Using TLB to Teach Conflict of Laws (2024 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 jurisdiction, (2) choice of law, and (3) enforcement of judgments. TLB has topic pages devoted to each of these areas. These pages include links to important cases, statutes, and treaties as well as significant works of scholarship. These pages also collect recent posts in reverse chronological order, providing opportunities to build students’ awareness of current developments and spark class discussion.

In addition, TLB has published primers on a number of topics relevant to this class, including choice of law, choice of law clauses, extraterritoriality, foreign judgments, forum non conveniens, and forum selection clauses. These primers are a good way to bring students up to speed on a topic quickly.

A Selection of Relevant Posts

Below are some suggestions of relevant posts dealing with areas often covered in Conflict of Laws. The order generally follows the organization of Conflict of Laws: Cases and Materials (8^th edition, 2019), by Brilmayer, Goldsmith, O’Hara O’Connor, and Vazquez. Professors can easily rearrange the topics, however, if they are using other books or their own materials.

Choice of Law

• A Primer on Choice of Law
• A Printable Chart Listing Choice-of-Law Methodologies Used by U.S. States
• Waiving Choice of Law
• Optionality in Choice of Law
• A Baffling Characterization Decision
• Who Owns the Ferrari F50?
• Choice of Law in Terrorism Cases

Personal Jurisdiction

• A Primer on Personal Jurisdiction
• A Collection of Posts Discussing Mallory v. Norfolk Southern (decided June 2023)
• Home Isn’t Just Where the Nerve Center Is
• S.D.N.Y. Holds Consent-Based Personal Jurisdiction over the PLO Unconstitutional
• Foreign Defendants and the Future of Personal Jurisdiction
• A Deeply Flawed Personal Jurisdiction Decision in the SDNY

 Enforcement of Foreign Judgments

• A Primer on Foreign Judgments
• Recent Developments Concerning the Hague Judgments Convention and COCA
• Explaining the Hague Judgments Convention to U.S. Lawyers
• Fair Use, the First Amendment, and the Enforcement of Foreign Judgments
• Enforcing Chinese Judgments
• Enforcing Chinese Judgments: A Response

Extraterritoriality

• A Primer on Extraterritoriality
• A Collection of Posts Discussing Abitron v. Hetronic International (decided June 2023)
• A Collection of Posts Discussing Yegiazaryan v. Smagin (decided June 2023)
• Throwback Thursday: Empagran’s Complicated Legacy
• Throwback Thursday: American Banana and the Presumption Against Extraterritoriality
• The Extraterritorial Application of State Wage and Hour Laws
• The Extraterritorial Reach of Criminal Statutes

Choice of Law Clauses

• A Primer on Choice of Law Clauses
• Zombie Choice-of-Law Clauses
• The Billion-Dollar Choice-of-Law Question
• Anti-Comity and N.Y. General Obligations Law 5-1401
• Incorporation by Reference and Choice of Law
• The Comparative Value of Choice-of-Law and Forum Selection Clauses
• A List of State Statutes Validating Choice-of-Law Clauses (linked from Choice of Law Clauses topic page)
• A List of State Statutes Invalidating Choice-of-Law Clauses (linked from Choice of Law Clauses topic page)

Forum Selection Clauses

• A Primer on Forum Selection Clauses
• Crypto and Forum Selection Clauses
• Floating Forum Selection Clauses
• Faux Forum Selection Clauses
• Bifurcated Forum Selection Clauses
• The Small Potatoes Problem with New York Forum Selection Clauses
• Data on the Enforcement of Forum Selection Clauses
• Throwback Thursday: Canada, Cannabis, and Forum Selection Clauses
• A List of State Statutes Validating Forum Selection Clauses (linked from the Forum Selection Clauses topic page)
• A List of State Statutes Invalidating Forum Selection Clauses (linked from the Forum Selection Clauses topic page)