business

The Center on Transnational Business and the Law (SCI) is dedicated to exploring the many challenging legal and public policy issues faced by businesses that operate across borders in today’s increasingly global economic environment.

The Center organizes conferences and lectures, encourages research, and hosts visiting scholars.  A robust outreach effort helps bring together corporate executives, private practitioners, government officials, students and scholars.  The aim is to promote thoughtful and timely discussion and analysis of some of the most important legal problems relevant to transnational business and commercial undertakings in the contemporary marketplace. Professors Barry E. Carter and David P. Stewart are the Center’s directors. 

Recently, the Center organized day-long conferences on Transparency in International Arbitration and on the 2010 UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts.  A third conference, held in conjunction with the Georgetown Journal of International Law, explored a range of legal issues regarding Corporate Social Responsibility and the Alien Tort Statute in light of the Supreme Court’s consideration of the Kiobel case.

The Center also hosted a speech and discussion by a top Obama Administration trade official, a public meeting of the Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on Private International Law (Prof. Stewart is a member), and several public meetings of the Sanctions Subcommittee (which Prof. Carter chairs) of the Department of State’s Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy. 

Among the Center’s current efforts are projects related to financial and trade sanctions, privacy and personal data protection in trans-border contexts, proof of foreign law in international litigation, increasing U.S. exports, and encouraging investment in the United States. 

The Center’s activities are open to graduate and undergraduate students, business executives, private practitioners, government officials and scholars. These activities provide unique opportunities to explore the legal and practical dimensions of issues of current importance to international businesses, governments and lawyers.