Last month I completed an “Ulpan,” an intensive Hebrew course.  I am continuing with a Hebrew course this semester.  The more I learn Hebrew the more I realize what a beautiful language it is.

I am really enjoying my classes.  The class sizes are all small allowing for a lot of discussion.  With the diversity of the students, each class is very internationally focused.

I am currently taking Antitrust Law.  The course analyzes antitrust issues using the economic analysis of the interaction among firms. Among other issues, we are covering horizontal restraints (restraints among competitors), practices facilitating cartels, the legal rules applying to restraints of trade, horizontal mergers (mergers among competitors) vertical mergers (mergers between supplier and customer) and vertical restraints (e.g., exclusive dealing, exclusive distribution, exclusive territories, resale price maintenance and most favored consumer clauses); Rules applying to dominant firms, including refusals to deal, pricing practices, loyalty rebates, and tying.

I am also taking “International Humanitarian Law and its Application by the Israeli High Court of Justice.” So far we have discussed the hundreds of petitions from the West Bank the Israeli High Court of Justice has dealt with since 1967 and how the Court has applied international humanitarian law on a regular basis.  We have been studying this jurisprudence through a critical reading of the High Court decisions.  Each class deals with a different case study.  The positions of the Israeli government, the NGOs, the international community and the High Court of Justice have been presented in light of international humanitarian law. In this way we have discussed the rules of  detention and the jurisdiction of the military courts, the legal status of  the settlements, the wall/fence, the applicability of human rights law in the Occupied Territories and its relations with humanitarian law and the legal status of targeted killings. Later this month we will be taking a study tour to the military courts in Ofer military camp, and meeting with a judge and a defense lawyer.

I am also taking International Investment Law. So far we have learned that as foreign direct investment has increased as a function of globalization, so have disputes about investment. We have examined the international law and procedure applied in the third-party resolution of international investment disputes and the critical policy issues that must now be addressed.

I am also taking Empirical Studies of Legal Systems. The course has introduced me to empirical analysis of legal issues.  We have been using a statistics software package called Stata.  We have been studying empirical studies, statistics, and Stata.

I am also taking International Trusts Law.  We have been looking at the modern law of trusts, particularly the international competition in creative estate planning structures. We have been studying the way that the trust can be used to manage wealth. More specifically we have been studying the express trust, a structure under which a trustee manages wealth for the benefit of beneficiaries. We have also been exploring the evolution of this device from its medieval origins to the modern ‘’off-shore trust”. We have examined in particular the way in which the trust can be used to protect assets and allow the devotion of funds to private purposes.