Workshop-MC 2009-Agenda

Bordering the Alameda Park, the Hotel Sheraton Centro Histórico is a five-star hotel located at the edge of Mexico City’s historic district, and a short walk to the museums, Cathedral, churches and shops that make Mexico City a cultural capital.

7:30 p.m.

Welcome Gathering at the Hotel Sheraton Centro Histórico

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2
8:00 a.m.

Breakfast in the Hotel Sheraton Centro Histórico, room to be announced
ALL SESSIONS FOR THE FRIDAY WORKSHOP WILL BE HELD AT THE HEADQUARTERS OF THE MEXICAN FOREIGN MINISTRY, AVENIDA JUÁREZ NO. 20, APPROXIMATELY ONE BLOCK EAST OF THE HOTEL SHERATON CENTRO HISTÓRICO

PLEASE NOTE – We are hoping that members of Mexico’s diplomatic corps will join us for some of our sessions.  We prefer our members to wear business attire for the sessions in the Foreign Ministry – jackets and ties for men; skirts, dresses or suits (including pantsuit) for women.  

9:00 a.m.
Welcome

Ambassador Joel Hernández, Legal Adviser, Mexican Foreign Ministry, and representatives of the NACLE Workshop sponsors

9:15 a.m.
PLENARY SESSION  
“A Critical, Comparative Discussion of Legal Education in Canada, Mexico and the United States”

LOCATION: SALÓN JOSÉ MARIA MORELOS Y PAVÓN, SALA B
NACLE was founded to increase the exchange of ideas among legal educators and law students in Canada, Mexico and the United States.   It is therefore  fitting that our workshop will open with a comparative discussion of legal education in North America.  Each speaker will give a brief, critical analysis of legal education in each of the three NACLE countries, to be followed by exchange of ideas between the panelists and participants in general.

Legal Education in Mexico

KEYNOTE PRESENTATION:  Luis Fernando Pérez Hurtado - Director, CEEAD -- Centro de Estudios sobre la Enseñanza y el Aprendizaje de Derecho (Center for the Study of Teaching and Training in Law), Monterrey, Mexico (see http://www.ceead.org.mx )

Author, La Futura Generación de Abogados Mexicanos: Estudio de las Escuelas y los Estudiantes de Derecho en México (2009) [The Future Generation of Mexican Lawyers: A Study of Law Schools and Law Students in Mexico]

Commentators – comparative aspects of legal education in North America, and the potential role of NACLE, with commentary by Stephen Zamora, moderator

Héctor Fix Fierro
Director, Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas, UNAM

José Antonio Caballero
Dean, Division of Legal Studies, CIDE

José Antonio Lozano
Dean, Universidad Panamericana Faculty of Laws

Laura Spitz
University of Colorado School of Law

10:45 a.m. 
Coffee Break

11:15 a.m.
Concurrent Workshop Sessions

Concurrent sessions provide a forum for the active exchange of ideas among Canadian, Mexican and U.S. law professors who specialize in particular areas of law and policy.  The emphasis is on debate, discussion, and free exchange of information and ideas involving all workshop participants, not limited to those whose names are listed below.

International Trade Law:  “NAFTA at 15 -- An Assessment of the NAFTA Countries’ Enforcement of, and Compliance with, the Terms of the Agreement”

LOCATION: SALÓN JOSÉ MARIA MORELOS Y PAVÓN, SALA A
This session will assess the record of the NAFTA parties enforcement of NAFTA’s obligations, through dispute settlement mechanisms that appear in various chapters of the NAFTA agreement.  The session includes persons who have been directly involved in NAFTA dispute procedures, either as litigators, panel members (arbitrators) or commentators.

Convenor

David Gantz (Arizona)

Discussants

David Gantz (Arizona) – Enforcement of NAFTA’s Basic Obligations, and the Ongoing Saga of Trucking Services

Ricardo Ramirez (UNAM) – A Report Card on NAFTA Chapter 19

(Ricardo Ramírez, a Mexican trade law expert with many years of experience in trade dispute settlement, is the newest appointee to the WTO Appellate Body)

Anthony Van Duzer (Ottawa) – State-to-State Dispute Settlement: Comparing the Canadian and U.S. Experiences

Gabriel Cavazos Villanueva (ITESM) – The Enforcement of the Commitments on Investor Protection, with an Emphasis on the Fair and Equitable Treatment Obligatiion of Article 1105

Commentator on Van Duzer and Cavazos presentations: Laura Spitz, University of Colorado

Intellectual Property: Intellectual Property Law in the Digital Age – Comparative Approaches

LOCATION: SALA ROSARIO GREEN

Convenor

Graham Reynolds (Dalhousie)

The session will feature discussions on a variety of areas of intellectual property law, including an international analysis of P2P file sharing liability, a comparative analysis on transformative works, and a discussion on defenses to copyright infringement.

