Job Vacancy: PhD Position/Fellow at the University of Bonn, Germany

Professor Dr Matthias Lehmann is looking for a highly skilled and motivated PhD candidate and fellow (Wissenschaftliche/r Mitarbeiter/in) to work at the Institute for Private International and Comparative Law, University of Bonn, Germany, on a part-time basis (50%) as of 1 April 2019.

The successful candidate holds a first law degree (ideally the First German State Examination) and is interested in the international dimensions of private law, in particular private international law, European law and/or comparative law. A very good command of German and English is expected; good IT skills are required.

The fellow will be given the opportunity to conduct his/her PhD project (according to the Faculty’s regulations). The position is paid according to the German public salary scale E-13 TV-L, 50% (about 1,300 Euro net per month). The initial contract period is two to three years, with an option to be extended; the candidate is free to leave before at any point subject only to timely notification. Responsibilities include supporting the Institute’s director in his research and teaching as well as independent teaching obligations (2 hours per week during term time).

If you are interested in this position, please send your application (cover letter in German; CV; and relevant documents and certificates, notably university transcripts and a copy of law degree) to lehrstuhl.lehmann@jura.uni-bonn.de by February 4, 2019. The University of Bonn is an equal opportunity employer.

Registration for OAS XLVI Course on International Law is now open

As announced by the Department of International Law of the Organization of American States (OAS), registration is now open for the XLVI Course of International Law to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 22 July to 9 August 2019. Further information is available here in Spanish and English.

The preliminary draft agenda is available here.

Conference on “The CISG at Middle Age” at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law

On March 22-23, 2019, the Center for International Legal Education (CILE) at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law will host an international conference on the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (“CISG”). The conference is entitled “The CISG at Middle Age.” It will be held in the Teplitz Memorial Courtroom of the Barco Law Building.

On Friday morning, panelists will discuss topics dealing with “The Past of the CISG: Its Successes and Failures.” This session will honor the memory of Peter Schechtriem and his suggestion that the CISG could provide “an International Linqua Franca.” The Friday afternoon panels will consider “The Present of the CISG: Is Uniform Interpretation Possible?,” honoring the memory of John Honnold and his exhortation towards “Resisting the Homeward Trend.” A dinner on Friday evening will feature a keynote address by Pitt Emeritus Professor Harry Flechtner on “The Past, Present and Future of the CISG (and Other Uniform Commercial Law Initiatives).” Saturday morning’s panels will focus on “The Future of the CISG: Have we come to Praise it or Bury it?”

The conference presents the opportunity to consider whether the widespread state ratification of the CISG indicates success in international law development, or whether the common practice of opting out of the CISG in private contracts demonstrates that its impact has been limited at best.

Conference speakers include: Ronald Brand (University of Pittsburgh), Petra Butler (Victoria University Wellington), Susanna Cook (Cohen & Grigsby), John Coyle (University of North Carolina), Milena Djordjevic (University of Belgrade), Johan Erauw (University of Ghent), Harry Flechtner (University of Pittsburgh), Henry Gabriel (Elon University), Jack Graves (Touro University), Joseph Gulino (Diaz, Reus & Targ), Stefan Kröll (Bucerius University), Ulrich Magnus (University of Hamburg), Francesco Mazotta (International Contract Manual), Chiara Giavannucci (University of Bologna), Vjosa Osmani (University of Pristina), Alejandro Osuna, (Tijuana, Mexico), Francesca Ragno (University of Verona), Ingeborg Schwenzer (University of Basel), Nina Tepic (University of Zagreb), Marco Torsello (University of Verona), Mark Walter (DAI Inc)

A link to more information on the conference, including additional links to the program and registration can be found here.

Global Private International Law: Adjudication without Frontiers

Agatha Brandão de Oliveira, Senior Research Assistant at the University of Lucerne, brought to my attention a forthcoming publication bearing the above title. The official book launch will take place on February 7 in Paris

The book was edited by: Horatia Muir Watt, Professor of Law, SciencesPo Law School, Paris, France, Lucia Bíziková, Trainee in an international law firm, London, UK, Agatha Brandão de Oliveira, Guest Lecturer, Federal University of Espirito Santo (UFES), Brazil and member of the Brazilian Bar and Diego P. Fernandez Arroyo, Professor of Law, SciencesPo Law School, Paris, France. 

