Jun 16 Thu
2022

The Evolving Face of Cyber Conflict and International Law: A Futurespective

08:00AM - 05:00PM Washington College of Law

Join the Tech Law Program for 3 days of programming, June 15-18, 2022!
It’s been a little less than a quarter century since the Morris Worm shook the quixotic orthodoxies about the innate trustworthiness of digital interconnectivity and exposed the soft underbelly of what would shortly explode across the globe – the Internet.  Since that time, criminals, non-state actors, and states have leveraged the inherent insecurities and vulnerabilities of cyberspace at an ever-increasing rate and with ever-more harmful impact.  Data theft, ransomware attacks, and critical infrastructure disruptions, to name a few, are now near daily occurrences.  Notwithstanding the immense societal risks these activities present, a growing number of states have fully embraced cyber tools and operations as staples in their toolkits of both statecraft and warfare.   

At the same time, until recently states have remained relatively silent on their views of how international law regulates their cyber activities.  That has begun to change, however, with an increasing number of states making official pronouncements of their opinio juris, either independently or through established multilateral processes like the UNGGE and OEWG.  While this is a positive trend, it has also highlighted several disparate views on critical issues and the difficulty in achieving anything more than limited clarity and consensus.  What can we discern from these state pronouncements?  What is the present state of the law governing state cyber activities, and where is it headed?  That is the focus of this symposium. 

  • Conference
  • Open To The Public, Alumni, Students AND Faculty/Staff
Jun 16 Thu
2022

Anti-Corruption Law Summer Program - U.S. Anti-Corruption Law Framework

09:00AM - 12:00PM Washington College of Law

 NT07

  • Seminar
  • Open To The Public AND Students
Jun 16 Thu
2022

The Inter-American Human Rights System and Strengthening the Rule of Law in the Region: A First Approach to the Challenges and Threats: A First Approach to the Challenges and Threats we Face Today

12:30PM - 02:00PM Washington College of Law

The Human Rights Month (HRMonth) is an annual event that features conferences in English and Spanish, workshops, a film festival, and a discussion of recent publications in the human rights sector.

The panel “The Inter-American Human Rights System and Strengthening the Rule of Law in the Region: A First Approach to the Challenges and Threats: A First Approach to the Challenges and Threats we Face Today” / “El Sistema Interamericano de Derechos Humanos y el Fortalecimiento del Estado de Derecho en la Región: Una Primera Aproximación a los Desafíos y Amenazas que Enfrentamos en la Actualidad”will be part of the “Experts Speak Series: Addressing Human Rights in Times of Crisis,” which the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law sponsors concurrently with our Program of Advanced Studies on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. The event will be administered in English/Spanish and will have simultaneous interpretation.

  • Conference
  • Open To The Public, Students AND Faculty/Staff
Jun 17 Fri
2022

The Evolving Face of Cyber Conflict and International Law: A Futurespective

08:00AM - 05:00PM Washington College of Law

Join the Tech Law Program for 3 days of programming, June 15-18, 2022!
It’s been a little less than a quarter century since the Morris Worm shook the quixotic orthodoxies about the innate trustworthiness of digital interconnectivity and exposed the soft underbelly of what would shortly explode across the globe – the Internet.  Since that time, criminals, non-state actors, and states have leveraged the inherent insecurities and vulnerabilities of cyberspace at an ever-increasing rate and with ever-more harmful impact.  Data theft, ransomware attacks, and critical infrastructure disruptions, to name a few, are now near daily occurrences.  Notwithstanding the immense societal risks these activities present, a growing number of states have fully embraced cyber tools and operations as staples in their toolkits of both statecraft and warfare.   

At the same time, until recently states have remained relatively silent on their views of how international law regulates their cyber activities.  That has begun to change, however, with an increasing number of states making official pronouncements of their opinio juris, either independently or through established multilateral processes like the UNGGE and OEWG.  While this is a positive trend, it has also highlighted several disparate views on critical issues and the difficulty in achieving anything more than limited clarity and consensus.  What can we discern from these state pronouncements?  What is the present state of the law governing state cyber activities, and where is it headed?  That is the focus of this symposium. 

  • Conference
  • Open To The Public, Alumni, Students AND Faculty/Staff
Jun 29 Wed
2022

CFPB’s New Approach to Discrimination: Invoking UDAAP

12:00PM - 01:30PM Webinar

The CFPB earlier this year claimed a new tool to prevent discrimination in financial services by examining institutions for conduct that, while potentially falling outside the ambit of traditional fair lending laws, was nonetheless “unfair.” To the uninitiated, the change seemed semantic. To providers and consumers of financial services and products, it is potentially seismic.

Symposium presenters:

  • Michael Calhoun, president of the Center for Responsible Lending
  • Kitty Ryan, Senior Vice President at the American Bankers Association
  • John Coleman, Partner, Buckley LLP

Defining conduct as unfair, deceptive, or abusive triggers liability under the Consumer Financial Protection Act, a broad statute that could reach well beyond the traditional lending realm covered by the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. In fact, the CFPB paired its announcement with revised examination procedures for assessing UDAAP compliance and a separate blog post by its enforcement and supervision heads explaining that they were “cracking down on discrimination in the financial sector.” They said the new procedures would guide examiners to look “beyond discrimination directly connected to fair lending laws” and “to review any policies or practices that exclude individuals from products and services, or offer products or services with different terms, in an unfairly discriminatory manner.”

The bureau’s full-court press on this new initiative left some meaningful questions unanswered. Please join us for a symposium that attempts to steer the conversation to a shared understanding of the bureau’s expectations, and how institutions can meet them. The discussion will explore the legal and policy questions raised by the CFPB’s adoption of a theory of “unfair discrimination.” The panelists will cover how the CFPB’s UDAAP authority interacts with laws enacted specifically to prevent discriminatory conduct, the legal support for the CFPB’s new theory, and the specific steps institutions should consider taking to ensure compliance with it. Indications that the Federal Trade Commission could adopt a similar theory of “unfair discrimination” make this a timely and relevant discussion for companies within and without the financial services industry.

  • Presentation
  • Open To The Public