SEALS Panels in Boca Raton

This week I had the good fortune to participate in two panel discussions at the annual meeting of the Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS) at the lovely Boca Raton Resort and Beach Club in Boca Raton, Florida.  The first was a panel on "Policing Police and Soldiers."  My remarks related to the militarization of the Urban Pacification Police (UPP) in Brazil, primarily in Rio de Janeiro.  The second panel focused on the revelations made by Edward Snowden about domestic surveillance and other NSA abuses.  As you might guess, I am broadly supportive of the release of this information because it gives us some chance at civilian oversight of the Patriot Act (and now Freedom Act), which is ripe for abuse by overzealous advocates of the national security state.

Both panels led to robust discussion and healthy debate.  Thanks to the organizers for inviting me to participate! 

BRICS II Conference

I travelled to Macau this month to participate in the BRICS II Conference, which focused on the institutionalization of the BRICS organization and the role that Macau might play in the development of the institution.  I gave a lecture entitled "Toward an Institutional Structure for BRICS?" which analogizes the current state of the BRICS with both OPEC and the EU.  It was great to have a chance to meet with scholars and diplomats from all the BRICS countries to discuss this timely and interesting topic.

While I was in Macau I received a copy of the book I edited with Ya Nan Song, Chinese-Lusophone Relations: China and Brazil, which was recently published by the Social Sciences Academic Press in China.  I also had an opportunity to work with approximately 40 LL.M. students.  It was a busy but productive time!

Mercer Law Students Visit FLETC

Students from the Mercer Law chapter of the National Security Law Society (which I advise) visited the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Brunswick, Georgia.  During our visit we toured the facility, observed live training sessions, and met with the staff of the office of legal counsel.  The students even had a chance to try out the state of the art virtual shooting range.  It was an interesting and worthwhile visit!  Thanks to Jason Knowles and Maggie McCoy for arranging the visit.

Visit to University of Swansea

During my recent visit to the U.K. I had the chance to visit the University of Swansea on the beautiful Welsh coast (Swansea is currently the home of Catherine Zeta-Jones, and was formerly the home of Sir Richard Burton).  Mercer Law School and the Swansea Faculty of Law are currently developing programs that will enable faculty and student exchanges between the two institutions.  I was thoroughly impressed with Swansea and their law programs, and I look forward to working with the folks there in the future!

Oxford Consortium for Human Rights Program

Ah, Oxford in springtime!  Mercer Law school has been invited to participate in the annual Oxford Consortium for Human Rights program, and I was able to attend with Mercer 2L student Maggie McCoy.  We discussed humanitarian law and practice with Hugo Slim and others from the international human rights community, and evaluated the current Syrian crisis.

During the program participating faculty members discussed their academic work.  I spoke with my colleague Lyn Boyd-Judson from USC about our article "Toward a Better Contribution of Universities to a Global Ethic."  We received great feedback on our article, and the discussion was a lot of fun!

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