Personal Jurisdiction and Forum Non Conveniens: Are the Two Shores of the Atlantic Getting Closer?

This is to announce this March’s session of the Forum of the Center for Transnational Litigation, Arbitration and Commercial Law, entitled “Personal Jurisdiction and Forum Non Conveniens: Are the Two Shores of the Atlantic Getting Closer?” The event will take place on Monday, 28 March 2016, from 6.00 – 8.00 pm, in the Lester Pollack Colloquium Room, Furman Hall 900 (245 Sullivan Street, New York, NY 10012).

It is a great pleasure to be able to announce that on the occasion of that session, Professor Andrea Bonomi will give a talk on the aforementioned topic and both Professors Linda J. Silberman and Franco Ferrari will comment.

Andrea Bonomi, who received his LL.B from Padua University, holds two Ph.d. degrees (one from Innsbruck University and one from Bologna University), is Professor of Comparative Law and Private International Law at the Faculty of Law and Criminal Justice of Lausanne University (since 2002). Since 2006, Andrea Bonomi is also the Director of the Centre for Comparative, European and International Law at Lausanne University. Andrea Bonomi, who is a former Member of the Swiss delegation at the Hague Conference of Private International Law and the Rapporteur of the Hague Protocol on the Law Applicable to Maintenance Obligations of 23 November 2007, is a Member of the European Group of Private International Law (GEDIP), an Associate Member of the International Academy of Comparative Law, and a member of several other professional associations. He is a prolific author and is currently also the Editor of the Yearbook of Private International Law.

Linda J. Silberman is the Martin Lipton Professor of Law at New York University and Co-Director of the Center. She is a leading figure in the United States in private international law and transnational litigation, and her academic and scholarly interests range from numerous areas of commercial law to personal and family matters. At NYU, Professor Silberman teaches a range of courses, including Civil Procedure, Comparative Procedure, Conflict of Laws, International Litigation/Arbitration and International Commercial Arbitration. She is co-author of an important Civil Procedure casebook (now in its 3rd edition) and of a recent book on Comparative Civil Procedure. She was the co-Reporter for the American Law Institute Project–Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments: Analysis and Proposed Federal Statute, and an adviser to two other American Law Institute projects: Intellectual Property: Principles Governing Jurisdiction, Choice of Law and Judgments in Transnational Disputes and the Restatement Third on International Commercial Arbitration. Professor Silberman is also a Member of the State Department’s Advisory Committee on Private International Law and has been a member of numerous U.S. State Department delegations to the Hague Conference. Professor Silberman combines her scholarship and academic work with other roles, such as special referee, expert witness and consultant in a number of important cases. Her work was cited by the Supreme Court of the United States on several occasions.

Franco Ferrari, who joined NYU on a full-time basis in September 2010, after serving as visiting professor for various years, is also chaired professor of international law at Verona University School of Law in Italy. Previously, he was chaired professor of comparative law at Tilburg University in the Netherlands and Bologna University in Italy. After serving as member of the Italian Delegation to various sessions of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) from 1995 to 2000, he served as Legal Officer at the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs, International Trade Law Branch (2000-2002), with responsibility for numerous projects, including the preparation of the UNCITRAL Digest on Applications of the UN Sales Convention (2004 edition). Professor Ferrari has published more than 270 law review articles in various languages and 17 books in the areas of international commercial law, conflict of laws, comparative law and international commercial arbitration. Professor Ferrari is a member of the editorial board of various peer reviewed European law journals (Internationales Handelsrecht, European Review of Private Law, Contratto e impresa, Contratto e impresa/Europa, Revue de droit des affaires internationales). Professor Ferrari also acts as arbitrator both in international commercial arbitration’s and investment arbitration’s.

Please note that the Chatham House rule applies.