Using TLB to Teach Conflict of Laws (2026 Update)
This post updates our series explaining how professors can use resources on TLB to teach various classes. Previous posts have discussed Transnational Litigation, Civil Procedure, Foreign Relations Law, and International Business Transactions. This post discusses Conflict of Laws. All of these posts are accessible at our Teaching Resources page. Primers and Topic Pages Conflict of Laws covers three primary subjects: (1) personal…
Continue ReadingClause Confusion (Part II)
In a prior post, I showed that lawyers sometimes fail to distinguish choice-of-law clauses from forum selection clauses. In this post, I provide several examples of cases where judges made precisely the same mistake. In some of these cases, these errors were harmless. In others, they were not. Harmless Error There are a multitude of…
Continue ReadingClause Confusion (Part I)
There are many things in life that resemble something else. Some people struggle to distinguish alligators from crocodiles. Others have a hard time telling the difference between butterflies and moths. I myself cannot taste the difference between Coke and Pepsi… a fact that horrifies my family. All of these mistakes are both understandable and forgivable….
Continue ReadingSafari Choice-of-Law Clauses
In June 2026, I went on a safari in Tanzania with my family. We went on a hot air balloon ride over the Serengeti, visited a Masai village, and saw all of the Big Five. Before we embarked on these adventures, we were asked to sign an Assumption of Risk, Waiver of Liability, and Indemnification…
Continue ReadingTrademarks and Foreign Forum Selection Clauses
The task of deciding whether a forum selection clause should be given effect can be burdensome. A federal court must evaluate whether the clause is valid. It must interpret the clause to determine whether it is exclusive and covers the claims asserted. And it must assess whether the clause is enforceable under the test laid…
Continue ReadingSovereign Immunity and Choice-of-Law Clauses
On its face, a choice-of-law clause selecting the laws of the United States (or a state within the United States) may seem irrelevant to whether a foreign nation has waived its sovereign immunity in U.S. courts. Over the years, however, a number of U.S. courts have held that a choice-of-law clause may, in fact, function as an implied…
Continue ReadingMontana Supreme Court Decides International Child Custody Case
The Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act discourages forum shopping in child custody disputes by assigning subject-matter jurisdiction to the court located in the “home state” of the child. In Allen v. Allen, decided on April 21, 2026, the Montana Supreme Court had to determine whether the child’s “home state” was Montana or the…
Continue ReadingIf You Give a Mouse a Forum Selection Clause…
Many U.S. states have chosen to write “anti-waiver” provisions into statutory schemes that confer rights on in-state residents. Anti-waiver statutes provide that rights conferred by the statutory scheme cannot be waived. On a number of occasions, the courts have adopted “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” logic to hold that these statutes invalidate forum…
Continue ReadingTransnational Employment Disputes and Forum Non Conveniens
When a company headquartered in the United States enters into an employment contract with an individual working abroad, both parties generally expect the relationship to be mutually beneficial. In most cases, these expectations are realized. In a small number of cases, however, the relationship collapses into acrimony. When this occurs, the U.S. employer may bring…
Continue ReadingIs the Closely Related Doctrine a Creature of State or Federal Law?
The closely related doctrine, discussed here and here and here, posits that a non-signatory to a contract may be bound by a forum selection clause in that contract if the non-signatory is so “closely related” to a signatory that it was “foreseeable” that it would be bound. Robin Effron and I have argued that using…
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