2026 Symposium
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law hosted its 2026 Symposium on Friday, January 23, 2026. The 2026 Symposium focused on territorial integrity, examining how this foundational principle continues to evolve amid modern global conflicts and a changing landscape. Speakers explored the meaning and legal basis of territorial integrity, changes to territory through succession and annexation, and the growing impact of climate change on territorial stability.
Keynote Lecturers: Mary Ellen O’ Connell
Panelists: Jure Vidmar, Diane Desierto, Thomas Grant, Raymond Taras, Christian Marxsen, Tim Waters
Moderators: Ingrid Brunk and Tim Waters
2024 Symposium
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law hosted its 2024 Symposium on Thursday, January 25, 2024. The Symposium focused on the right to food within contemporary and future international contexts. The Symposium featured four panels with experts in international law, food law, and environmental law.
Keynote Lecturers: Luis Moreno-Ocampo and Yousuf Syed Khan
Panelists: Michael Roberts, Gregory Thaler, Danielle Resnick, Oliver Windridge, Luis Moreno Ocampo, Michael Newton, Michael Johnson, Daniel Chow, Jonathan Poling, Hilal Elver, Emily Mattheisen, Ore Koren
Moderators: Ingrid Brunk, Daniel Gervais, and Caroline Cox
2022 Symposium
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law held its 2022 Symposium, The Law of Cyberterrorism: State Responsibility, Organized Crime, and Election Interference, on Friday, February 11, 2022. The Symposium focused on issues surrounding cybersecurity law on a global scale, and featured participation from prominent scholars in the field as well as Vanderbilt Law School professors. Discussions explored increasing concerns over the impact of online activity on security, through subjects such as potential disruptions to the US election infrastructure and stigma surrounding the foreign origins of extremely popular apps, namely TikTok. Participants included Professors Fatemah Albader, Anupam Chander, Rebecca Crootof, Duncan Hollis, and Asaf Lubin, with moderation by Vanderbilt Law School Professors Timothy Meyer and Michael Newton.
2019 Symposium
The Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law hosted its 2019 symposium on Friday, February 22. The topic of this year's symposium was “The Future of International Human Rights Law.” Our 2019 Symposium included two individual Keynote addresses, by Professor John Tasioulas (King’s College, London) and Professor Samuel Moyn (Yale University). Comments on the Keynotes will be provided by Professor James Gathii (Loyola University, Chicago), Professor Kathryn Sikkink (Harvard University), Professor Gopal Sreenivasan (Duke University), Professor Lorna McGregor (University of Essex), and Professor Karima Bennoune (University of California, Davis).
Professor Kevin Stack (Vanderbilt University) introduced the speakers at the Symposium and provided closing remarks.
2017 Symposium
The Journal is very excited about the success of our February 2017 Symposium, “Sovereign Conduct on the Margins of the Law.” We hosted four panels that explored the various facets of issues such as: the involvement of sovereigns in cyber-crime; terrorism financing, the immunity aspects of state owned enterprises; and the problems surrounding sovereign debt crises. Participants in these panels included practitioners and academics with expertise in each of these topics. The symposium was held at the Vanderbilt Law School on Friday February 17, 2017.
The upcoming issue of the Journal will be devoted to articles based on the content of these panels. The following practitioners and scholars will be publishing in the October 2017 issue of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law: Larry Cata Backer, Penn State University Law School; Eric Blinderman and Myra Din, Therium Inc.; Anna Gelpern, Georgetown University Law School; Magnus Hornqvist, Stockholm University; Nicholas Calcina Howson, University of Michigan Law School; Rainer Hülse, Geschwister-Scholl Institute of Political Science at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich; Stephen Kim Park and Tim R. Samples, University of Connecticut and Terry College of Business, University of Georgia; and Pammela Quinn Saunders, Drexel University Law School.
2017 Symposium
The Journal is very excited about the success of our February 2017 Symposium, “Sovereign Conduct on the Margins of the Law.” We hosted four panels that explored the various facets of issues such as: the involvement of sovereigns in cyber-crime; terrorism financing, the immunity aspects of state owned enterprises; and the problems surrounding sovereign debt crises. Participants in these panels included practitioners and academics with expertise in each of these topics. The symposium was held at the Vanderbilt Law School on Friday February 17, 2017.
The upcoming issue of the Journal will be devoted to articles based on the content of these panels. The following practitioners and scholars will be publishing in the October 2017 issue of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law: Larry Cata Backer, Penn State University Law School; Eric Blinderman and Myra Din, Therium Inc.; Anna Gelpern, Georgetown University Law School; Magnus Hornqvist, Stockholm University; Nicholas Calcina Howson, University of Michigan Law School; Rainer Hülse, Geschwister-Scholl Institute of Political Science at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich; Stephen Kim Park and Tim R. Samples, University of Connecticut and Terry College of Business, University of Georgia; and Pammela Quinn Saunders, Drexel University Law School.
A brief synopsis of the 2017 symposium can be found here. Prof. Cata Backer, one of the panelists, kindly summarized the presentations of each panelists and posted them to his blog, “Law at the End of the Day.”
2015 Symposium
The Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law sponsored a one-day symposium on February 13, 2015, This is Not a Drill: Confronting Legal Issues in the Wake of International Disasters.
Recent international disasters, both environmental and humanitarian, have resulted in trails of destruction and destitution, as well as an uncertain legal landscape. In response to this situation, the International Law Commission (ILC) has completed a draft report addressing the protection of persons when disasters occur. The Journal’s 2015 Symposium, This is Not a Drill: Confronting Legal Issues in the Wake of International Disasters, addressed current international disaster response topics. The event focused on an in-depth review of the ILC draft. Two additional panels addressed environmental effects and disaster assistance in the wake of various types of international disasters. Symposium participants included leading scholars and policy-makers from across the country and abroad.
Keynote Speaker
Eduardo Valencia-Ospina, Special Rapporteur, International Law Commission for the United Nations
ILC Draft Panel:
Moderator: David Fisher
- Elizabeth Katchka, Chief of Staff for Legal Policy, Office of the Chief Counsel, Federal Emergency Management Agency
- Michael Cooper, Managing Director, The Ploughshare Group, LLC
- Arnold Pronto, Senior Legal Officer United Nations, Office of Legal Affairs
Responses to International Disasters Panel:
Moderator: Michael Newton
- Kirsten Bookmiller, Professor, Department of Government and Political Affairs and International Studies Program, Millersville University of Pennsylvania
- Nathan Clark, Faculty of Law, Centre for International Law and Justice, University of Copenhagen
- Anastasia Telesetsky, Associate Professor of Law, University of Idaho College of Law
Disaster Assistance/Response Panel/Right to Assistance:
Moderator: Ingrid Wuerth
- Chris Rassi, Senior Legal Officer, International Federation of Red Cross
- Michael Newton, Professor of Law, Vanderbilt University Law School
- Giulio Bartolini, Associate Professor, Department of Law, Roma Tre University
Environmental Panel/ Responses after Fukushima:
Moderator: Jim Rossi
- Emily Hammond, Professor of Law, George Washington University
- Lincoln Davies, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, University of Utah
- Dave Lochbaum, Director, Nuclear Safety Project
- Joseph Tomain, Dean Emeritus and Professor of Law, University of Cincinnati