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Volume 5, F a l l 2000 From the Director t has been a busy and exciting year at “Law at Sea” summer program that will Each year we benefit significantly from the Center for International Legal begin in summer 2001. We are quite ex- the structure and support of the University I Education. The ability of the Univer- cited to be joining the Institute for Center for International Studies, and this sity of Pittsburgh to attract great teachers, Shipboard Education here at the University year is no exception. The Donetsk ex- students, lecturers and scholars, as well as of Pittsburgh to create the very first gradu- change has been the product of to energize students and professors to take ate or professional school program on the collaboration with the Center for Russian their quest for knowledge about the law Summer at Sea voyage. This is a special op- and East European Studies, and the overseas has proved to be substantial. portunity to build on the stimulating presence of Professor Majone has resulted Once again, we provide this programs offered in the past to from cooperation with the European newsletter as a means of undergraduates in the Semes- Union Center and the Center for West 1 cataloguing a small part of ter at Sea program. European Studies. Our work is consis- these activities. We have enjoyed the pres- tently made easier because we are at a One of the most exciting ence of many visitors to the university with a truly global perspective developments of the past Law School this the past year, and the infrastructure to match. year is the creation of our and have benefitted greatly More-and-more of our own faculty are Global Nonprofit Law Pro- from their courses, lectures, taking their expertise abroad. Professors gram, directed by Penina and informal conversations. Pat Chew and Sandra Jordan taught on Kessler Lieber. Professor Many of these visits have built Semester at Sea in the spring voyage. Lieber has accomplished a on established relationships. Professors Douglas Branson and John great deal in getting “GNL” Professors Volker Behr and Burkoff will journey to Ghent this fall, fol- underway and headed for Thomas Möllers from the lowing in the footsteps of Professor Harry great achievements. She Professor Ronald A. Brand University of Augsburg have Flechtner, who was there on our exchange provides a look at some of the challenges added their special touches in the class- last year. Other professors continue their faced in this area in her “Summary with room. The faculty exchange with the involvement in the development of the law Substance.” University of Ghent continues this year, throughout the world. I was able to visit The fall semester has witnessed the with Professor Michel Tison coming in our friends in Donetsk this past summer, beginning of our International and January to teach European Banking and Comparative Law Certificate Program. Capital Markets Law, following the suc- Continued on page 2… This program allows students to concentrate cessful visits last year by his colleagues, their studies and receive acknowledgment of Professors Hubert Bocken and Inge the resulting achievement upon graduation. Govaere. We also have begun a challeng- Inside By formalizing what many students were al- ing and rewarding exchange with Donetsk ready doing, we are able better to coordinate State University, Donetsk, Ukraine, with The Global Nonprofit Law curriculum offerings, placement opportuni- visits here by Dean Vyacheslav D. Volkov Program ...........................................2 ties and extracurricular experiences, and Professor Roman Petrov, and by providing an all-around better program for Tina Krivinogikh, an engaging young International Visitors Enrich certificate students. Over thirty second and instructor from Donetsk. It has been an the School of Law ............................4 third-year students have elected to take part honor once again to have Professor Law at Sea ........................................5 in the certificate program. Giandomenico Majone of the European You will also find inside the announce- University Institute here to teach his Hague Convention Text...................7 ment and itinerary for our new and unique course on the EU, US and the WTO. New Certificate Program .............. 