NEWSLETTER March 2008

• 1. 2008 Biennial Conference News
• 2. Election of ESIL Executive Board members during the Biennial Conference
• 3. ASIL/ESIL Joint Leadership Retreat news
• 4. Joint membership of national societies - pilot project
• 5. Institutional membership
• 6. ESIL book Prize

1. 2008 Biennial Conference News
i) Conference Programme: Call for Papers and Selection of Speakers
The ESIL Call for Papers, leading to the 2008 Biennial Conference in Heidelberg, was a great success. ESIL received hundreds of abstracts from all corners of the world. We would like to send heart-felt thanks to all participants for their enthusiasm. The selection of speakers is now about to be concluded, following the joint efforts of the ESIL Board and the chairpersons of the various Fora and Agorae, in collaboration with Falilou Saw at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg and Joyce Davies at the ESIL. As announced earlier, the final selection will be made public in early April. The process has been both exciting and difficult. Abstracts had to be selected from a very strong and wide field of stimulating and inspiring contributions, while keeping in mind the ESIL objective of promoting the involvement of scholars of all age-groups, legal traditions, and from all continents. As in previous ESIL events, we hope that the 2008 Conference will demonstrate that the promises of quality and diversity have been met.

ii) Biennial Conference: Website and Registration
The ESIL 2008 Biennial Conference website is now up and running and can be found at http://www.esilheidelberg2008.eu. You can find information about the programme, registration, and other practical matters. The website will be regularly updated with new information. It will be possible to register as of Monday 7th April.

iii ) Interest Group Activities / Activités des groupes de réflexion
ESIL is pleased to announce that several Interest Groups have decided to organize events for their members on the occasion of the ESIL 2008 Biennial Conference and various Calls for Papers have been launched. Interest Group events will take place in the morning before the opening of the Biennial Conference. More information about Interest Group activities can be found on their websites:
- Interest Group om Peace and Security : http://igps.wordpress.com/
- Interest Group on International Legal Theory : http://igilt.wetpaint.com/

iv) Fee Waiver for Speakers at Interest Group Events
We are pleased to inform you that, thanks to the generosity of our host at the Heidelberg conference, Professor Rüdiger Wolfrum, all speakers at the various Interest Group events will be exempted from paying the conference registration fees, as is the case for speakers at the main conference.

2. Election of ESIL Executive Board members during the Biennial Conference
The ESIL General Assembly, which will take place during the 2008 Biennial Conference, will be the occasion for the partial renewal of the Executive Board of the Society. In line with the ESIL Constitution, ten members of the Executive Board will be elected. Any member of the Society who has been a member for at least a year is eligible to become a member of the Board. Any member of the Society may propose candidates for the Executive Board. All relevant information regarding the process of election and nomination will be sent to the membership in due course. For the applicable rules, see http://www.esil-sedi.eu/english/bylaws.html

3. ASIL/ESIL Joint Leadership Retreat news
On 11-12 January 2008, members of the governing Boards of the American and European Societies of International Law gathered for the first meeting of the leaderships of both Societies, a meeting which will hopefully become a regular feature of their relations. The group of 25 met at ASIL's Tillar House headquarters in Washington, DC, to discuss similarities and differences between the two Societies and between approaches to international law on the two sides of the Atlantic. The discussion also included a planning session for further joint events in 2009. The Ambassador of the Netherlands to the United States, Christiaan Mark Johan Kröner, hosted the group for an opening reception and dinner on January 11. In addition, George Washington University Law School gave the attendees a special viewing of its rare French Law Collection and hosted a closing dinner on January 12. For more information, see http://www.asil.org/aboutasil/asilesil.html .

4. Joint membership of national societies - pilot project
ESIL has recently introduced a pilot project that would eventually enable members of national societies in Europe to become members of ESIL for a reduced annual fee. Acknowledging the financial burdens involved in simultaneous membership of several professional associations, ESIL decided to embark on this new initiative in order to facilitate multiple membership. ESIL launched a pilot phase in 2008 in cooperation with the Société Française de Droit International and the Hellenic Society of International Law and International Relations to assess the feasibility of such a programme; the ESIL Board will evaluate the project in September 2008.

5. Institutional membership
ESIL now welcomes membership from Institutional and Corporate Members. Such Membership involves a number of privileges, such as promotion of the organisation at ESIL events (including exhibition tables, distribution of promotional materials , etc. ), ESIL membership for two individuals affiliated with the organisation, an annual subscription to the European Journal of International Law, and more. For further information, see http://www.esil-sedi.eu/english/institutional_member.html.

6. ESIL book Prize
The first ‘ESIL Prize’ will be awarded on the occasion of the 2008 Biennial Conference in Heidelberg. The Prize, to be presented at each Biennial Conference of the Society, will be awarded to a book in the field of international law published during the two calendar years prior to the conference. A wide range of academic publishers was selected to nominate one book each for the prize and the deadline for nominations for the 2008 Prize was 31 December 2007. The ESIL Board has appointed a committee of reviewers to select the award-winning book in line with the goals of the Society, aiming particularly to encourage high-level scholarship and analysis and to promote a greater awareness and understanding of international law.