Discussants

Graham Reynolds (Dalhousie), Legal Issues Involving Transformative Works

Rodrigo Méndez Solís (Universidad Panamericana) – Legal Issues Involving Peer-to-Peer File Sharing

Commentator

Heidi Lindner (Universidad Panamericana)

Energy Law: Climate Change and Energy Transition Policy (Regulatory and Institutional Context); Energy Efficiency; and Renewable Energy

LOCATION: SALA CÉSAR SEPÚLVEDA (LOCATED ON THIRD FLOOR)

Convenor

Miriam Grunstein (CIDE) – The energy sector in North America is highly fragmented, in large part due to the very different legal regimes that exist in Canada, Mexico and the United States.  This session will focus on current issues of ongoing and necessary legal reform in Mexico, the United States and Canada related to climate change, energy efficiency and the development of renewable energy infrastructure.

Ana Elena Fierro (CIDE) – Constitutional basis for the hydrocarbon industry in Mexico. What is the meaning of oil in the Mexican Constitution? Does the Mexican Constitution pose entry barriers for the use of alternative energy sources?

Jacqueline Weaver (Houston) – Texas and federal responses in the United States US to building transmission lines linking new renewable sources to population. 

Miriam Grunstein (CIDE) – Municipal barriers for implementing renewable energy sources. When politics shadow the sun.

Francisco de Rosenzweig (Universidad Panamericana) – topic to be confirmed

1:30 p.m.
Lunch

Luncheon presentation - Current Issues in North American Relations
Ministro Alejandro Estivill Castro, Director General for North American Affairs, Mexican Ministry of Foreign Relations

3:00 p.m.
NACLE Student Paper Presentations

Presentations of award-winning papers by NACLE students, with commentary from NACLE faculty on each paper

Transportation to and from the Restuarante Exacto will be arranged from the lobby of the Hotel Sheraton Centro Histórico. 

The Condesa Area is one of the liveliest neighborhoods in the Mexico City, with a wide selection of bookstores, cafés, restaurants, museums, art galleries and night life. The streets of the Condesa are named after cities and states of the Mexican Republic. Famous characters like Cantinflas, Dolores del Río, Agustín Lara or Cri Cri made this part of Mexico City their home. 

Energy Law:  Continuation of Friday Workshop Session on Climate Change and Energy Transition Policy (Regulatory and Institutional Context); Energy Efficiency; and Renewable Energy

Convenor

Miriam Grunstein (CIDE)

César Hernández Ochoa, General Counsel for Foreign Trade, Mexican Ministry of Economy (UNAM - IIJ) -- Mexico’s response to financing renewable energy projects. Facts, flaws and fiction regarding carbon bond trading in Mexico.

2:00 p.m.
Adjourn -- Transportation to Hotel Sheraton Centro Histórico

Our hosts – CIDE, UNAM-IIJ and Universidad Panamericana -- will host a festive reception and dinner at the Casino Español, with a cocktail reception and dinner in the José Torriello Guerra Room. Located in the historic district Mexico City, the Casino Español was established in 1863 by a group of Spanish émigrés, where it was considered during the porfiriato period to be the most elegant meeting place in Mexico City. In 1905, the Casino moved to its current location.  Visitors to to the Casino have included many Mexican presidents, including Benito Juárez, Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada, Porfirio Díaz, Álvaro Obregón, Jóse López Portillo and Vicente Fox.    

The address of the Casino Español is:  Isabel la Católica no. 31 

The dinner will provide an occasion to recognize and present awards to our Student Paper Competition winners, and to promote NACLE’s informal slogan – “Learn the law.  Live the culture.  Drink the wine.”

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4

Since many of our members will be travelling a long distance, we will hold the NACLE business meeting on Saturday, leaving Sunday morning either to arrange travel, or to visit the historic sites of Mexico City.