Indian Law Institute Officials Visit ALI
K.G. Balakrishnan, Chief Justice of India, with one of his colleagues, Justice Arijit Pasayat, and a delegation of 10 Indian officials including Dr. S. Sivakumar, Director of the Indian Law Institute (ILI), visited the ALI’s Philadelphia headquarters on April 7. The Indian delegates requested the visit in order to exchange information about the operation of each organization and perhaps forge an alliance. ILI was founded in 1956 as a law-reform organization loosely patterned after ALI. Notable differences include that (i) ILI now has degree-granting authority in the field of legal education; (ii) ILI has not as yet produced restatements of the law comparable to those of ALI; (iii) ILI’s research and writing are done by professionals on its staff; and (iv) the approval process for ILI work does not require a vote of the ILI membership.
The visiting delegation was welcomed by former ALI President Roswell B. Perkins, who had visited the Indian Law Institute in New Delhi in 2007. (His report on that visit appeared in the Summer 2007 issue of The ALI Reporter.) Chief Justice Balakrishnan, who is also President of ILI, described the history and functioning of ILI and expressed the hope that the Indian organization and ALI might develop a closer relationship.
ALI Director Lance Liebman explained that he had invited some ALI participants to present their perspectives on the role of ALI in American law. Anthony J. Scirica, Chief Judge of the Third Circuit, articulated effectively the significance of our Restatements in the formulation of judicial opinions. Federal District Judge Louis H. Pollak of Philadelphia recited his own history with ALI and the credence given by courts to its publications. Justice Jack B. Jacobs of the Delaware Supreme Court noted the respect given by his court to the work of ALI, even though Delaware decisions about corporate law do not always coincide with the recommendations made in our Principles of Corporate Governance.
Director Liebman had invited three academics. Amelia H. Boss of Drexel Law School and Neil B. Cohen of Brooklyn Law School spoke of the significance of the Uniform Commercial Code and ALI’s role in its formulation, and Stephen B. Burbank of the University of Pennsylvania Law School focused his remarks on the importance of an independent judiciary in a functioning democracy.
ALI First Vice President Allen D. Black spoke of the value to legal advocates of ALI’s work and the frequency with which ALI positions are used in briefs and oral arguments.
Two members of the Philadelphia staff also spoke briefly. Julene Franki, Executive Director of ALI-ABA, described the educational function of that organization for practicing lawyers in the U.S. ALI Deputy Director Elena A. Cappella presented the visitors with successive ALI drafts—Preliminary, Council, Tentative, and Official (i.e., the final approved work)—to demonstrate the multi-stage review and revision process that is the Institute’s hallmark. Finally, Professor Liebman noted the increasingly international orientation of ALI’s work, citing our projects on Transnational Civil Procedure, Transnational Insolvency, the U.S. Law of International Commercial Arbitration, and World Trade Law.
The Indian delegation to ALI included (from left) K.G. Balakrishnan, Chief Justice of India and President of the Indian Law Institute; T. K. Viswanathan of the ILI’s Executive Committee; Professor R.K. Chauhan of the ILI’s Finance Committee; Professor S. Sivakumar, Director of the ILI; and Dr. A.M. Gondane, Deputy Consul General of India.