Contributors include: F. Antunes Madeira da Silva, S. Archer, C. Avasilencei, G.A. Bermann, R. Bismuth, L. Bíziková, S. Bollée, J. Bomhoff, S. Brachotte, A. Brandão de Oliveira, H. Buxbaum, L. Carballo Piñeiro, C. Chalas, D. Coester-Waltjen, G. Cordero-Moss, S. Corneloup, F. Costa Morosini, G. Cuniberti, J. d’Aspremont, J. Daskal, S. Dezalay, R. Fentiman, D.P. Fernández Arroyo, T. Ferrando, S. Fulli-Lemaire, U. Grusic, H. Harata, L. Hennebel, J. Heymann, P. Kinsch, H. Kupelyants, K. Langenbucher, F. Latty, O. Le Meur, G. Lewkowicz, F. Licari, F. Marchadier, T. Marzal, R. Michaels, A. Mills, H. Muir Watt, N. Najjar, V.H. Pinto Ido, E. Pataut, D. Restrepo-Amariles, D. Rosenblum, C. Salomão Filho, M. Sanchez-Badin, P. Schiff Berman, J. Sgard, D. Sindres, E. Supiot, C. Thomale, K. Trilha, H. van Loon, J. Verhellen, M. Weidemaier, M. Wells-Greco.

Key Features of the publication are presented as follows:
• the specific global scope allows the reader to gain a contextualised understanding of legal transformation
• each case has two commentaries from different viewpoints, ensuring a nuanced perspective on the implications of the global turn in private international law and its importance for adjudication
• an astute combination of theory and practice ensures readers gain an understanding of the relevance of innovative legal theories in interpreting concrete cases in a changing world
• comparative material and ground-breaking analysis make this book eminently suitable for use with students and a useful tool for researchers and courts confronted with novel topics or issues.

For more info, check here.

 

 

Call for applications: grants for young scholars wishing to carry out their research in Turin

The Department of Law of the University of Turin intends to award three early-career fellowship grants. The value of each grant is 9.000 Euros.

Applications are welcome from young scholars, ideally with a PhD in law, in any field of law, including private international law.

Each grant is meant to finance a three-month research stay in Turin, as a result of which the grant-holder is expected to draw up a proposal for a Marie Sklodowska Curie Standard European Fellowship, indicating the Department of Law of the University of Turin as the host institution.

Candidates must not have resided or carried out their main activities in Italy for more than 12 months in the three years ending on 11 September 2019.

The deadline for applications is 11 March 2019 at 12.00 a.m. CET.

For further information see here.

Conference ‘Families Beyond Borders. Migration with or without private international law’, Ghent University, 28 and 29 March 2019 (start 28 March at 1 pm)

On 28 and 29 March 2019, the international conference ‘Families Beyond Borders. Migration with or without private international law’ will take place in Ghent at the Faculty of Law of Ghent University (Belgium). The conference, organised by Jinske Verhellen, will focus on the challenging interactions between private international law, migration law and human rights law.

Speakers will deal with legal problems encountered by refugees and migrants with regard to their personal status acquired in one country and taken along to another country. How do people prove their family ties? How can families be reunited? How do unaccompanied refugee and migrant children prove their minority? How do asylum and migration authorities assess foreign documents that relate to the personal status of refugees? What happens if no (authentic) documents can be presented? How to combat fraud relating to personal status documents in an efficient manner without depriving migrants of their right to family life? These are just some questions that will be discussed.

The conference will put the spotlight on the ‘people’ (subject of all kinds of legal procedures). Therefore, the programme will be centred around three groups of people: persons in need of international protection, refugee and migrant children, migrants and their families. Both academics and experts with experience from the field will take and share the floor.

Ghent University is very honoured to welcome the following keynote speakers: Prof. James C. Hathaway (University of Michigan Law School) and Judge Ksenija Turkovic (European Court of Human Rights).

Confirmed speakers and rapporteurs are: Prof. Laura Carpaneto (University of Genoa), Prof. Sabine Corneloup (Université Paris II), Judge Martina Erb Klünemann (Family Court Germany, EJN and International Hague Network of Judges), Katja Fournier (Coordinator Platform Minors in Exile), Dr. Susanne Gössl (University of Bonn), Steve Heylen (Vice-President European Association of Civil Registrars), Christelle Hilpert (Head of the French Central Authority – 1996 Hague Convention), Prof. Maarit Jänterä-Jareborg (Uppsala University), Prof. Fabienne Jault-Seseke (Université Versailles), Prof. Thalia Kruger (University of Antwerp), Dr. Andrea Struwe, (attorney), Lise Van Baelen (Restoring Family Links Officer, Belgian Red Cross), Dr. Hans van Loon (former Secretary General of the Hague Conference on Private International Law), Prof. Jinske Verhellen (Ghent University) and Prof. Patrick Wautelet (Université de Liège).

