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Borderlines

Transnational Conflict of Laws

Season 1, Ep. 10

What happens when different legal systems give conflicting answers to the same question, and arguably, each set of rules applies? Episode #10 of Borderlines introduces U.S. and European Union approaches to Conflict of Laws in interstate and international contracts. Three experts join us: UC Berkeley Professor Andrew Bradt, author of Complex Litigation, UC Davis Professor Bill Dodge, author of Transnational Business Problems, and Montpellier Professor Claude Ferry, president of IABA, the International Association of Berkeley Law Alumni in Europe. They clarify technical issues with huge stakes: explaining, for instance, how American firms, but not European firms, can easily use governing law clauses to circumvent local labor and consumer protections. For listeners interested in more, Bill Dodge’s Transnational Litigation Blog has up-to-the moment updates.


For a transcript, please visit the episode page on the Berkeley Law podcast hub.

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  • 22. Sanctions in Comparative Perspective

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    Host Professor Katerina Linos talks with three international law scholars on sanctions and their role in comparative perspective. Berkeley Law Professor Elena Chachko joins Professor Luis M. Hinojosa-Martínez and Professor Carmela Pérez-Bernárdez from the Department of Public International Law and International Relations at the University of Granada, Spain, for a frank look at international sanctions as a legal tool used by self-governing states via bodies like the UN Security Council, European Union, and the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Listeners will come away understanding sanctions, and their intended goal to pressure change from countries – as well as individuals, companies, or organizations – causing violent wars, implementing harmful policies, or disregarding international laws. In the 21st century, recommendations have shifted toward restrictive measures, or so-called “smart sanctions,” targeting regimes rather than people. Discussion covers current and historic implementations of sanctions with an incisive review of successes and critiques. For further study, see, e.g., Enhancing the Rule of Law in the European Union’s External Action, Luis M. Hinojosa-Martínez and Carmela Pérez-Bernárdez (eds.), Edward Elgar, 2023 (Part III.A includes chapters dealing with “sanctions and the rule of law”); and “A Watershed Moment for Sanctions? Russia, Ukraine, and the Economic Battlefield,” Elena Chachko and J. Benton Heath, pp.135-139, and “Ukraine and the Emergency Powers of International Institutions,” Elena Chachko and Katerina Linos, pp. 775–87, in American Journal of International Law 116(4): Symposium on Ukraine and the International Order, AJIL Unbound, 2022; Elena Chachko and Katerina Linos (eds.), published as Open Access articles by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The American Society of International Law.For a transcript of this episode, please visit the episode page on Berkeley Law website.
  • 21. ICC President Hofmański on Fighting Impunity

    24:49
    Episode 21 of Borderlines features the president of the International Criminal Court, Judge Piotr Hofmański, sharing his unique perspective with host Katerina Linos, on the ICC’s role and mandate over twenty years since its historic founding in 2002. Elected an ICC judge in 2015 and voted president by his peers in 2021, President Hofmański guides listeners through the Court’s key responsibilities under the Rome Statute: prosecuting genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression; giving victims a voice and just restitution; and preventing future atrocities. The conversation elucidates the relationship of the ICC to the United Nations and to national jurisdictions as a court of last resort. Challenges, successes, and criticisms are addressed, from the Court’s indictment of more than 50 individuals including heads of state, to the changing signatory and ratification positions of the United States, to ways technological developments impact evidence gathering and witness participation. Addressing the vital importance of fighting impunity, President Hofmański’s confidence in the collective power of international criminal law provides a path of optimism during troubled times and ongoing lethal territorial conflicts. Be sure to follow Borderlines on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts to be notified about upcoming episodes. And please rate us on your favorite podcast app – it helps other people find our show and lets us know how we are doing. Thanks for listening!For a transcript of this episode, please visit the episode page on Berkeley Law website.
  • 20. UN Human Rights Mechanisms and Anti-Black Racism

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  • 19. GQUAL Campaign for Gender Parity in International Representation

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    Third in a four-part series of special Borderlines episodes with UC Berkeley Law guest hosts Professor Roxanna Altholz and Professor Laurel E. Fletcher shining a spotlight on human rights champions—all guest speakers in their Human Rights Practice Workshop course, where leading practitioners working in a variety of institutional settings speak about their struggles against corruption and impunity, the relationship between legal and social justice, and the future of human rights movements.Episode 19 of Borderlines features guest host Professor Laurel E. Fletcher, Co-Director of Berkeley Law’s International Human Rights Law Clinic and the Miller Institute for Global Challenges and the Law interviewing Professor Claudia Martin (American Univ. Washington College of Law) about her work founding and co-leading the GQUAL Campaign for gender parity in international law tribunals, courts, agencies and monitoring bodies.Topics covered include GQUAL’s origin and recent achievements, including a forthcoming Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women/CEDAW General Comment, and strategies for building an inclusive transnational mobilization to change international institutions. Listeners will be inspired by Professor Martin’s journey in academia and activism, and her work changing the picture of women’s representation at the table applying, interpreting, and creating international law.For a transcript of this episode, please visit the episode page on Berkeley Law website.
  • 18. Defending Water Protectors and Indigenous Rights

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    Second in a four-part series of special Borderlines episodes with UC Berkeley Law guest hosts Professor Roxanna Altholz and Professor Laurel E. Fletcher shining a spotlight on human rights champions—all guest speakers in their Human Rights Practice Workshop course, where leading practitioners working in a variety of institutional settings speak about their struggles against corruption and impunity, the relationship between legal and social justice, and the future of human rights movements. Episode 18 of Borderlines features guest host Professor Roxanna Altholz, Co-Director of Berkeley Law’s Clinical Program and its International Human Rights Law Clinic, in discussion with Natali Segovia, Quechua, Legal Director, Water Protector Legal Collective and international human rights lawyer with extensive experience in criminal defense work and Federal Indian Law. Ms. Segovia shares the story about the Water Protector Legal Collective, a legal nonprofit, grew out of the No Dakota Access Pipeline resistance at Standing Rock and works to provide legal support and advocacy for Indigenous peoples and climate justice movements. Listeners will be enriched by powerful first-hand accounts of struggles to stop destruction of the environment and defend the rights of Native people affected by forced displacement, desecration of sacred lands, and human rights violations. Issues covered include leveraging of the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples with the US framework; SLAPP suits and the criminalization of protest; and protecting cultural and tribal sovereignty against encroachment. For a transcript, please visit the episode page on the Berkeley Law podcast hub.
  • 17. Corporate Accountability for Human Rights Abuses

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    53:35
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