Lawyers and Jurists in the 21st Century

 Celebrating the Centennial of Comparative Law in the United States
and the Universal Congress of Lawyers and Jurists
1904-2004

 Sponsored by

The American Society of Comparative Law

•

Saint Louis University School of Law

Center for International and Comparative Law

•

Washington University School of Law

The Whitney R. Harris Institute for Global Legal Studies

The ice cream cone at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904 was not the only St. Louis "first" that year. St. Louis also hosted the first Universal Congress of Lawyers and Jurists, with more than a thousand lawyers and judges from around the world in attendance. This year law faculties from Saint Louis University and Washington University have designed a conference to celebrate the Universal Congress's centennial anniversary. Entitled "Lawyers and Jurists in the 21st Century," the conference will explore how the practice of law has changed, and is likely to change further during the coming decades as lawyers respond to the global legal needs of their clients. The discussions will emphasize increasing coordination of legal systems and methods across national boundaries, the opening of multiple-jurisdiction licensing, and nations copying efficient and fair legislation from other nations to improve their own justice systems. Sessions will examine judicial reform, criminal procedure, harmonization of civil procedure, international courts, and global legal ethics. In addition, one session will focus on the growing role that women play in worldwide legal practice - a development that commenced in the latter half of the twentieth century. To begin the program, the American Society of Comparative Law, which is also a sponsor of the conference, has designed a panel to review comparative law in the United States over the past half-century years. The sponsors anticipate that the conference's contribution to the international legal community will rival that of its predecessor a century ago, but may not be able to rival the ice cream cone.

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