The Institute of International Commercial Law
- Aim of the Institute
- Officers and management of the Institute
- Activities of the Institute
- The Internet program
- The International Commercial Arbitration Moot
- The essay competition
- Collegiality and its importance to the Institute
The aim of the Institute is to promote friendly and constructive international
trade relations through programs designed to interest and inform the legal
profession.
- The subjects addressed by the Institute are
areas of law relating to international commercial
transactions and dispute settlement procedures.
- Its programs emphasize practical steps to avoid problems
and improve one's response to foreign customers and
environments, competitive practices and government
requirements.
- Director, Nicholas Triffin. Professor Triffin, a leader in legal
information services, is editor of "Law Books in Print" (Glanville Publications),
and author of "Legal Research Through Computers" (Advanced Legal Education)
and "Factual Research for Lawyers" in Practical Research for Lawyers in the
Information Age (Advanced Legal Education), and related publications.
- Deputy Director, Eric E. Bergsten. Professor Bergsten, editor of
"International Commercial Arbitration" (Oceana), formerly was Secretary of the
United National Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).
- Executive Secretary, Albert H. Kritzer. Mr. Kritzer is author of the "Guide to Practical Applications of the UN Sales Convention" (CISG) and editor
of other volumes of the "International Contract Manual" (Kluwer) sponsored by
the Corporate Bar Association (CBA).
[Note: Each underlined entry in these printed pages will serve as a link to additional data available in the internet program]
The Institute's essay competition is managed by Professor Keith D. Nunes.
Professor Nunes is a Fellow of the Institute. Professor Bergsten manages the
Institute's International Commercial Arbitration Moot. Professor Triffin and
Mr. Kritzer manage the Institute's Internet program.
The founding director of the Institute was Willem C. Vis
(1924-1993). The Institute has been constituted to join the talents of
practitioners with the expertise of academic personnel. A practitioner allied
with Professors Bergsten, Nunes and Triffin, Mr. Kritzer was International
Sales Counsel of the General Electric Company. The Board of Trustees of the
Institute also reflects such alliances. Its members are drawn from private
and corporate practice, academic institutions and international organizations
that share knowledge on international commercial law and techniques of
dispute resolution.
Activities at the Pace Institute of International Commercial Law include:
- An electronic library on the United
Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale
of Goods (CISG) entered on the Internet. This electronic
library is sponsored by the National Center for Automated
Information Research (NCAIR). It is being
established for practitioners and jurists and arbitrators
as well as law faculties and law students.
- The International Commercial Arbitration
Moot. The Institute's annual learning event on
international commercial arbitration is sponsored by the
International Arbitration Centre (IAC) of
Austria, the American Arbitration Association (AAA), the
International Chamber of Commerce (ICC),
and the United Nations Commission on International Trade
Law (UNCITRAL). The International
Arbitration Centre is host of the 1994/1995 Moot. The
substantive law addressed is the CISG.
- The essay competition. Like the Moot and
the Internet program, the annual essay contest is also a
learning event on the CISG. Students at 23 law schools from
15 countries are currently participating in the 1994/1995
Moot. The 1994 essay event elicited inquiries from students
at law schools from 33 countries. Participations in the
Internet, Moot and Essay programs of the Institute are
projected to expand.
Collegiality is an important element of each program of the Institute. Other
institutions that are collaborating in the production of the newest Institute
program, the electronic library, include the Institut für
Ausländisches und Internationales Privatrecht of the
University of Freiburg of Germany, the Academy of Jurisprudence of Russia,
and the International Trade Law Project of the Institutt for
Rettsvitenskap of the University of Tromsø of Norway.
Institute of International Commercial Law, Pace University,
March 1995