Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia School of Law will celebrate the 38th birthday of its Dean Rusk International Law Center by rededicating the Louis B. Sohn Library on International Relations in its new home in the center’s newly renovated unit.
Festivities on Oct. 26 will begin at 4 p.m. in the Larry Walker Room of Dean Rusk Hall, with a keynote speech by a Georgia Law alumnus who has devoted his career to working for the United Nations in conflict zones, as well as remarks by others on key figures in Georgia Law’s long tradition of excellence in international, comparative, transnational and foreign affairs law and policy. The event is free and open to the public.
Kannan Rajarathinam, now serving as head of office for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, will discuss “The United Nations at 70: Pursuing Peace in the 21st Century.”
He earned his Master of Laws, or LL.M., degree in 1988, and also holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Madras and a doctoral degree from Tufts University.
Other members of the Georgia Law community slated to speak are Dean Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge, Associate Dean Diane Marie Amann, associate professor Harlan G. Cohen, 1984 alumna Dorinda G. Dallmeyer, who directs the UGA Environmental Ethics Certificate Program and formerly served as associate director at the center, and 1973 alumnus Kenneth I. Dious, name partner at the law firm of Dious & Associates.
Among the Georgia Law professors to be recognized in remarks are Sohn, a drafter of the Charter of the United Nations and the inaugural holder of the Emily and Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law; the center’s namesake, Dean Rusk, the former U.S. secretary of state who was a member of the faculty for more than a decade and, among many other things, served as an adviser to African-American law students; Sigmund Cohn, a German-Jewish judge who fled Nazism during World War II and became the law school’s first teacher of international and comparative law; and Gabriel Wilner, a dispute settlement expert who mentored decades of LL.M. students.
“This event also celebrates United Nations Day-this year, the 70th anniversary of the entry into force of the U.N. Charter,” said Amann, the current holder of the Emily and Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law. “We are very pleased that the United Nations has designated this a UN70 event.”
The rededication will mark the move of the Louis B. Sohn Library on International Relations into the center. The library comprises 5,000 volumes donated from the personal collection of Sohn. One of the 20th century’s most eminent international lawyers, Sohn took part in U.N. activities throughout his career, and also was a president of the American Society of International Law, vice president of the American Branch of the International Law Association and chair of the American Bar Association Section of International Law.
“The move of the Sohn Library and renovation of the Dean Rusk International Law Center underscore that international law constitutes a center of excellence at Georgia Law,” said Rutledge. “We are honored to build upon the foundation established by luminaries like professors Rusk and Sohn. Our faculty continue to serve in institutions like the International Criminal Court and on publications like the online site of the American Journal of International Law-even as they prepare our students to serve and practice law in today’s increasingly globalized world.”
The celebration will conclude with a reception and tours of the center, on the main floor of Dean Rusk Hall.
Co-sponsors for the event include the organizations in which Sohn and other Georgia Law professors have been leaders: the American Bar Association Section of International Law, the American Branch of the International Law Association, and the American Society of International Law and the Alexander Campbell King Law Library. Also co-sponsoring are numerous student organizations: the Asian Law Students Association, the Davenport-Benham Chapter of the Black Law Students Association, the Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law, which will publish the event proceedings, the Georgia Society for International & Comparative Law, the Hispanic Law Students Association, the Jewish Law Students Association, the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition team and the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot team.
UGA School of Law
Consistently regarded as one of the nation’s top public law schools, Georgia Law was established in 1859. Its accomplished faculty includes authors of some of the country’s leading legal scholarship. The school offers three degrees-the Juris Doctor, the Master of Laws and the Master in the Study of Law-and is home to the Dean Rusk International Law Center. Georgia Law is proud of its long tradition of providing first-rate legal training for future leaders who will serve in both the public and private sectors. For more information, see www.law.uga.edu.
