International law CLE to be webcast

A free CLE program featuring discussion about the international prosecution of war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity will take place in the Indiana Supreme Court’s Courtroom from 3 to 4:30 p.m. May 7. Event organizers have received enough RSVPs to fill the room, but stand-by reservations are still being accepted as of today for what planners say is a short waiting list so far.

This program has been approved for 1.5 CLE credit hours. For those unable to make it, there will also be a webcast, which will be live and archived for viewing after the event. Those that view the webcast but are not in the courtroom are not eligible for CLE credit.

Indiana Court of Appeals Judge Nancy Vaidik will be one of the speakers. She recently returned from teaching a seven-day seminar in Arusha, Tanzania, to attorneys who are prosecuting genocide and crimes against humanity that occurred in Congo, Sudan, Rwanda, and the former Yugoslavia in the United Nations’ International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and the International Criminal Court. A story about her work was published in the Feb. 20 – March 4, 2008, edition of Indiana Lawyer.

The other speaker is the director of the Indiana University School of Law – Indianapolis’ Program in International Human Rights Law professor George Edwards. He has worked on a variety of international cases including for the defense side of Slobodan Milosevic, the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, and Omar Khadr. A group of his students recently presented reports to U.N. human rights experts as reported in the April 30 – May 13, 2008, edition of Indiana Lawyer.

Judge Vaidik and Edwards will address the differences between and among war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity; what bodies of international and domestic law apply during civil war, international armed conflict, and/or peacetime; what are the trial and appellate procedures in international criminal tribunals; and who chooses and trains those tribunals’ prosecutors, defense counsel, and judges.

For more information or to add your name to the waiting list, contact Sarah Hachey at (317) 232-2550 or e-mail, at [email protected], or go to the event’s Web site.