University to host international legal conference

The University of Queensland has won the right to host the legal equivalent of the Olympics, with potentially lucrative spinoffs for the Australian legal profession and the Queensland tourism industry.

The International Academy of Comparative Law headquartered in Paris, France has announced that its 16th congress in 2002 will be held at the Australian Institute of Foreign and Comparative Law in the University of Queensland's T.C. Beirne School of Law.

The Academy's congresses are significant international events held only every four years and usually attended by more than 1000 legal scholars, academics, legal practitioners and judges from throughout the world. Many delegates will be accompanied by their families, and the Queensland congress may cater for up to 5000 people.

School head Professor Ian Zimmer said the award of the congress to the University was a major achievement which indicated high international regard for the Australian Institute of Foreign and Comparative Law.

'The Institute should be congratulated for securing the right to host this congress, which will substantially enhance the national and international reputation of the T.C. Beirne School of Law,' he said.

Institute director Professor Gabriel Moens, who placed the winning bid, said the last congress was held in 1994 at the University of Athens, Greece. The next would be at the University of Bristol, England in 1998.

'Organising an event of this size usually takes at least four years of intensive effort to achieve the highest international standards,' he said.

Professor Moens said the University would establish a management committtee which would seek sponsorship from legal, business and tourism professional groups.

He said the Australian Institute of Foreign and Comparative Law, in conjunction with Marquette University Law School, Milwaukee, also ran a joint June/July program in law.

The Institute published a professional international law journal, International Trade and Business Law Annual, and organised an annual international trade and business law forum.

For further information about the congress or the Institute, contact Professor Zimmer (telephone 07 3365 1021 or email: i.zimmer@mailbox.uq.edu.au) or Professor Moens (telephone 3365 2220, email, g.moens@mailbox.uq.edu.au).