DATE: September 2, 2005                 CONTACT: Laura Kiernan
                                                                                               Judicial Branch
                                                                                               Communications Office                                                                                                 271-2646 ext 359

Justice Nadeau to Attend International Law Seminar at The Hague   

           CONCORD--New Hampshire Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Joseph P. Nadeau has been selected by the International Judicial Academy to attend an education program on international law and international courts in the Netherlands this month.

The International Judicial Academy is an organization whose purpose is to promote the rule of law around the world through quality education, planning and research. Nadeau will attend a one-week seminar at The Hague, site of the International Court of Justice which is the principal judicial body of the United Nations. 

          The program will consist of lectures and presentations by distinguished international jurists and judges, including prominent members of the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, and the International Court Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

“I am honored and pleased to be part of this exciting program. Now, more than ever, international events and the success of the rule of law have great impact for all of us,” Justice Nadeau said. 

            During his long career as a jurist, including eight years as Chief Judge of the state trial court, Nadeau has been active as a volunteer for the American Bar Association’s Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative (CEELI) and has participated as a faculty member in programs throughout the region with judges of countries of the former Soviet Republic, Europe and Asia, from Algeria to Kazakhstan.  He traveled to Tokyo in 2003 to meet with lawyers involved in justice system reform in Japan.

Recently, Justice Nadeau, under the auspices of ABA/CEELI, participated in a program in Bratislava, Slovakia, working with the Chief Justice of the Iraqi Supreme Court and other Iraqi Supreme Court and senior Iraqi judges to draft proposals for sections of Iraq's new constitution relating to the judiciary. The group also reviewed such matters as educating judges, writing a judicial code of ethics, and evaluating judges and lawyers.

           Justice Nadeau is one of 20 United States trial and appellate judges selected by the Judicial Academy to receive a scholarship to attend the program at The Hague. The participants were selected based upon their interest in international matters, past international activities, their judicial backgrounds and their accomplishments.

          Subjects of the seminar will include history and development of international law and courts, international human rights law and structure, procedures and jurisprudence of the International Court of Justice, and arbitration and alternative means of resolving international public and private disputes. The participants will also visit some of the international courts and dispute resolution tribunals located at The Hague.

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