In May 2020, Miami Law’s International and Graduate Programs Office convened a conversation among experts in trade and investment law to consider the impact of COVID-19 on economic flows and legal systems in the Western Hemisphere. The event, “Trade and Investment in the Hemisphere Under Crisis: Where We Go from Here,” focused on how international economic developments were and will be affected by the pandemic.
“The conference brings together many of the region’s thought leaders in international economic law who are recommending policy changes surrounding actions and reactions to fallout from the global pandemic,” said Kathleen Claussen, who was co-lead faculty for the event. “It provides access to these pivotal experts and discussion of novel ideas that are being explored or implemented throughout the Americas.”
The bilingual event was jointly hosted by UM Law International and Graduate Programs and Colombia’s Externado University’s Economic Law Department.
The program opened with remarks by Miami Law’s Anthony E. Varona, dean ermitus and M. Minnette Massey Professor of Law, and José Manuel Álvarez-Zarate, who leads the department of international economic law and master’s program at UExternado.
Álvarez is an expert in international economic law in Colombia and Latin America, and member of the Latin American Network of International Economic Law. Miami Law and UExternado have an academic collaboration agreement.
The conference, part in English and Spanish, featured two panel sessions from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m. The first, “Trade Dynamics in a Pandemic,” moderated by Alvarez, and included speakers Nicolas Cobo, Pontificia Universidad Catolica in Chile; Carolina Palma, University of Costa Rica; Michelle Ratton-Sanchez, Law School of Getulio Vargas Foundation; and Victor Saco, Pontificia Universidad Catolica in Peru.
“Changes in Investment Restrictions and Flows due to COVID-19,” followed with Claussen moderating and speakers included Sebastian Espinosa, Legal Secretariat of the Presidency of Ecuador; Fabio Morosini, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul; and Enrique Prieto-Rios, Rosario University.
The mini-conference wass co-sponsored by the Latin American Network for International Economic Law, the American Society of International Law International Economic Law Interest Group, and the American Society of International Law Latin America Interest Group.
More on the Gobal and International Law Program at Miami Law
