Cara Cunningham on International Law Conference
By Steve Thorpe
sthorpe@legalnews.com
University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and its partners in international dual-degree programs, the University of Windsor Faculty of Law and the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey in Mexico, will present the international law conference “Law And Legal Education In The Americas: Comparative Perspectives,” on June 21 and 22 at the UDM Law campus in downtown Detroit. Cara Cunningham, associate professor and curriculum director of International Programs, UDM School of Law, is chair of the event.
Thorpe: How did the event come about?
Cunningham: The original idea came from the cofounder of the degree program, Leon Lysaght. He created the dual degree program with Canada and was instrumental in our dual degree program with Mexico. What we were hoping to accomplish was to bring all three institutions together toward a common goal. The main point of the conference is to share information. We selected three different paths, each of which would focus on the mission of all three schools or the nature of the programs themselves. There’s a strong emphasis on social justice, professionalism in law teaching in general, and corporate/commercial.
Thorpe: What specific topics will be covered?
Cunningham: Those are the three main “paths.” The presenters were invited to speak on any of those three areas. I would say that at least half of the topics focus on professionalism and how to train lawyers for a global legal environment. Of the remaining half, probably half of those are dedicated to social justice: indigent and criminal defense, gun violence, streamlining the process to obtain evidence in child abuse cases. So you have a strong path that focuses exclusively on how we’re training lawyers for writing and synthesizing material. That’s the professional pedagogy path. The second strongest path is social justice. And then we do have several presentations on corporate and commercial international law.
Thorpe: Tell us about the keynote speaker.
Cunningham: We have two plenary sessions and I like to think of them as bookends. We’re opening the session with remarks from UDM Law Dean Lloyd Semple. Then we have speakers from each of the other institutions: Professor Lysaght, the founder of the programs; Gabriel Cavazos Villanueva from Monterrey, who was educated in and has degrees from all three countries; and then Dean Camille Cameron representing Windsor. All three of them will give their perspectives of the challenges facing legal education in each of the three countries. So we’re starting out talking about the challenges facing legal education and, hopefully, that gets participants thinking about what they can take away from the individual sessions. Then we end with the plenary on Saturday with Michael McCullough, director of the Rule of Law Initiative of the American Bar Association. He’s also director of the Latin American and Caribbean Division and will provide takeaways on the trends in modern legal education and rule of law initiatives. I think it’s the perfect way to end the conference.
Thorpe: For those who want to participate, how do they register?
Cunningham: We have a website for the event. It’s www.lita2013.com and all the information an attendee would need is there. The registration link, schedule with times and topics, and biographies of all the speakers are included.
Thorpe: Would you like for this to be a recurring event?
Cunningham: I certainly hope so. The idea is that if the Detroit event is successful, we’d like to rotate the event between the three schools.
I am struck by the number and the diversity of people who have contributed to the project. We have a faculty planning committee of eight faculty members from all three institutions. We have a very energized internal planning committee and a host of student volunteers. A significant number of our faculty are presenting on a wide range of very interesting topics and working with their Canadian and Mexican counterparts.
In short, this conference will be a wonderful way for UDM Law to close out its centennial celebrations. We are bringing together our community — on a global scale — and focusing on what makes us strong - one another. It’s fantastic!
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