Law Professor and Four Students Acknowledged by United Nations

Four University of Arkansas School of Law students participated in the University IIA Mapping Project, a collaborative initiative between the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and universities worldwide to create a database that will help development policy makers understand trends over time in drafting international investment agreements.

Second-year students Luke Brasuell and Elizabeth Kanopsic, third-year student Liliana Vasquez and LL.M. candidate Saad A. Alotaibi were trained and supervised by Uché Ewelukwa Ofodile, Arkansas Bar Foundation Professor of Law. The U.N. Conference on Trade and Development provided logistical assistance.

International investment agreements, known as IIAs, typically address issues regarding cross-border investments, such as their protection, promotion and liberalization between countries. The U.N. Conference on Trade and Development was created to support developing countries and help them more fairly and effectively access the benefits of a globalized economy. The mapping project is intended to create a comprehensive database of IIAs, which will contribute to the conference's ongoing policy analysis and policy recommendations.

The students participated in the sixth segment of mappings, which took four months to complete (September-December 2016) and included roughly 150 law students from 27 universities based in 20 countries. The students worked in pairs with a student from another country. Together, the group mapped about 900 international investment agreements.

U of A law students received certificates of recognition from the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development and their names are published on the conference's website. Ewelukwa Ofodile also received recognition on the website. She remains involved in the project and will soon begin recruiting students for the next round of mapping.