Wasserman, Allen C.

English

Penn Law: Legal Scholarship Repository

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIAJOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC LAWFOREWORDI am honored to have been asked to write the first introductoryforeword to the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary commemorative editionof the University of Pennsylvania Journal of International EconomicLaw ("Journal"). To be honest, I am also humbled by the challengebecause, regrettably, as I am no longer a practitioner in the field ofinternational economic law, I have no unique insights to offer onits growth, development or the Journal's special contribution to thestudy of that field. I was asked to write this forward because Iserved as Editor-in-Chief on the Journal's first student editorialboard over two decades ago. Having made that painful disclosure,I do believe I may be uniquely qualified to offer a usefulperspective on the Journal; an historical perspective.In 1978, the year the Journal was founded, the world was a verydifferent place. There was still a Soviet Union, a Berlin Wall and aCold War. The internet, e-mail, cell phones and twenty-four hourglobal satellite and cable news either did not exist or were not apart of most people's lexicon. The dynamic geopolitical changesand technological advances that would fuel the rapidinternationalization of economic law were still years away.Although they may not have foreseen these shifts in the globalpolitical landscape or the changes in technology, the Journal'sfounders and first General Editors, Noyes E. Leech, Robert H.Mundheim and Stephen R. Miller, did see with remarkable claritythe accelerating pace of internationalization of the global economy.In the Introduction to the very first issue of the Journal, they wrote:The next decades will see an acceleration of trends towardinternationalization of the securities business and greaterintegration of the capital markets of the world. As stockexchanges move toward linking their marketplaces,financial institutions create world-wide affiliates andinvestors purchase securities issued in foreign nations,there is a growing need to plan intelligently for the legalinstitutions that will facilitate efficient allocation of capitalresources in congenial international contexts. The Editorsare pleased to present this first issue of a new journalPublished by Penn Law: Legal Scholarship Repository, 2014U. Pa. J. Int'l Econ. L.designated to help meet that need.1It was with this clear vision of the future that the Journal was born.The "official" history of the Journal reads that in 1982,publication responsibility for the Journal was transferred to astudent editorial board. That is not entirely true. In actuality,Dean Mundheim and Professor Leech turned over publicationresponsibility to an editorial board consisting of two veryenergetic, but arguably under-qualified, second year law students:Linda A. Wells and myself. As I remember it, we were handed acopy of the Journal (which we had never seen before) and wereescorted to a tiny office in the basement of the Law School, fullyequipped with two typewriters, two desks and one chair. We weretold we had a fast approaching deadline for the next issue and thatit might be a good idea to form a student editorial board. It isprobably fair to say that for that brief moment, the future of theJournal was very much in question. With serious doubts aboutwhether, and how, we would pull it off, but sustained by the faithand trust that Dean Mundheim and Professor Leech had placed inus, we quickly turned to the task of enlisting other students to jointhe Journal's first student editorial board, and set about reviewingand editing articles. We met our deadline and from that issueforward the Journal was a student-run publication.Having lived through those early tenuous and painful days, Ihave a special appreciation for just how far the Journal has come inso short a time. Today, the Journal has moved out of the LawSchool's basement and into a suite of modern offices. Thetypewriters have been replaced with PC's and laptops. Thestudent editorial board has grown from fifteen students selected onan ad hoc basis to well over fifty, selected each year to insure thatthe Journal is staffed by the Law School's best and brightest.That for twenty-five years the Journal has played an importantrole as a forum for the exchange of ideas in the field ofinternational economic law is an accomplishment worthy ofcelebration. I will leave it to other more qualified practitioners tosing the Journal's praises on that note. No less important, however,is the role the Journal has played as a training ground for futurepractitioners in the field of international economic law.1 Robert H. Mundheim, Noyes E. Leech, & Stephen R. Miller, Introduction, 1 J.COMP. L. & SEC. REG. 1 (1978).[Vol. 25:1https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/jil/vol25/iss1/1ForewordThe Journal alums who have, and continue, to leave their markon the field of international economic law are too many to list.However, if any proof is needed as to how fertile a training groundthe Journal has been, we need only look to the Journal's firstExecutive Editor, Linda A. Wells. Linda is currently the ChiefCounsel of the Commercial Law Development Program ("CLDP")of the United States Department of Commerce. The CLDPprovides consultative and training support to developing andtransitional nations that are working to enhance their economicgrowth by improving the legal environment for doing business inother countries. Her work puts Linda in the forefront of the field,helping to shape international economic law in countriesthroughout the world. Hundreds of other Journal alums havefollowed in her footsteps.The Journal, born twenty-five years ago with a clear vision ofthe increasing internationalization of the global economy, hasshown a remarkable ability to grow and adapt to the constant andoften profoundly changing field of international economic law. In1982, with the creation of the first student editorial board, theJournal expanded its scope to include coverage of trade regulation,transnational sales, technology licensing, trade with non-marketeconomies, public and private finance, regional economicorganizations, and other related areas. With its broader scopecame a new name: The Journal of Comparative Business and CapitalMarket Law.In 1986, the Journal again expanded its scope and changed itsname to the Journal of International Business Law. In addition tosubmissions dealing with traditional corporate and financialsubjects, the Journal also welcomed articles on matters such asinternational and comparative tort, regulatory, administrative, andprocedural law issues.In recognition of the important relationship betweengovernmental regulation and private international transactions, inJanuary 1996 the Journal broadened its scope to insure full coverageof the dynamic and multidiscipline field of international economiclaw. Assuming its present name, the University of PennsylvaniaJournal of International Economic Law serves as a forum dedicated tothe discussion of timely issues concerning the relationship of lawto international economic activity, including private internationaltransactions, national governmental regulation, and internationalinter-governmental regulation. Today, the Journal provides aninterdisciplinary and comparative focus through the contributions2004]Published by Penn Law: Legal Scholarship Repository, 2014iv U. Pa. J. Int'l Econ. L. [Vol. 25:1of academics, government officials, and practitioners fromthroughout the world.For twenty-five years, the Journal has not only served as avaluable international forum, it has also provided valuable trainingand experience to hundreds of students who have become the newgeneration of lawyers, government officials, academics andbusinessmen who are charting the future of international economiclaw. That is certainly a contribution worth celebrating.ALLEN C. WASSERMAN, ESQ.(The Journal's First) Editor-in-Chief, 1983Journal of Comparative Business and Capital Market Lawhttps://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/jil/vol25/iss1/1

Editor in Chief, Journal of Comparative Business and Capital Market Law, 1983

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Editor in Chief, Journal of Comparative Business and Capital Market Law, 1983

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