GIAN Course on 'International Business Transactions', by Prof. Don DeAmicis, September 25-30, 2017

MHRD GIAN course on “International Business Transactions”, September 25-30, 2017; NLUD

The Centre for Transnational Commercial Law, National Law University, Delhi, organized MHRD GIAN course on “International Business Transactions” under the GIAN scheme of the MHRD, from 25^th-29^th September 2017. The course received an overwhelming response and was attended by 65 participants, including both students from National Law University, Delhi, and external participants which consisted of law professors, practitioners, Ph.D. candidates and students of law from various National Law Universities, and other prominent law institutions across India.

About the course

The Module “International Business Transactions”, is envisioned as the field of private business transactions that are international in character and that are governed by a blend of international private law and the private law aspects of public international law. International business transactions is a subject that, despite its practical usefulness and theoretical attractiveness, often falls betwixt and between. International business programs tend to regard it as a course for legal specialists; many law schools leave it to schools of business or position it as an advanced course in international law. As a result, few law and business students have been exposed to the course. We believe that, in this era of globalization, a course in international business transactions is an essential part of the training of all business lawyers and of people in the corporate world as well. There is no longer a clear distinction between businesses that operate in India and those with foreign operations. Sooner or later, every successful business will have an international aspect. In the modern era, when trade and commerce have become truly global, international business transactions can no longer be viewed as being dominated by developed nations in North America and Europe.

The specific areas covered in the course, while not exhaustive, were sufficient to provide participants with a good understanding of International Business Transactions. Additionally, the course materials include numerous cases from diverse legal jurisdictions, arbitral awards, decisions and hypothetical discussion problems. The program contents also are consistent with the course objectives of familiarizing participants with case law analysis from various judicial bodies and jurisdictions outside India.

The course was instructed by Professor Don Scott De Amicis

Professor De Amicis teaches at Georgetown Law and is on the faculty at the International Law Institute, Washington D.C. He serves on international tribunals of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Inter-American Development Bank on matters relating to fraud and corruption, and is involved in international dispute resolution. He also is a senior advisor with Transnational Strategy Group, LLP where he advises businesses and governments on investment, finance and trade matters. Don has also served as the Executive Director of the National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade, a commercial law reform institute, a Professor of Practice at the University of Arizona Law School, a Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study, and a Senior Lecturer at Leiden University. From 2011 to 2014, he was General Counsel of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the U.S. government’s international development finance institution that supports private sector investment through project finance and political risk insurance in over 100 foreign countries. Prior to OPIC, he had been a senior partner at Ropes & Gray LLP, an international law firm, with a practice that focused on four principal areas: corporate, finance, restructuring and international. He has long been active in the American Bar Association and its rule of law initiatives; he served as chair of the Section of International Law and is currently serving on the ABA’s Rule of Law Initiative Board. 

Local GIAN Coordinator

Professor Dr. G. S. Bajpai,

Professor & Registrar, National Law University, Delhi

Host Faculty & Course Coordinator

Dr. Risham Garg, Assistant Professor & Research Director, Centre for Transnational Commercial Law, NLU Delhi.

Dr. Risham Garg holds a Doctor of Laws (LL.D.), in the field of International Contracts. He teaches courses on ‘Bankruptcy Insolvency & Restructuring’ and ‘International Commercial Laws’ in the LLM programme, he also teaches Seminar and Core courses in the BA.LLB. program on Law of Contracts, Sale of Goods. He acts as an Arbitrator at the Willem C. Vis Moot. He has been a Visiting Research Scholar at UNCITRAL, Vienna.  Since February 2016, he has also been placed in charge, as Research Director, of the Centre for Transnational Commercial Law (CTCL) at NLU Delhi.

The 5 day course covered around 25 lectures with a take-away evaluation released on the last day. The course elicited positive feedback from participants. Prof. De Amicis also distributed the Participation certificates to the course participants.