National Section Meeting Report 2014/2015

  • June 18, 2015

Section

National International Law Section

Date

May 28-29, 2015

Location

Ottawa Marriott (Laurier Salon)

Submitted by

BC Branch Representative: Jennifer Button

Report

  • The meeting of the National Executive and the provincial Chairs with the Trade Law Bureau (federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development) and the Constitutional, Administrative and International Law Section (federal Department of Justice) was held on May 28
    • in the morning with the former and the afternoon with the latter group.
  • The Trade Law Bureau provided updates on current Free Trade Agreements and negotiations (including the Canada-Europe Trade Agreement, the Trans Pacific Partnership, Canada-Japan, Canada-India and Canada-Korea). There was also an update on current NAFTA Ch. 11 and WTO litigation. Information was provided on the United Nations Convention on Transparency in Investor-State Arbitration (Mauritius Convention). 
  • There was some discussion of a possible CBA International Law Section role with respect to ongoing consultation on international trade issues.
  • In the afternoon of May 28, the Constitutional, Administrative and International Law Section (formerly called International Private Law) provided updates on various Hague Conventions (the Judgments Project, the Choice of Court Convention and the Apostille Convention) and on a recent Unidroit protocol. There was also some discussion of several UNCITRAL Working Groups.
  • The National Section on International Law meeting was held on May 29. Highlights of this meeting were:
    • discussion of CBA’s support for a reception and PD session during the October 2015 ABA conference in Montreal;
    • further work on the internal division into a Public International Law Committee and a Private International Law Committee;
    • news from the national office about the updating of CBA’s communications platform and about the fact that the Interventions Policy is currently under review. 
  • The provinces with International Law sections [BC, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec] were all represented and gave reports of activities. BC’s 2014-2015 report is attached. There was some discussion of making renewed efforts to start sections in some of the other provinces. There was also discussion about sharing presentations among the provincial sections. I volunteered to gather together information from the 5 provincial sections regarding webinar costs for such sharing.

Jennifer Button
Co-Chair, CBABC International Law Section, 2014-2015
June 18, 2015

See below PDF for CBABC International Law Section 2014-2015 Activities Report.

CBABC International Law Section Activities Report 2014-2015