Loyola Law School Sends Inaugural Team to the International Mediation Competition in Paris

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), located in Paris, France, has for the past thirteen years organized an annual International Commercial Mediation Competition that draws students and practitioners from all corners of the globe. For the first time this year, Loyola Law School sent a team of four students—Josh Genzuk (3L), Nate Pezeshki (3E), Nidya Gutierrez (2L), and Patricia Martinez (2L)—to compete in Paris alongside 66 other schools from 32 different countries. The team was coached by Adjunct Professor Cindy Pasternak (LLS ‘76) and Professor Hiro Aragaki, and was assisted by Visiting Scholar Federico Ferraris, who teaches at the University of Milano-Bicocca in Milan, Italy.

From February 2-7, 2018, students competed in around 150 mock sessions to resolve international business disputes through mediation in accordance with the most current version of the ICC Mediation Rules. Unlike other ADR competitions where students take the role of the neutral mediator, in the ICC Competition students act as mediation advocates representing a client. The competing teams were supported by more than 130 professionals from around the world who were experienced in resolving cross-border disputes, some of whom acted as mock mediators and others of whom took the role of judges. The students were evaluated on their negotiating and problem-solving skills, their ability to make good use of the mediator, and their ability to bridge cultural differences.

The Competition is the ICC’s biggest educational event of the year and provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for young, talented students and experienced professionals alike to forge relationships, build skills, and share best practices. “I had an unbelievable experience,” 3L student Josh Genzuk said of his participation in the inaugural team. “The training that we received on negotiation theory and human communication theory in general, was one of the greatest learning experiences that I have ever been a part of. I do not believe that this level of learning and interaction would have been attainable in any other law school class.”

Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic Statement on Family Separations at Border

The Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles joins its colleagues in condemning the widespread family separations occurring along our southern border. Because of repeated misrepresentation of both fact and law by government spokespersons, the following points require clarification:

• In early May, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a policy of "zero tolerance" against individuals, including families with children, arriving at the southern border. This policy is new, entirely a creature of the current administration, and wholly within the executive branch's discretion.
• This new policy mandates criminal prosecution and incarceration of individuals for misdemeanor first-time unlawful entry. The new, discretionary policy implements incarceration for this misdemeanor. Incarceration is not a requirement of the law.
• It is this draconian policy of incarceration for a first-time misdemeanor offense that has resulted in the wholesale separation of parents and caregivers from their children, a policy condemned by the American Academy of Pediatrics because of the traumatic effects of separation and the long-term damage done to already vulnerable children. A secondary effect is the overcrowding of federal courts previously focused on prosecution crimes such as human trafficking and the illegal drug and weapons trade. 
• This policy operates in conjunction with ICE's "surge initiative," a policy of targeting the sponsors of children released from federal custody by the U.S. government into the custody of caregivers. The two operate together to promote the isolation of children from relative caregivers, and to prolong their detention and isolation. 
• These policies are a violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the standards contained with the the UN Declaration of Human Rights, and basic norms of humane conduct. They are a stark departure from past practices, and represent an effort to use children as a weapon to enforce the president's inhumane immigration agenda.

U.S. Misguided in Decision to Leave UN Human Rights Council

By Mary Hansel, Deputy Director, Loyola International Human Rights Clinic

The U.S. decision to leave the UN Human Rights Council is disappointing on a number of levels and, frankly, shows a lack of understanding about how the international human rights system works. This decision will harm U.S. interests, as well as the Council itself.

By giving up its seat on the Council in misguided protest, the U.S. is actually limiting its own influence over the Council and its state members. Withdrawing from the Council means forfeiting a key position in shaping Council operations, agendas and human rights decision-making. Meanwhile, the Council will still conduct periodic reviews of and condemn the human rights records of the U.S. - and of Israel - as part of its Universal Periodic Review process and through various resolutions. (Indeed, one of the reasons the Council is so innovative is that all 193 UN member states are subject to human rights scrutiny, regardless of Council membership or treaty ratification.) Thus, the U.S. is cutting off its nose to spite its face here.

Despite the capitulation that the U.S. is hoping to achieve, many members of the international community are saying "good riddance" to the U.S., given the Trump Administration's apparent disregard of human rights and disruptive antics at the UN. However, the U.S. career diplomats who work with the Council are well-versed in human rights and tend to have a positive, moderating influence on other state members with egregious human rights records. Conversely, the U.S. departure means that the Council and its members will lose their potentially moderating influence over the U.S.