Bargaining Practices: Negotiating the Kampala Compromise for the International Criminal Court

At the International Criminal Court\u27s (ICC) Review Conference in 2010, the ICC\u27s Assembly of States Parties (ASP) agreed upon a definition of the crime of aggression, jurisdictional conditions, and a mechanism for its entry into force (the Kampala Compromise ). These amendments give the ICC jurisdiction to prosecute political and military leaders of states for planning, preparing, initiating, or executing illegal wars, beginning as early as January 2017. This article explains the bargaining practices of the diplomats that gave rise to this historic development in international law. This article argues that the international-practices framework, as currently conceived, does not adequately capture the role sincerity played in the negotiations. Sincerity was an international practice, but not a performance. It follows that the international practices framework should be adjusted to accommodate the decisive role of sincerity, a special nonperformative international practice, in the face-to-face interactions of international politics and diplomacy. The remainder of the article lays out the international-practices framework and explains the place of performances within it. The article then introduces the concept of sincerity as a social practice. The second half of the article discusses some ways that sincerity played a role in the negotiations. The article concludes that sincerity is a special kind of international practice: It cannot be a performance, but it can be an international practice, and an effective one at that

Prosecuting Aggression

The Assembly of States Parties to the International Criminal Court will soon have its first opportunity to revise the Rome Statute and activate the latent crime of aggression, which awaits a definition of its elements and conditions for the exercise of jurisdiction. The working group charged with drafting a provision is scheduled to complete its task by 2008 or 2009, one year before the International Criminal Court’s first review conference. Beginning with a history of the crime meant to put the current negotiations in the context of past initiatives, this article sets out the status of the negotiations and begins to forecast prosecutorial challenges created by alternative formulations. It concludes by identifying the main prosecutorial challenges common to all formulations to see how a case against a political or military leader for the crime of aggression will look

Contact Info for Local Professionalism Committees is Now Available

Some are posting info on local circuit court websites, some are listing information in local bar association newsletters, one issued a public press release, and others are providing information as part of CLE courses. Whatever the method, word is getting out that local professionalism panels, part of the statewide program to promote professionalism among Bar members, are up and running and that there are lawyers who belong to the local panels who are ready to field complaints and inquiries. The Supreme Court last year, acting on the recommendation of its Commission on Professionalism, ordered each circuit to set up a panel under an administrative order from the local chief judge, and to set up procedures to handle professionalism complaints from judges, other lawyers, and the public about lawyer conduct

Weed and Water Law: Regulating Legal Marijuana

Marijuana is nearing the end of its prohibition in the United States. Arguably the country’s largest cash crop, marijuana is already legal for recreational use in Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Washington DC. Between now and election day 2016, an additional 14 states may place marijuana legalization initiatives on their ballots. In addition, 23 states and Washington DC have legalized medical marijuana, with up to seven states pending legislation. The era of marijuana prohibition is rapidly coming to a close. At the same time, traditional doctrines of water law are struggling to cope with the modern realities of water scarcity. Administrative agencies lack capacities to monitor and enforce water rights in real-time amid rapidly changing conditions. As marijuana cultivation leaves the black market and enters state regulatory frameworks, legal doctrines and administrative agencies will need to adapt in order to balance existing water rights with the demands of marijuana production. Failure to do so will encourage producers to remain clandestine while perpetuating existing conflicts between legal and illegal water users. At present there is a gap in understanding the relationship between water rights and marijuana legalization, despite their rapid convergence. This Article is the first to systematically address that gap. The study begins by describing status quomarijuana production taking place outside the context of state water law doctrines, and the unsustainable conditions that often result. Sections III and IV envision a legal marijuana market governed by the predominant doctrines of US water law: prior appropriation and riparianism. In Section V the theoretical becomes reality, as California’s complex water laws are put to the test by the largest marijuana cultivation community in the United States. Section VI concludes with recommendations for states in the process of legalization. Broadly speaking, this Article finds that both common law and regulatory approaches to water allocation are capable of accommodating legal marijuana cultivation, but to minimize disruptions to existing water rights and the marijuana industry, state agencies will need to proactively adapt to the new realities of the legal marijuana economy

Water Governance in Haiti: An Assessment of Laws and Institutional Capacities

The Republic of Haiti struggles to sustainably manage its water resources. Public health is compromised by low levels of water supply, sanitation, and hygiene, and water resources are often contaminated and unsustainably allocated. While poor governance is often blamed for these shortcomings, the laws and institutions regulating water resources in Haiti are poorly understood, especially by the international community. This study brings together and analyzes Haitian water laws, assesses institutional capacities, and provides a case study of water management in northern Haiti in order to provide a more complete picture of the sector. Funded by the Inter-American Development Bank as part of the Water Availability, Quality and Integrated Water Resources Management in Northern Haiti (HA-T1179) Project, this study took place from January-July 2015, with the help of local experts and participating stakeholders. The results indicate that Haiti’s water law framework is highly fragmented, with overlapping mandates and little coordination between ministries at the national level, and ambiguous but unrealistic roles for subnational governments. A capacity assessment of institutions in northern Haiti illustrates that while local stakeholders are engaged, human and financial resources are insufficient to carry out statutory responsibilities. The findings suggest that water resources management planning should engage local governments and community fixtures while supplementing capacities with national or international support

Professionalism Panels are Active, But Use is Still Sparse

Most circuits around Florida have set up local professionalism committees to review complaints against lawyers, but only a few have actually received any complaints, according to reports filed with the Supreme Court’s Commission on Professionalism. The Bar’s Attorney Consumer Assistance Program (ACAP), though, has around 250 complaints pending about unprofessional actions by lawyers, and has fielded more than 1,600 inquiries about lawyer conduct that may include professionalism issues

How are Local Professionalism Panels Working?

“It works because we care, and we let them know we care.” West Palm Beach attorney David Prather identified that as the key to the 15th Circuit’s Local Professionalism Panel, set up under the Supreme Court’s Commission on Professionalism’s plan to have a local means of addressing lawyers’ professional conduct. The 15th Circuit has heard more cases than any other LPP around the state, a statistic that Amy Borman, who co-chairs the Palm Beach County Bar Association’s Professionalism Commission and who serves on the 15th Circuit LPP, attributes to its taking over for an existing Palm Beach County Bar professionalism effort. Other circuits have just created or are setting up their own LPPs. In compliance with last year’s order from the Supreme Court to establish the panels, circuits are tailoring their professional programs to meet local needs. However three programs contacted by the News — in the 15th, Second, and Fift

Professionalism Expectations for the Electronic Age

Giving in to the urge to respond instantly and in-kind to a nasty text or email from an opposing attorney could give you some digital baggage you’ll be lugging around for the rest of your career. In recognition of that — and other stresses and strains of practicing law in a high-tech and instantcommunications world — the Bar’s Ideals and Goals of Professionalism have undergone a review and redrafting, emerging as a new document called Professionalism Expectations. The Board of Governors approved the new document at its January meeting. Professionalism Expectations has been sent to the conferences for circuit and county court judges, Bar President Greg Coleman said, and after that he expects to seek the blessing of the Florida Supreme Court and then disseminate the documents to Bar sections and local bars statewide. The original Ideals and Goals of Professionalism were adopted 24 years ago and have not been changed since