As part of their active
commitment to legal scholarship and continuing legal education, Mr.
Howarth and Ms. Smith lecture yearly at Oxford University and Cambridge
University in England, where they are Visiting Fellows of Lady Margaret
Hall and New Hall colleges. Lecture topics cover issues that are
particularly relevant at the time, and which encourage discussion and
debate.
Past lecture topics have included:
Legality of Guantanamo Bay
Detentions
In May, 2007 Don Howarth and Suzelle
Smith lectured along with Dicky Grigg, former President of the
International Academy of Trial Lawyers, on the legality of the
Guantanamo Bay Detentions. The lectures at Oxford and Cambridge
addressed both the detentions and the military tribunals, and examined
the arguments on behalf of the United States government for legitimacy
under international and U.S. law, and the case for violations of these
laws on behalf of the detainees. Mr. Grigg personally has personally
represented detainees and visited Guantanamo. The Cambridge lecture was
video taped by the University and is available for viewing.
Terrorism Litigation
As counsel for the families of the
victims of the September 11, terrorist attacks, Ms. Smith discussed the
legal and political aspects of federal litigation filed in the United
States against the sponsors of international terrorism, including the
goals of such litigation, and the unique challenges it presents.
Class Actions and Mass Disasters
At the invitation of the
Vice-Chancellor, Sir Richard Southwood, Mr. Howarth and Ms. Smith gave
a series of eight lectures during Trinity Term on litigation involving
multiple parties and complex litigation management and techniques,
comparing procedures in Britain and the United States for handling mass
disasters and complex matters.
The Significance of Judges and
Juries to Democracy in America and Great Britain
In conjunction with the Centre for
Socio-Legal Studies at Oxford University, Mr. Howarth and Ms. Smith
conducted a series of lectures and seminars along with their invited
guest speaker, the Honorable Shirley Hufstedler, former Secretary of
Education, and former Judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
These lectures and seminars included:
Development and definition of an ‘independent’
judiciary.
The role of the judiciary in a democratic political
system.
The role and function of the jury in a democracy.
Modern juries, the media, and the future of the
judicial system.
Cameras in the Courtroom
In the wake of several high profile trials, such as the
O.J. Simpson trial, and the Rodney King police officer trial, Mr.
Howarth and Ms. Smith, along with their invited guest speaker, Mr.
Simon Jenkins, former Editor of the The Times, considered the effect of
media coverage on high profile trials, and the interplay between the
courts and the media. Comparing the history and role of media coverage
of legal proceedings in the United States and United Kingdom, the
speakers considered both the shortcomings and importance of the media
in the courtroom.
Medical-Legal Ethics
With rapid developments in science and technology,
creating the power of a "new medicine", Mr. Howarth and Ms. Smith,
along with their invited guest speakers, Sir Richard Doll of Oxford,
Dr. Ruth Deech of Oxford, and Professor A.E. Dick Howard of the
University of Virginia Law School, considered the legal and ethical
issues raised by this new science, focusing on the approach of the
American and British courts to the issue of the right to die and the
right to life.
Law and the Media
Mr. Howarth and Ms. Smith were joined by their invited
guest speakers, Mr. William Vaughn of the law firm O’Melveny &
Myers, and Lord Williams
of Mostyn, former
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Home Office and later Leader of
the House of Lords, to consider the interplay between the law and the
media, with particular emphasis on First Amendment issues and
comparative British practices.
The International Financial Crisis
In a world where economic communities have been drawn
together, through the internet, worldwide markets, and satellite media
broadcasting, economic isolation has been assigned to history. However,
these closer economic ties mean that markets and finances can no longer
be matters of purely local concern. Against this background, Mr.
Howarth and Ms. Smith, along with their invited guest speaker, the
Honorable Amy Bondurant, then U.S. Ambassador to the O.E.C.D.,
addressed the legal and economic aspects of the international financial
situation and world market at the close of the century.
Howarth & Smith expects to continue this tradition
of lecturing at these two English universities, and to encourage
further understanding and cooperation between the legal systems of the
United States, and the United Kingdom.
The contact for matters relating to lectures at Howarth
& Smith is associate attorney, Najeeb
Khoury.
