Ingrid (Wuerth) Brunk

Domestic Litigation and Compensation to Ukrainian Victims of Russian Aggression

Many proposals to compensate Ukrainian victims of Russian aggression do not directly involve domestic courts, in part because foreign sovereign immunity poses significant obstacles to such litigation. There are, however, important cases against Russia currently pending in Ukrainian courts. These cases were the subject of a recent session held in Lviv, Ukraine, as part of…

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Execution of Judgments Against the Assets of Foreign Sovereigns Located Abroad

The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) provides immunity from execution for the “property in the United States of a foreign state.” It does not confer immunity on a foreign state’s property located abroad. The limitation makes sense: to the extent that a foreign sovereign’s property located outside the United States is not subject to the…

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D.C. Circuit Addresses FSIA in German Art Case

In the years before World War II, the Nazi government in Germany allegedly stole an art collection belonging to a Jewish industrialist. His descendants who live in the United States sued Germany in Toren v. Federal Republic of Germany.  They argue that Germany is not immune from suit under an exception to the Foreign Sovereign…

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Case Brought by Jamal Khashoggi’s Widow Dismissed

Hanan Elatr Khashoggi sued Israeli spyware companies in connection with the death of her husband, journalist Jamal Khashoggi.  A critic of the Saudi government, Khashoggi was killed in Istanbul, Turkey at the Saudi Arabian consulate.  Last year, Judge John Bates (D.D.C.) dismissed a civil suit against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on grounds of…

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Audio Content on TLB!

We are beginning to offer audio versions of some posts! We kick off the initiative with John Coyle’s recording of his post A Primer on Choice-of-Law Clauses. Choice of law and choice of law clauses are important issues in any legal system, ones that help students understand both contracts and civil procedure. Now students, foreign…

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Proposed Legislation to Amend the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act

Representatives Adam Schiff, Betty McCollum, and Gerry Connolly have introduced the  Jamal Khashoggi Protection of Activists and Press Freedom Act of 2023.  The purpose of the legislation is to protect free speech advocates and journalists. The press release announcing the draft legislation notes the murder five years ago of journalist Jamal Khashoggi “at the hands…

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Throwback Thursday: Eighty Years of Ex Parte Republic of Peru

Back in 1943, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in an admiralty case against the Ucayali, a Peruvian steamship. A Cuban company brought the in rem action in a federal district court in Louisiana alleging that the steamship violated a charter agreement by failing to carry a cargo of sugar from Peru to New York….

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Constitutional Issues in the Sudan Claims Resolution Act

District courts and the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia have recently issued opinions addressing constitutional issues in litigation against Sudan. The United States and the Republic of Sudan signed an agreement (the Claims and Dispute Resolution Agreement) designed to improve diplomatic relations between the two countries, to promote democracy in Sudan, and…

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Jia on the U.S.- China Rivalry

Mark Jia has posted an interesting new article on SSRN, American Law in the New Global Conflict.  It considers how China has shaped U.S. law historically and how the current rivalry between the U.S. and China will play out for domestic law.  The history is fascinating. It discusses not only the racist and xenophobic Chinese…

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Using TLB to Teach Foreign Relations Law

This post discusses Foreign Relations Law as part of our series explaining how professors can use resources on TLB to teach various classes. Previous posts have discussed Transnational Litigation, Civil Procedure, International Business Transactions, and Conflict of Laws. Although TLB focuses on litigation, and Foreign Relations Law classes cover many topics that are rarely litigated, there is significant…

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Ingrid (Wuerth) Brunk

Vanderbilt Law School
ingrid.wuerth@vanderbilt.eduEmail

William Dodge

George Washington University Law School
william.dodge@law.gwu.eduEmail

Maggie Gardner

Cornell Law School
mgardner@cornell.eduEmail

John F. Coyle

University of North Carolina School of Law
jfcoyle@email.unc.eduEmail

León Castellanos-Jankiewicz

Institute for International and European Law
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Paul B. Stephan

University of Virginia School of Law
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Robin Effron

Brooklyn Law School
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Maryam Jamshidi

University of Colorado Law School
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Fikri Soral

Galatasaray University
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Gregg Cashmark

Vanderbilt Law School
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Hannah Buxbaum

Indiana University Maurer School of Law
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Symeon Symeonides

Willamette University College of Law
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Aaron D. Simowitz

Willamette University College of Law
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John B. Bellinger

Arnold & Porter LLP
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R. Reeves Anderson

Arnold & Porter LLP
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Volodymyr Ponomarov

Arnold & Porter LLP
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