ASCL Completes Successful 2019 Meeting at Mizzou Law School

The ASCL held its annual meeting October 17–19 at the University of Missouri Law School in Columbia, Missouri. The academic program was-wide ranging, dealing with many current legal issues examined from the comparative perspective. The principal theme, “Comparative Law and International Dispute Resolution,” was explored in two plenary panels that touched on litigation, arbitration and mediation. The same theme was reviewed in many of the papers presented at a one-day Works-in-Progress program cosponsored by the Society and the University of Missouri Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution. In addition to the main theme, the Hot Topics Panel considered “Comparative Law and Populism” and attendees heard presentations of two papers — by Hassan Ahmad and Zhiyu Li — selected in a competition managed by the ASCL’s Younger Comparativists Committee. Altogether the Conference, principally organized by Missouri Prof. Stacie Strong, provided a forum for the presentation of work by more than 70 comparative law scholars. The ensuing discussions were vigorous and collegial.

At the Society’s business meeting, its Prizes Committee announced the award of the 2017 and 2018 Hessel Yntema Prizes for outstanding scholarship by younger comparativists published in the American Journal of Comparative Law. The 2017 award was won by James G. Stewart and Asad Kiyani for their article, “The Ahistoricism of Legal Pluralism in International Criminal Law,” 65 Am. J. Comp. L. 393–449 (2017). The 2018 Yntema Prize was awarded to Jaakko Salminen for “The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh,” 66 Am. J. Comp. L. 411–51 (2018). The Roger Goebel Prize for publication by a senior scholar was awarded to Wolf-Georg Ringe for his article, “Changing Law and Ownership Patterns in Germany: Corporate Governance and the Erosion of Deutschland AG,” 63 Am. J. Comp. L. 493 (2015). A new prize, the ASCL Service Award was presented for the first time. The recipient, William B. Fisch, Professor Emeritus at the University of Missouri Law School previously served as the Society’s Annual Program Chair, Executive Committee member and Parliamentarian. Also, at the business meeting, Prof, Ronald Scalise (Tulane) was elected Treasurer. Prof. Jacqueline Ross (Illinois) and Prof. Timothy Webster (Western New England) were elected to the Executive Committee. Prof. Maximo Langer (UCLA) was re-elected Vice President.