A Spontaneous International Law Week at MULS

This week, you will notice, is chock-full of talks and events related to international law and human rights, thanks to the efforts and interest of MULS student organizations.

Today  (Monday, October 4th) the National Lawyers Guild student chapter hosted human rights attorney Eric Sirotkin to give a talk on “Lawyering for Human Rights in the 21st Century:  Journey from Soweto to Pyongyang.” Mr. Sirotkin’s inspiring talk about his own work in Latin America, Africa, and Asia communicated the important role of lawyers in peacemaking around the globe.   As Executive Director of the Ubuntuworks Peace Education Project, he was able to offer students practical advice on how to use their legal skills to be compassionate advocates.   Mr Sirotkin will be dining with MULS students this evening to continue the dialogue on how to work with and for people around the world seeking peace.

Tomorrow (Tuesday, October 5, at noon)  the Dispute Resolution Society & the Association for Women in Law will host Lucy Reed, a partner at the international law firm Freshfields Bruckaus Deringer and head of their international arbitration group, to hear her talk “Women & Negotiation:  Lessons Learned From Around the World.”

Finally, on Wednesday (October 6, also at noon), the International Law Society will host Bertha Oliva, General Coordinator of the Committee of Families of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH), who will be sharing her story of three decades of searching for truth and justice following the disappearance of her husband.

In many ways this spontaneous ordering of events amounts to a thematic international law week, with the fortunate result of the world coming to MULS.

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Lincoln in Liberia

On August 26, MULS welcomed the Class of 2013, hosting a welcome mixer in the atrium of Eckstein Hall, the new home of the law school.  During this event, Dean Joseph Kearney unveiled a portrait of Abraham Lincoln created by visual artist Don Pollack.  A few days later, the painting was hung in the Aitken Reading Room on the third floor of the new building.

The portrait uniquely places Lincoln reading the newspaper within a horizontal vista next to stacks of books which represent the learned man on his campaign trail many days before he became the sixteenth president of the United States.  Professor Michael McCrystal explains that MULS commissioned this painting of Lincoln to symbolize the importance of reading: “Although we mean the building to be very contemporary in most respects, the intent of the reading room is to draw on strong academic and legal traditions to inspire students to serious work, and a Lincoln portrait seemed to serve this theme.”

The image seeks to capture Lincoln the great lawyer and the great reader.  It also serves as a reminder that the former president spoke of the importance of reading when on September 30, 1859 he addressed the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, right in the same spot where the Marquette campus now sits.  On that day, Lincoln remarked,

“A capacity, and taste, for reading, gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others. It is the key, or one of the keys, to the already solved problems. And not only so. It gives a relish, and facility, for successfully pursuing the [yet] unsolved ones.”

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Men, Goats, and Torture

The fantastical movie The Men Who Stare at Goats, inspired by Jon Ronson’s non-fiction bestseller by the same title , arrived in theaters at a most auspicious time.   The movie deals with the topic of torture, just  as Guantanamo detainees await their transfer to stand trial in New York courts causing commentators to speculate on how the issue of torture will be dealt with during not only the criminal proceedings but also the public debate they inspire.

As with any dark comedy, The Men Who Stare at Goats not so subtly confronts us with the question of our morality, and how much cruel and degrading treatment we can stomach in good conscience.

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