The CBA International Law Section executive held its annual meeting in Ottawa on May 10 and 11. After meeting with representatives from Global Affairs Canada and the Department of Justice on May 10 – stay tuned for summaries of those productive conversations – the executive met on May 11 to discuss their vision for the Section’s work in the coming year.
Connecting with Section members on LinkedIn
The era of listservs is over, and the Section executive is excited to announce its new LinkedIn page. While the CBA will continue to send periodic emails about news and professional development events, the LinkedIn page will be a place for two-way communication between Section members and the Section executive. The LinkedIn page will also be a source for updates on international law, including TradeClippings, a weekly summary of developments in international trade and investment, as reported by the media. Section members can also use the LinkedIn page to connect with colleagues practising international law, find events hosted by related law associations, and read articles written by fellow Section members.
Reviving the Canadian International Lawyer Journal
At the meeting, the executive struck a working group to discuss the process of reinstating the Canadian International Lawyer journal in the coming year. The working group will be discussing the vision for the future of the journal, pursuing opportunities to increase readership by cross-publishing articles on Hein Online, and shortening the timeline between when an article is submitted to the editorial board and when it is published. The CIL journal provides Section members with peer-reviewed articles on international law, written by practitioners and for practitioners. The executive is looking forward to receiving submissions from Section members in the future.
Publishing a Business and Human Rights Toolkit
The ILS is partnering with the Ontario Bar Association to release a Business and Human Rights Toolkit in 2020. In creating this toolkit, the CBA affirms its commitment to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which were released in 2011. This online toolkit will introduce the principles and discuss how they apply in the Canadian context. For Section members who practise international trade law, this toolkit will provide an overview of how human rights principles are relevant to the risk assessments and business decisions of foreign companies in Canada and Canadian companies abroad.
Continuing our relationship with the American Bar Association
The ILS will be renewing its Memorandum of Understanding with the American Bar Association and will continue to have an ABA Liaison serving on the Section executive. Maintaining a connection with the ABA’s International Law Section allows members of the CBA ILS to build their networks and discuss current developments in international law as they apply in the Canadian and American contexts. The ILS executive is open to developing joint educational programming with the ABA, where possible.
The ILS Executive is excited to promote increased communication, collaboration, knowledge-sharing among Section members in 2019-2020.
Leah Thompson is a Member-at-Large on the International Law Section executive