The European Legal Studies Center | Columbia Law School
In the News
Federal News Service
Oct. 10, 2005
Council on Foreign Relations
Winning the Cold War: Jimmy Carter's Forgotten Role
Professor Richard Gardner presented his memoir, Mission Italy, at the Council on Foreign Relations. The book and discussion focused on his time as Ambassador to Italy in the Carter Administration. The audience included key members of the Kennedy administration such as Arthur Schlesinger Jr. and Ted Sorensen. Douglas Brinkley, Professor of History at Tulane University, introduced Gardner, saying he was among “the second generation of Cold War wise men that Walter Issacson and Evan Thompson talked about…And he's been nothing but a treasure and a resource to our country…he has been an extraordinary ambassador not just to Italy, not just to Spain, but to Europe.” The discussion covered the Carter presidency, European policy, NATO, and the European Union.
CBS MarketWatch
April 13, 2004
Lawmakers Eye Legal Challenge to OPEC
Professor George Bermann is quoted in a story about a bill that would give federal antitrust agencies authority to file suit in U.S. courts against members of OPEC over high oil prices. The bill, known as the “No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act of 2004” or “NOPEC,” would strip foreign nations of immunity in antitrust suits brought in the United States, bringing OPEC under the jurisdiction of the Sherman Antitrust Act. The United States, however, would retain immunity in antitrust cases brought against it by foreign countries. Bermann says, “It would amend the Sherman Act to remove any entitlement of foreign states to invoke sovereign immunity in any suit under that act.”
Gannett News Service
April 8, 2004
Bill would allow lawsuits against OPEC
Professor George Bermann is quoted in a story about a bill that would give federal antitrust agencies authority to file suit in U.S. courts against members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries for alleged price gouging. According to Bermann, the story says no international or constitutional law would prevent the U.S. government from suing a foreign government for price fixing. Nations generally have sovereign immunity from lawsuits, he said, but specific legislation from Congress would override that exemption.
National Law Journal
Aug. 4, 2003
ABA Section Reports
Continuing the Quest for Tax Code Simplification
Professor George Bermann is described as “one of the most experienced American scholars” in E.U. administrative law. The story says the Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice has published a ‘Blackletter Statement’ of Federal Administrative Law—a restatement, as it were, of federal administrative law—based upon the work of more than 20 administrative law scholars. The story says some experts have described the state of E.U. administrative law as analogous to American administrative law before the Administrative Procedure Act and Federal Register Act, which “together brought the federal bureaucracy into the sunshine.”
Legal Times
April 21, 2003
Cross-Border Disputes:
More Claims Against Latin American Governments are Being Arbitrated
Professor George Bermann is quoted in a story about how American companies doing business in Latin America are increasingly running into legal problems. The story says that as a result, the governments of Latin America are facing a rapidly growing number of multimillion-dollar arbitration claims and lawsuits from disgruntled foreign corporations whose business deals went sour. The story says the best way to resolve international disputes is through arbitration, according to Bermann, and quotes him as saying, “Arbitration awards make the most sense because of the international conventions that support them in terms of recognition and enforcement.”