Justice in Brazil - Conference on Considering the Common Law

Professor Maureen Weston joined with Pepperdine Law alumnus and Texas Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Boyd, former Texas Secretary of State Geoffrey Conner, and former judge and current Director of the Texas Center for the Judiciary, Mark Atkinson in presenting at a Conference on Considering the Common Law in Sao Luis, Brazil, in the northern coastal state of Maranhao. Maranhao Supreme Court Justice Paulo Velten, also Director of the state's judicial-education institution and author of Contratos, invited the US Justice Team to convene with over 100 Brazilian civil law judges to help understand the common law system as a means to strengthen the role of law in a civil law system. Professor Weston presented on The Caselaw Method, Stare Decisis, and Judicial Precedent; and Civil and Common Law in Arbitration: Considering Challenges in the Private Resolution of Disputes Involving Multi-System Parties and Laws.

The team also met with Maranhao Supreme Court Justices and Lieutenant Governor, in addition to a Justice Boyd's keynote address to about 350 judges, legislators, and community leaders on "Pursuing the Rule of Law." The conference was arranged through the efforts of Mark and Melinda Dye and Justin and Jill Hill, missionaries in Sao Luis, with Portugese-English translation by Cea and Isabella Baselar, and support by the Pepperdine Law Sudreau Global Justice Program.