Ronald A. Brand

Ronald A. Brand was the driving force behind the creation of the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for International Legal Education (CILE) and its Master of Laws Program for Foreign Law Graduates. His reputation as a scholar on international and comparative law has helped the University of Pittsburgh School of Law attract prominent visiting scholars and lecturers from around the world and enhance opportunities for students to study and work abroad.

Professor Brand’s scholarship includes a number of books and many articles in major journals. His books include: International Civil Dispute Resolution (with Charles Baldwin, David Epstein, and Michael Gordon, West Group, 2d edition, 2008); The 2005 Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements: Commentary and Documents (with Paul M. Herrup, Cambridge University Press, 2008); The CISG and the Business Lawyer: The UNCITRAL Digest as a Contract Drafting Tool, (with Mark Walter and Harry Flechtner, Oxford University Press, 2008); Forum Non Conveniens: Past, Present and Future, 3 CILE Studies (with Scott Jablonski, Oxford University Press, 2008); Private Law, Private International Law, and Judicial Cooperation in the EU-US Relationship, (West 2005); and Fundamentals of International Business Transactions (Kluwer Law International, 2000).

Professor Brand has been a Fulbright Scholar at the Universiteit Brussel, a Research Scholar at the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Bologna, and a visiting professor at the University of Augsburg. He has lectured on international trade and business law matters at universities in the U.S. and abroad.

His excellence in the classroom has earned Professor Brand both the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award, a University-wide honor, and the Law School’s Excellence-in-Teaching Award. He has also received the Chancellor’s Distinguished Public Service Award.
Professor Brand represented the United States at Special Commissions and the Diplomatic Conference of the Hague Conference on Private International Law that produced the 2005 Convention on Choice of Court Agreements.

Programs

• Director, Center for International Legal Education
• Director, LL.M. and J.S.D. Programs for Foreign Law Graduates
• Program Director, International and Comparative Law Certificate Program

Currently Teaching

• Introduction to American Law (Fall 08)
• Transnational Litigation [with seminar option] (Fall 08)
• LL.M. Colloquium (Spring 09)
• International Business Transactions (Spring 09)

Courses Previously Taught

• International Trade Law Seminar

Selected Publications

Books:

• Ronald A. Brand & D. Wes Rist, editors, THE EXPORT OF LEGAL EDUCATION: ITS PROMISE AND IMPACT IN TRANSITION COUNTRIES, with Chapter 1, Introduction by Ronald A. Brand, Ashgate, 2009. Available on SSRN.
• International Civil Dispute Resolution (with Charles Baldwin, David Epstein, and Michael Gordon, West Group, 2d edition, forthcoming 2008).
• The 2005 Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements: Commentary and Documents (with Paul M. Herrup, Cambridge University Press, 2008).
• The CISG and the Business Lawyer: The UNCITRAL Digest as a Contract Drafting Tool, (with Mark Walter and Harry Flechtner, Oxford University Press, 2008).
• Forum Non Conveniens: Past, Present and Future (with Scott Jablonski, Oxford University Press, 2008).
• Private Law, Private International Law, and Judicial Cooperation in the EU-US Relationship (West 2005). Abstract available on SSRN.
• The Draft UNCITRAL Digest and Beyond – Cases, Analysis and Unresolved Issues in the U.N. Sales Convention, (with Franco Ferrari and Harry Flechtner, 2005).
• Fundamentals of International Business Transactions (Kluwer Law International, 2000).

Articles and Chapters:

• Balancing Sovereignty and Party Autonomy in Private International Law: Regression at the European Court of Justice, in Universalism, Tradition and the Individual, Liber amicorum dedicated to Professor Petar Šarèiviè 35 (Johan Erauw, Vesna Tomljenovic, and Paul Volken, eds., 2006)
• Federalism and the Allocation of Sovereignty Beyond the State in the European Union, 44 Duquesne Law Review 71-79 (2005)
• CISG Article 31: When Substantive Law Rules Affect Jurisdictional Results, 25 Journal of Law and Commerce 181-202 (2005).
• The European Union’s New Role in International Private Litigation, 2 Loyola University Chicago School of Law International Law Review 277-293 (2005)
• Punitive Damages Revisited: Taking the Rationale for Non-Recognition of Foreign Judgments Too Far, 24 Journal of Law and Commerce 181-196 (2005)
• The 1999 Hague Preliminary Draft Convention Text on Jurisdiction and Judgments: A View From the United States, The Hague Preliminary Draft Convention on Jurisdiction and Judgments 3-40 (Fausto Pocar and Constanza Honorati, editors, 2005)
• ASIL Insight: The New Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements ASIL Insight, July 26, 2005
• Community Competence for Matters of Judicial Cooperation at the Hague Conference on Private International Law: A View from the United States, 21 Journal of Law and Commerce 191-208 (2002)
• Sovereignty: The State, the Individual, and the International Legal System in the Twenty-First Century, 25 Hastings International & Comparative Law Review 279-295 (2002)
• Forum Selection and Forum Rejection in US Courts: One Rationale for a Global Choice of Court Convention, in Reform and Development of Private International Law: Festschrift for Sir Peter North 51-87 (James Fawcett, ed., 2002)
• Comparative Forum Non Conveniens and the Hague Judgments Convention, 37 Texas International Law Journal 467-498 (2002)

Awards and Honors

• 2003 Chancellor’s Distinguished Public Service Award
• 1990 University Center for International Studies Senior Research Fellowship
• 1989 Fulbright Fellowship for Research in Belgium
• 1989 Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award
• 1988 Student Bar Association Excellence in Teaching Award