Prof. Jean-Yves Carlier (Université catholique Louvain) will draw the conference conclusions.

The full program and information on registration is available here.

New publication: Silvia Marino, I rapporti patrimoniali della famiglia nella cooperazione giudiziaria civile dell’Unione europea

Silvia Marino has just published her new book on cross-border family patrimonial relationships. Here’s an abstract prepared by the author in English:

This study tackles the PIL-related aspects of the cross-border family’s patrimonial relationships. The main focus is on the coordination and the coherence of the different International and European sources of law, taking as cornerstones the two recent EU Regulations on the matrimonial property regimes and the patrimonial effects of registered partnerships. The other fields dealt with are international successions and maintenance, as part of the global patrimonial organization of the family. Due to the high number of International and European measures within this fields, the volume offers an accurate evaluation of the final coherence of the legislation, with particular regard within the EU.

The book starts with an historical introduction and a first analysis of the definitions (with particular regard to the current notion of family). Then, it  tackles all the classical topics of PIL, under the light of the coherence of the patrimonial organization within the family. The first chapter analyses the coordination of International, European and National sources, as a necessary step to determine the applicable normative measure. Then, the study presents an examination of the convergences and divergences of the regulations in the different sources of law. The first parameter is the role of party autonomy, both within the determination of international jurisdiction and the conflict of laws. Indeed, all the measures examined leave a margin of freedom of choice in favour of the parties, which should stem into coherent outputs. The second parameter is the determination of the international jurisdiction, followed by the connecting factors, and the impact of their application to the coherence of the property regime’s regulation. The third parameter is the (scarce) legislation on the general issues of PIL, as rules on the correct functioning and application of the conflict of law rules. Finally, the last part is devoted to the different models of transnational circulation of judicial decisions, authentic instruments and Court settlements, which might have evidentiary and even enforceable effects within EU Member States. The number of acts that can freely circulate within the EU risks creating difficulties at the enforcement stage. The conclusions offer some few further ideas on the future developments of an EU Area of Freedom, Security and Justice.

Young Private International Law in Europe Workshop on ‘Recognition/Acceptance of Legal Situations’

Following the Second German Conference for Scholars in Private International Law, which will take place on 4 and 5 April 2019 at the University of Würzburg, Germany, the newly established research network Young Private International Law in Europe hosts a workshop on ‘Recognition/Acceptance of Legal Situations’. The organisers, Susanne Goessl (University of Bonn) and Martina Melcher (University of Graz), have kindly provided the following invitation:

Despite common rules, mutual interests, and similar challenges, a pan-European discussion of private international law issues among the ‘junior faculty’ is still missing. We want to change this by creating a network that brings young scholars together and allows a truly European exchange in the context of a particular topic.

With that purpose in mind, a small group of young scholars from various European countries has been engaging in a closer dialogue to address a common issue – namely the  ‘recognition/acceptance of legal situations’ as required by the ECJ regarding names and, most recently, marriages. Each group member gathered information regarding their home jurisdiction and drafted a (preliminary) national report. Awareness, legal rules, and methodological approaches differ – sometimes tremendously.

On April 5, 2019, the group will meet in Würzburg (Germany) to present and discuss the preliminary results of the comparative study. During the first session (2.30 – 3.30 pm), which will form an annex to the German Young Private International Law Conference in Würzburg (https://www.jura.uni-wuerzburg.de/lehrstuehle/rupp/tagungen/ipr-nachwuchstagung/) and is open to the public, an overview will be given and particular methodological issues will be addressed. Afterwards, the group and a limited number of external participants will have the chance to engage in a more in-depth discussion in the context of a workshop (4 – 6 pm). The working language for both sessions is English.

We cordially invite any ‘junior faculty’ member of universities in EU Member States who is interested in the topic and the network itself to join us.

For the public session, please register at https://iprtagung2019.typeform.com/to/le2P2c (when prompted, select ‘Friday: project presentation “Recognition of Status”). If you are also interested in joining the workshop, we would kindly invite you to write a short e-mail to Susanne Gössl (sgoessl@uni-bonn.de) or Martina Melcher (martina.melcher@uni-graz.at) by March 1, 2019. Both sessions are free of charge, but for the workshop only a limited number of places is available. In exceptional cases, we might be able to reimburse some of the travel costs.