15 along with Adjunct Professor Natalya Sipper, who will be offering our course in A SUMMARY CIS State Law in the coming spring term. In conjunction with the International Law Society, we have arranged for a series of WITH SUBSTANCE faculty presentations sharing expertise and experiences on international and compara- A Legal Agenda for Civil Society- tive law matters. These are open events, and you are welcome to join us at the Law The Global Nonprofit Law Program School for any or all of them. A special part of this newsletter is de- by Penina Kessler Lieber world, nonprofit organiza- Director, Global Nonprofit voted to providing the full text of the tions are now providing Law Program Preliminary Draft Convention on Jurisdic- goods and services which tion and Foreign Judgments in Civil and The Global Nonprofit Law historically were dispensed Commercial Matters of the Hague Confer- Program (“GNL”) established by government. Devolu- ence on Private International Law. As a in January 2000 (and origi- tion, as this shift in social member of the U.S. delegation to the ne- nally called the Program on welfare is called, has placed gotiations over the past six years, I have Law and Global Philan- a heavy burden on these or- enjoyed working with government offi- thropy), studies the laws which ganizations to deliver services and, at the same cials, lawyers and scholars from around the affect nonprofit activity time, be self-sustaining. globe in an effort to achieve a workable throughout the world. As a This is not an easy task. global convention. My hope is that many teaching and research pro- In many countries, the of you will review the draft and provide gram, GNL is committed to building an internationally known educa- nonprofit sector is fragile and lacks the fi- your comments to the U.S. delegation. tional resource and to promoting the nancial resources to support itself. 2 I have enjoyed being a part of the ever- development of a coherent legal frame- Governments in emerging democracies developing global involvement of the work for civil society. In our first year, we and less developed nations still regard their University of Pittsburgh School of Law. I have added a new course at the Law fledgling civil society institutions with sus- hope you will enjoy reading about what we School, written a new curriculum, worked picion, if not open hostility, as potential are doing, and that you will find the oppor- with student research assistants, and challengers to state primacy and control. tunity to join us at some point in the participated in an international tax confer- The nonprofit sector faces internal process. ence. I have explored collaborative challenges as well, stemming from its own relationships with international experts in lack of transparency and its failure to the field and with other University depart- self-regulate. The tax treatment of non- CILENotes 2000 ments. Our first International Round profit organizations presents formidable Table on the Tax Treatment of Nongovern- challenges with the absence of a coherent University of Pittsburgh policy to incentivize charitable giving School of Law mental Organizations will be held on David J. Herring November 6, 2000. We will also prepare a across borders. As a result of these unre- Dean special symposium issue for the University solved concerns, civil society is confronting Ronald A. Brand of Pittsburgh Law Review later this year. a dilemma: how to fulfill its promise as a Director, Center for Through GNL, the Law School has a global force while finding ways to create an International Legal Education unique opportunity to serve the commu- indigenous and sustainable culture of phi- Elizabeth L. Bennellick nity at-large and to use the University’s lanthropy to support its vast network of Program Administrator considerable resources to expand its pres- institutions and initiatives. If the institutions of civil society are to Please direct all correspondence to: ence within academic and philanthropic be equipped with the tools of survival, a Center for International Legal Education circles. School of Law Civil society consists of the voluntary legal infrastructure must be established to University of Pittsburgh organizations that make up the world’s provide a framework of common prin- 318 Law School nonprofit sector. It is recognized as one of ciples and shared standards. Unlike other 3900 Forbes Avenue the three general sources of global power aspects of international law, international Pittsburgh, PA 15260 today, ranking with government and busi- nonprofit law is still in its infancy. Deriv- Phone: 412-648-7023 ness in its capacity to change the world. ing from diverse systems of law, it shares Fax: 412-648-2648 Civil society has grown dramatically in few common characteristics and lacks pre- E-mail: [email protected] numbers and in influence during the past dictability. The area of tax treatment is Webpage: decade. The fall of communism and the particularly confusing, given that it has no http://www.law.pitt.edu/ emergence of global market economies single approach to essential issues of ex- programs/international/index.html have forced its institutions to assume new emption and deductibility. The following roles and responsibilities. Throughout the three questions illustrate existing concerns. 1. What is charitable? Concepts of tainted by actual or potential abuse and donors wishing to engage in international “charitable” remain broadly different from unbridled subjectivity. philanthropy. Ironically, the test continues country to country. Common law coun- 3. What rules apply to cross border philan- to control, in spite of today’s globalization tries base their concepts of charity on case thropy? The greatest problem facing cross and porous borders.