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Adjunct Professor Alejandro M. Garro promotes Latin American Initiatives at the Law School
Since his arrival at Columbia Law School in 1981, Professor Garro has taught the basic course on "Latin American law" that had been taught by Professor Henry de Vries until that time. During the early 1990's, this course was divided into two different offerings aimed at two different student constituencies: A course on "Latin American Legal Systems" devoted to public law areas such as the role of the courts in governance and the protection of human rights in Latin America, and a seminar on "International Business Transactions" focused on international contracts and dispute resolution (litigation and arbitration). This "IBT" course is offered in the Spanish and in the English language, once every other year. Professor Garro has also taught Comparative Law, on a regular basis, together with Professor George Bermann.
He has been conducting the supervision of all writing projects on areas touching on Latin American legal systems. Prof. Garro's scholarship reflects these teaching interests. These include two books, published by the American Bar Association, on Labor and Commercial Arbitration in Central America (1990), Law and Practice of Arbitration in Latin America, published by Transnational Juris (2002), and Compraventa Internacional de Mercaderias (1990), published by LaRocca in Buenos Aires. More recently, he published in Germany the chapter of the International Encyclopedia of Comparative Law devoted to Recordation of Interests in Land (2004), within the chapter dedicated to Property and Trust. Professor Garro has also published articles on issues related to contracts for the international sale of goods, the UNIDROIT Principles on International Commercial Contracts, secured transactions, and the doctrine of forum non conveniens as it relates to Latin America.
A central focus of Prof. Garro's scholarly and teaching interests concerns the improvement of administration of justice in Latin America as an essential element to consolidate democracy in the region. The formidable task of reforming not only the statutory framework but also changing ways of thinking about the law entails the adoption of alternative methods of dispute resolution and the need to provide efficient and speedy remedies in areas as diverse as the protection of individual rights and the collection of money debts. While all of Prof. Garro's seminar and courses are, of course, intended to be useful to the prospective practitioners (whether intending to engage in private practice or to work in public interest settings), they are also valuable for exploring new perspectives on what how "law" may contribute to the consolidation of democratic institutions and the respect of the ground rules that are essential for a market economy to work for the benefit of consumers and entrepreneurs alike.
Columbia students have abundant opportunities to work directly with Prof. Garro. His international business transactions seminar provides abundant opportunities for interaction and close supervision of student writing. Many of those writings have been subsequently published in the World Arbitration Reporter published by Transnational Juris under the auspices of the Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law. In addition, numerous Columbia students have had an opportunity to work directly with Prof. Garro in connection with the Vienna Moot Court Competition (which he advises, along with Professors Hans Smit and George Bermann), which focuses on international commercial arbitration and the Vienna Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.
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Alejandro Garro, Adjunct Professor of Law; Senior Research Scholar, Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law