Further information and a detailed programme are available at: https://www.jura.uni-wuerzburg.de/lehrstuehle/rupp/tagungen/ipr-nachwuchstagung/

Council and Parliament reach agreement on the Directive on Preventive Restructuring Frameworks, Second Chance and Measures to Increase the Efficiency of Restructuring, Insolvency and Discharge Procedures

by Lukas Schmidt

Roughly two years ago the Commission presented the proposal for a Directive on preventive restructuring frameworks, second chance and measures to increase the efficiency of restructuring, insolvency and discharge procedure (see Blogpost ). After a lively debate the Council has now confirmed an agreement reached with the Parliament on the directive in December last year (see press release of 19 December 2018).

According to the press release several provisions were added or amended compared to the Council’s positions including the introduction of provisions on the duties of company directors in insolvency proceedings, an article on worker’s rights  to recall that member states should ensure that the existing rights of workers under national and Union law are not affected by the preventive restructuring procedure and provisions on the appointment of a restructuring practitioner.

The text still has to be formally adopted by the Council and Parliament. Member states will then have 2 years for implementation, although they can ask the Commission for an additional year for implementation.

UK Ratifies Hague Choice of Court and Hague Maintenance Conventions

As reported on Twitter by Pacta sunt servanda, the UK has just (on 28 December 2018) signed and ratified the 2005 Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements and the 2007 Hague Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and other Forms of Family Maintenance. Both Conventions currently apply to the UK by virtue of its membership of the European Union but may cease to do so once the UK leaves the EU on 29 March 2019. (The relevant notifications by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs can be found here and here.)

Importantly, both conventions have been ratified only for the event of a Brexit scenario in which no withdrawal agreement with the EU has been reached and contain the following qualification:

In accordance with Article 29 of the 2005 Hague Convention/Article 59 of the 2007 Hague Convention, the United Kingdom is bound by the Convention by virtue of its membership of the European Union, which approved the Convention on behalf of its Member States. The United Kingdom intends to continue to participate in the 2005/2007 Hague Convention after it withdraws from the European Union.

The Government of the United Kingdom and the European Council have reached political agreement on the text of a treaty (the “Withdrawal Agreement”) on the withdrawal of the
United Kingdom from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community. Subject to signature, ratification and approval by the parties, the Withdrawal Agreement
will enter into force on 30 March 2019.

The Withdrawal Agreement includes provisions for a transition period to start on 30 March 2019 and end on 31 December 2020 or such later date as is agreed by the United
Kingdom and the European Union (the “transition period”). In accordance with the Withdrawal Agreement, during the transition period, European Union law, including the
2005/2007 Hague Convention, would continue to be applicable to and in the United Kingdom. The European Union and the United Kingdom have agreed that the European Union will
notify other parties to international agreements that during the transition period the United Kingdom is treated as a Member State for the purposes of international agreements concluded by the European Union, including the 2005/2007 Hague Convention.

In the event that the Withdrawal Agreement is not ratified and approved by the United Kingdom and the European Union, however, the United Kingdom wishes to ensure continuity of application of the 2005/2007 Hague Convention from the point at which it ceases to be a Member State of the European Union. The United Kingdom has therefore submitted the Instrument of Accession in accordance with Article 27(4) of the 2005 Hague Convention/Article 58(2) of the 2007 Hague Conventio only in preparation for this situation. The Instrument of Accession declares that the United Kingdom accedes to the 2005 Hague Convention in its own right with effect from 1 April 2019.

In the event that the Withdrawal Agreement is signed, ratified and approved by the United Kingdom and the European Union and enters into force on 30 March 2019, the United Kingdom will withdraw the Instrument of Accession which it has today deposited. In that case, for the duration of the transition period as provided for in the Withdrawal Agreement as stated above, the United Kingdom will be treated as a Member State of the European Union and the 2005 Hague Convention will continue to ha ve effect accordingly.

In the past, it had been questioned if the UK would be able to ratify these conventions before having left the EU (see, eg, Dickinson, ZEuP 2017, 539, 560), which, if the “No Deal” scenario became a reality, would leave a period of at least three months in which the conventions would not apply. By ratifying the Conventions now, the UK seems to have reduced this potential gap to two days as both conventions will enter into force for the UK on 1 April 2019.