The South Carolina Journal of International Law & Business is pleased to announce that our Fall 2020 Symposium, titled International Law in Times of Crisis, will take place on November 6, 2020! Our symposium will involve three separate panel discussions and a keynote address. Each panel will discuss one overarching topic in international law: (1) the Global Debt crisis, (2) Refugee Crises, and (3) Pandemic Crises.

The Symposium will be conducted virtually over the Blackboard Collaborate Ultra platform due to health and safety concerns related to COVID-19. Panelists are invited to present a paper or research topic if they so choose.

There will be no application fee for attendance or participation in the event, and is open to lawyers, students and other interested registrants.

Approved for 4.5 CLE credits in South Carolina.

For more information and updates, please visit our website www.scjilb.org.

Conference schedule

November 6, 2020

9:30 am - 10:00am: Welcoming Remarks

10:00 am - 11:30am: Global Debt Crisis and Response

11:40am - 1:10pm: Refugee Crisis and Response

1:10pm - 2:00pm: Lunch Break

2:00pm - 3:30pm: Pandemic Crisis and Response

3:30pm - 5:00pm: Keynote and Closing Remarks

Panel Description: Global Debt Crisis and Response

As a result of a decade-long wave global debt accumulation and the widespread economic shutdowns caused by COVID-19, countries across the globe face a looming debt crisis. In January 2020, the World Bank warned that the current wave of global debt accumulation, beginning in 2010 and described as "the largest, fastest and most broad-based increase" in global debt accumulation since the 1970s , could lead to a widespread and long-term financial meltdown. Since then, the coronavirus pandemic has brought global economies to a halt and caused governments to provide massive stimulus packages to support their citizens and businesses. The combination of unprecedented stimulus funding, low interest rates, and slowed economic activity could result in debt crises that disproportionately impact developing countries. This panel will discuss how individual state governments and intergovernmental organizations like the U.N. and I.M.F. should address and prepare for this impending crisis.

Panel Moderator: Emily R. Winston, Assistant Professor, University of South Carolina School of Law

Panelists:

• Sean Hagan, Visiting Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center
• Robert Howse, Professor of Law, New York University School of Law
• Tim R. Samples, Associate Professor of Legal Studies, Terry College of Business, University of Georgia

Panel Description: Refugee Crisis and Response

The world is facing a global refugee crisis like never before. As of 2018, 70.8 million people were displaced due to conflict, persecution, violence, natural disasters, and human rights violations. This crisis poses numerous legal issues as individuals face internal displacement, cross-border displacement, and asylum seeking. This panel will discuss the role of international law in deterring and punishing the conduct that causes displacement of refugees with a focus on countries such as Syrian Arab Republic, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar, and Somalia, which altogether account for 67% of the refugee population. It will also assess the impact on a host country and discuss the legal burdens and procedures that are created when countries choose to allow or deny refugees entry into their country.

Additionally, panelists will discuss how to incentivize more developed countries into hosting refugees - as developed countries host only 16% of the refugee population while one-third of the global refugee population is hosted in the least developed countries. Overall, this panel will discuss the role of international law in deterring the conduct that causes displacement and its role in regulating the procedures and programs in place to accept fleeing refugees into other countries in order to find lasting solutions that allow refugees to rebuild their lives with the hope of eventually being able to return to their home country.

Panel Moderator: Dr. Breanne Grace, Associate Professor, College of Social Work, University of South Carolina

Panelists:

• Susan M. Akram, Clinical Professor and Director, International Human Rights Clinic, Boston University School of Law
• Erin Corcoran, Associate Teaching Professor, Keough School of Global Affairs, Notre Dame University
• Ian Kysel, Visiting Assistant Clinical Professor of Law, Cornell Law School, Co-director, Asylum and Convention Against Torture Appellate Clinic

Panel Description: Pandemic Crisis and Response

Pandemics present a unique crisis for the international community, as no one is immune to the damaging effects of hazardous diseases. Although the world is no stranger to major outbreaks, we continue to face threats to public health such as Ebola, HIV, and most recently, COVID-19. The novel coronavirus has put a strain on individuals in the United States and abroad. Due to COVID-19's swift spread around the globe, leaders of nations had to respond quickly and decisively. So far, the responses by global actors have varied in approach and success. While centralized governments in Italy and China locked down entire cities, the federal government of the United States left much of the response decision-making up to state and local government leaders.

This panel will have comprehensive discussion about how intergovernmental organizations and state governments tackle legal issues related to pandemic response, specifically relating to COVID-19. Further, they will examine how leaders across the globe have handled pandemic crises so far and what should be done going forward. Topics discussed may include emergency immigration policy, the balance between disease control and civil liberties, and the relationship between the law and public health policy.

Panel Moderator: Jacqueline R. Fox, Professor of Law, University of South Carolina School of Law

Panelists:

• Mary Dobbs, Lecturer, Maynooth University, Ireland
• Boris Lushniak, Professor and Dean, University of Maryland School of Public Health
• Sarah Wetter, Law Fellow, O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law

Keynote Speaker: Peter Huang, Professor and DeMuth Chair of Business Law, University of Colorado Law School

This presentation offers an interdisciplinary analysis of what COVID-19 teaches us about leadership, most important of which is there should be more female leaders. This talk analyzes explanations and theories about why so many women have been among the most successful leaders during COVID-19. These female leaders quickly convinced many people to change their established behaviors and familiar routines. Exemplary leaders engaged in effective and persuasive communication to achieve buy-in and voluntary compliance by a diverse public. This presentation applies to leadership mathematician Eugenia Cheng’s recent, novel category-theory based notion of congressive qualities, such as being collaborative, communitarian, cooperative, curious, empathetic, inclusive, open-minded, modest, other-regarding, and prudent.

Peter Huang's teaching and scholarship apply behavioral economics, finance, and neuroscience to business law, law student and lawyer well-being, leadership, legal education, and race and gender anti-discrimination. His research includes analyzing how to boost people's decision-making competencies, including retirement planning, by practicing mindfulness, helpful thinking styles, and cognitive diversity. Huang endeavors to foster people to become more creative thinkers and innovative problem solvers. Huang teaches business law, economic analysis of law, and leadership.