American University Law Review Hosts Annual Symposium "New Perspectives: A Discussion on Modern Global Supply Chains"
January 28, 2019
On January 25, 2019, leading scholars and experts in global supply chains gathered at the American University Washington College of Law for the American University Law Review (AULR) annual symposium, “New Perspectives: A Discussion on Modern Global Supply Chains.” The program explored supply-chain intersections with contract law and various areas of human rights, labor law, and commercial and transactional law.
Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs Dean Brenda Smith delivered opening remarks at the symposium, which featured panels on contracting and remedies, human rights and labor, and the role of corporations and industry that highlighted recent developments within these areas.
The four panels were moderated by AUWCL professors and administrators: Professor Michael Carroll, Professor Macarena Saez, Professor Adrian Alvarez and Professor Heather Hughes. Each panel touched on topical issues and featured academics and practitioners, including Sarah Dadush, Juliet Kostritsky, Jennifer Martin, Maximilian Spohr, Bobbie Sta. Maria, Chris Johnson, and Tom Mackall – all of whom offered diverse views on issues facing supply chains.
Professor Alan Schwarz, Sterling Professor of Law at Yale Law School, delivered the keynote address. Professor Schwartz is a top-tier scholar in contract theory and commercial transactions and is ranked among the top fifty law professors of all time in law review citations, and AULR is honored to publish his remarks in its upcoming Symposium issue.
“Having Alan Schwartz participate was particularly valuable,” said Professor David V. Snyder, director of the Business Law Program at AUWCL. “He was able to bring his famous insight and experience to these problems, and his presentation and the interchange that followed it allowed everyone to see the issues in a clearer light.”
Snyder called the symposium “extraordinarily successful at assembling participants with widely different perspectives, and especially how best to protect the human rights of workers.”
“In addition to the academic participants, representatives from civil society and NGOs presented their views, and representatives from major corporations also presented theirs,” he said. “Rarely are all of these people together in one room. This symposium enabled everyone to learn from each other and to identify areas of agreement—and perhaps most productively, to see areas where future collaboration might prove fruitful.”
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Founded in 1952, AULR is the oldest and largest student-run publication at American University. AULR publishes six issues each year, and according to recent statistics, is ranked forty-sixth in the nation, is the twenty-fifth most-cited journal by the courts, and is the highest-ranked and most-cited of the AUWCL’s family of legal publications.