington, DC office of the law firm of Wilkie, Farr and Gallagher.

Intellectual Property Seminars in Washington, DC

During the first half of 2010, the International Judicial Academy conducted two seminars in Washington, DC on intellectual property for delegations from Latin America.  Dr. James Apple, President of the Academy, designed and planned the seminars, and the Hon. Ricardo Li Rosi, Vice-President of the Academy, led the delegations.

The first seminar, held from March 13 – 20, was attended by twenty-five judges and lawyers from Argentina, Chile, and Peru.  This marked the first time that judges from Peru participated in an Academy seminar in Washington.  The seminar agenda included presentations and site visits that addressed a range of topics related to intellectual property and justice.

During the seminar, the participants met with U.S. Supreme Court Clerk General William Suter, the Hon. Marvin Garbis of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, and the Hon. Paul Michel, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.  The delegation spent one afternoon at the law offices of Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox, a Washington, DC-based law firm that “specializes in the protection, transfer, and enforcement of intellectual property rights.” At the end of the seminar, the judges praised the program and the opportunities it afforded, including, “the exchange of opinions about the practical experiences, especially with the local judges.”

From June 6 – 12, the Academy hosted its first judicial delegation from Mexico in Washington, DC. Twenty-one judges and lawyers participated in the program on intellectual property and justice.  Included in the delegation was Hon. Jorge Arturo Camero Ocampo, President of the IJA’s Committee for Mexico and President of the National College of Circuit Magistrates and District Judges of the Mexican Judiciary.

The participants visited the USPTO, the U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, MD, and the U.S. Supreme Court, all of which have become an indispensable and invaluable part of the Academy’s intellectual property seminars in Washington, DC.  The briefing organized by Mr. Leon Scioscia, Special Assistant to the Law Librarian of Congress, and the staff of the Law Library of Congress was an especially well-received session.  The participants heard presentations from the Collections Services staff and Foreign Law Specialists and learned about GLIN (Global Legal Information Network), a piublic database maintained by the Law Library, which allows access to the “official texts of laws, regulations, judicial decisions, and other complementary legal sources contributed by governmental agencies and international organizations.”  On the final day of the seminar, Friday, June 11, the participants met with the Hon. Randall Rader, Chief Judge of the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, who had recently assumed the position of Chief Judge.

IJA Conducts First Technology and Justice Seminar for Latin American Judges

From May 16 – 22, 2010, the Academy conducted its largest seminar to date in Washington, DC.  Thirty-three judges from nine countries participated in the Academy’s first “Seminar on Technology & Justice.”  The countries represented during the seminar were Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru.  The goal of the seminar was to familiarize the participants with certain technology issues that are becoming increasingly more common in court cases in order to help judges better understand and manage their caseloads.  Dr. James Apple and the Hon. Ricardo Li Rosi planned the seminar with the assistance of Mr. Pedro Less Andrade, Latin American Policy Counsel for Google, who arranged for meetings and presentations with technology experts. 

The participants heard presentations on the structure of the Internet and how it functions within the context of the following issues: domain names; telecommunications; cybercrime; online protection of children; legal challenges; search engines; and mobile commerce, among others.  The offices of Google Washington DC hosted the Academy delegation for a daylong series of discussions that included a panel on freedom of expression and information rights and a session with Mr. Vint Cerf, one of the “fathers of the Internet.”  One of the most highly rated sessions of the seminar was the presentation “Charting the Digital Divide” from Prof. Lateef Mtima of the Howard University School of Law during which he talked to the participants about intellectual property and the development of technology and the ways in which they affect social justice.  The program was highly evaluated by the participants.

Additions to IJA Staff  in Buenos Aires

The International Judicial Academy has announced the addition of two new members to the staff of its office in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  Dr. Juan Manuel Matera and Dr. Eduardo Civitate will serve as Executive Assistants in the Argentine office.  They will assist the Hon. Ricardo Li Rosi, Vice-President of the Academy for Latin American Programs, and the Hon. Javier Fernandez, Assistant Vice-President for Latin American Programs, in recruiting participants and planning and coordinating seminars in Latin America and the United States.  Dr. Matera is currently a law clerk of the Court of Appeals (National Court System) in Buenos Aires. He is a professor of civil and commercial contracts at the Law School of the University of Buenos Aires.  Dr. Civitate is also currently a law clerk of the Court of Appeals (National Court System) in Buenos Aires.  He is a professor of tax procedure at the Law School of the University of Buenos Aires.  Both Dr. Matera and Dr. Civitate teach civil and family law at the University of Concepción del Uruguay. 

Celebration of IJA’s 9th Latin America Publication

The Academy is pleased to announce the publication of the 9th manual prepared by the Latin American office and recognizes the Hon. Ricardo Li Rosi, Vice-President of the Academy for Latin American Programs, for his leadership in producing and distributing these manuals. The Academy’s Latin American office prepared the manuals with the assistance of La Ley, a Buenos Aires-based publisher and printer specializing in legal materials. 

The manuals include:

• “Ciencia, Técnica y Poder Judicial. Manual sobre Propiedad Intelectual” – Science, Technology and the Judiciary.  Intellectual Property Manual (June, 2010)
• “Ciencia, Técnica y Poder Judicial. Principios Básicos en la Investigación de Productos Farmacéuticos” – Science, Technology and the Judiciary. Basic Principles of Pharmaceutical Research (June, 2009)
• “Ciencia, Técnica y Poder Judicial. La Prueba Científica y los Procesos Judiciales. Medicina: proceso de toma de decisiones médicas. Tomo II” – Science, Technology, and the Judiciary.  Scientific evidence and Court Proceedings.  Medicine: Process of making medical decisions.  Volume II (November, 2009)
• “Las Ciencias Económicas para los Jueces” – Economics for Judges (December, 2007)
• “Seguros I” – Insurance I (November, 2008)
• “Coloquio sobre Justicia y Seguros. Ponencias” – Colloquium on Justice and Insurance.  Speeches. (October, 2007)
• “Ciencia, Técnica y Poder Judicial. Relaciones de Consumo. Derecho y Economía” – Science, Technology, and the Judiciary.  Consumer Relations, Law, and Economics.  (November, 2006)
• “Guía de especialistas certificados por el Consejo de Certificación de Profesionales Médicos: 1993-2005” – Guide of Specialists Certified by the Council of Certification of Medical Professionals