Call for Papers: International Law in Domestic Courts
The next International Law in Domestic Courts (ILDC) Workshop will be held at the George Washington University on Friday, May 23, 2025. The ILDC is an interest group of the American Society of International Law. Its purpose is to promote dialogue among scholars and lawyers who are interested in issues pertaining to the application of…
Continue ReadingA Roadmap to Service by Email
Federal courts have struggled with the question of when they can authorize service by email on a defendant located in a country that belongs to the Hague Service Convention—as we have explained in many prior posts. Though the interaction between the Convention and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(f) can be tricky, there are clear…
Continue ReadingHappy New Year!
TLB will be on winter break until January 7, 2025. We wish you all the best in the new year!
Continue ReadingAll I Want for Christmas (from the Federal Courts)
Rounding out this week’s posts by John Coyle and Bill Dodge, here’s my wish list for the lower federal courts (plus a bonus plea to the Supreme Court). Stop Violating Rule 4(f) and the Hague Service Convention Rule 4(f) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure authorizes service of process on defendants “at a place…
Continue ReadingRevising Forum Non Conveniens Through § 1404?
I have written more than anyone probably should about forum non conveniens (FNC), but much of it boils down to some commonsense updating of the Gulf Oil factors: acknowledge the effects of changing technology, particularly on travel; require defendants to be specific about their evidentiary burdens; don’t overweight choice-of-law difficulties or docket congestion; don’t second…
Continue ReadingAnother Thoughtful Decision Limiting Email Service
The interplay between Rule 4(f) and the Hague Service Convention (HSC) is intricate and challenging. In a recent order, U.S. Magistrate Judge Diana Song Quiroga of the Southern District of Texas said a lot of smart things about this interplay that bear repeating by other district courts. Three Cheers The judge denied a request in…
Continue ReadingPersonal Jurisdiction and the Montreal Convention
I recently discussed the Fifth Circuit’s remarkably unremarkable personal jurisdiction analysis in a case involving a Montreal Convention claim. Before reaching the constitutional personal jurisdiction analysis, however, the panel in Hardy v. Scandinavian Airlines System first rejected the plaintiff’s argument that the Montreal Convention itself established personal jurisdiction over the defendant airline, either directly or…
Continue ReadingFrom Standards to Rules in Private International Law?
Linda Silberman, Clarence D. Ashley Professor of Law Emerita at NYU School of Law and TLB Advisor, has recently posted to SSRN a number of her lectures from her summer 2021 Hague Academy General Course in Private International Law, updated to reflect changes through 2024. The series of lectures, entitled The Counter-Revolution in Private International…
Continue ReadingFifth Circuit Doubles Down on International Shoe
A recent Fifth Circuit decision stoutly reaffirmed that court’s en banc position that the personal jurisdiction analysis is the same under the Fifth and the Fourteenth Amendments. Indeed, reading Hardy v. Scandinavian Airlines System, one would have no idea that a vocal minority of federal appellate judges have been calling for a veritable revolution in…
Continue ReadingUsing TLB to Teach Civil Procedure (2024 Update)
If you are teaching civil procedure this fall, TLB can help. This post gathers materials that can complement a standard civil procedure course, whether by providing concise overviews of doctrines, helping to track Supreme Court developments, or suggesting recent cases that can spark discussions of perennial procedural issues. Personal Jurisdiction TLB has a new primer…
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