Pace Law School's Visiting Scholar José Alvarez to Engage in Conversation with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice 

WASHINGTON , DC , March 26, 2006 -- On Wednesday, March 29, Pace Law School Visiting Scholar José Alvarez will assume the presidency of the American Society of International Law (ASIL) at its 100th annual meeting at the Fairmont Hotel in Washington , DC .

As president-elect, Alvarez will open the annual meeting at an event titled “A Conversation with Secretary Rice.” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has agreed to answer questions posed by PBS commentator Gwen Ifle, who has moderated presidential debates, before a live audience consisting of ASIL members.

Alvarez, along with retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and President of the International Court of Justice Rosalyn Higgins, will then have an opportunity to respond to the Secretary’s comments and engage her in conversation on the most pressing contemporary issues dealing with international law. Topics will include the Bush Administration’s policy of preemptive force and the civil liberties/human rights issues posed by the on-going war on terrorism.

Alvarez is a Pace Law School visiting scholar for 2005-2006. He is the Hamilton Fish Professor of International Law and Diplomacy at Columbia Law School and the founder and director of Columbia ’s Center on Global Legal Problems. He serves on the Board of Editors for the American Journal of International Law and the Journal of International Criminal Justice and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and Department of State Advisory Committee on International Law.

On April 25, 2006, Alvarez will deliver the Twentieth Blaine Sloan Lecture on International Law at Pace Law School on “The Promise and Perils of International Organizations.”

The event is scheduled to be broadcast live on C-SPAN and will be available as a webcast at www.asil.org

Founded in 1976, Pace University School of Law has nearly 5,000 alumni/ae throughout the country. It offers full- and part-time day and evening JD programs on its White Plains, N.Y., campus. The School also offers the Master of Laws in Environmental Law and in Comparative Legal Studies. The School, which has one of the nation's top-rated environmental law programs, also offers the SJD program in that field. The School of Law is part of a comprehensive, independent and diversified University with campuses in New York City and Westchester County. www.law.pace.edu 

Pace is a comprehensive, independent university with campuses in New York City, Pleasantville and White Plains, NY, and a Hudson Valley Center at Stewart International Airport in New Windsor, NY. More than 14,000 students are enrolled in undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs in the Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, Lubin School of Business, School of Computer Science and Information Systems, School of Education, Lienhard School of Nursing and Pace Law School. www.pace.edu