PROFESSOR EMERITA LAUREL TERRY PARTICIPATES IN IBA RETREAT
June 2022 — Professor Emerita Laurel S. Terry recently participated in the annual retreat of the International Bar Association’s BIC International Trade in Legal Services Committee. The IBA BIC ITILS retreat was held in person in Geneva, Switzerland on June 16, 2022 and by Zoom. The Retreat took place during the World Trade Organization’s 12th Ministerial Meeting.
Professor Terry, who attended via Zoom, joined Committee members from Australia, Belgium, China, Germany, Japan, Nigeria, Poland, Rwanda, Spain, and the United Kingdom and representatives from the European Lawyers Foundation and the IBA. The Retreat topics included developments at the ongoing WTO Ministerial Meeting and proposed revisions to the IBA GATS Handbook, which Professor Terry previously wrote for the IBA. After the Retreat concluded, the WTO issued its Work Programme on Electronic Commerce, WT/MIN(22)/W/23, in which WTO Member States agreed to extend, for a period of time, the moratorium on e-commerce custom duties. This is a significant development because, without this moratorium, WTO countries could impose significant tariffs (i.e., taxes) on services that are delivered electronically across borders, including legal services.
Professor Emerita Laurel S. Terry, who held the inaugural H. Laddie Montague, Jr. Chair in Law and was Dickinson Law’s inaugural Associate Dean for Research and New Faculty Development, is a three-time Fulbright recipient who writes and speaks about the impact of globalization on the legal profession, especially with respect to regulatory issues. Her scholarship has identified emerging issues for the legal profession and urged stakeholder engagement, new initiatives, and regulatory reform. In addition to speaking at academic and professional conferences, she has been invited to speak about her scholarship to organizations that include the Conference of Chief Justices, the National Conference of Bar Examiners, the National Organization of Bar Counsel, the National Conference of Bar Presidents, the CCBE, which represents EU’s legal profession and legal regulators, the Federation of Law Societies of Canada, the International Institute of Law Association Chief Executives, the International Bar Association, and the International Conference of Legal Regulators.