2023 Annual Meeting

Daily Update - Wednesday, May 24

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Daily Update - Wednesday, May 24

What Happened Today at the Annual Meeting – Wednesday Edition

The final day of this year’s Annual Meeting began with a presentation from ALI Early Career Scholars Medal recipient Francis X. Shen of Harvard Law School on the topic of neuroscience and the law.  

The first project session was Conflict of Laws. Council member Judith A. Miller chaired the session with Reporter Kermit Roosevelt III, and Associate Reporters Laura E. Little, Christopher A. Whytock, and Ann L. Estin. Presented for membership approval was Tentative Draft No. 4. The draft includes material from Chapter 6, Torts; Chapter 7, Property; and Chapter 8, Contracts.

Actions Taken* 

A motion to amend §6.03 passed. Membership voted to approve Tentative Draft No. 4.

Our final 100th Anniversary Program was Role of Technology in Dispute Resolution and Access to Justice. Moderator David Freeman Engstrom of Stanford Law School was joined by panelists Bridget Mary McCormack of American Arbitration Association International Centre for Dispute Resolution, Colin Rule of Mediate.com and ODR.com, and Rebecca L. Sandefur of Arizona State University.

Members took a break from the project sessions to hear today’s luncheon speaker Council member Harold Hongju Koh speak on the topic of law and the Russian-Ukraine War. He is one of the leading authorities on public and private international law and human rights. When introducing Koh, ALI President David F. Levi called him “a remarkable scholar, public servant, and person.”

The final project session at this year’s Annual Meeting was Government Ethics. Reporters Richard Briffault and Richard W. Painter were joined on the dais by Council member John B. Bellinger III, where Tentative Draft No. 4 was presented to the membership for approval. The draft contains Chapter 1, Purpose, Scope, and Definitions; Chapter 3, Conflicts of Interest and Outside Activities of Public Servants; and § 401 of Chapter 4, Election-Related Activities of Public Servants.

Actions Taken* 

Membership voted to approve the draft, marking the completion of this project.

Videos of Annual Meeting events will be available soon.

*All approvals by membership at the Annual Meeting are subject to the discussion at the Meeting and usual editorial prerogative.