The National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade is a 501(c)(3) non-profit research and educational institution affiliated with the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. The Center is dedicated to developing the legal infrastructure to build trade capacity and promote economic development in the Americas. The Center was founded in 1992 and has worked closely with the public and private sectors on legal reform and development of best business practices in a number of substantive areas, including (but not limited to) the following: alternative dispute resolution, banking, bankruptcy, business formation and associations, competition law and policy, customs, electronic commerce, environment, family law, intellectual property, investment securities, judicial reform and training, labor, products liability, real estate, securitization, secured transactions and transportation.
Over the past 10 years, the Center has amassed considerable experience in the Western Hemisphere. It has worked on various projects in the NAFTA region, Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Examples of the Center’s recent projects include the following: bank transparency and disclosure laws, standards and practices in Latin America; sovereign debt market development in Latin America; Inter-American rules on electronic documents and signatures; Mexican law on secured transactions; OAS model law on secured transactions; North American standard transportation practices; Inter-American uniform bill of lading; product liability in Latin America; intellectual property protection in the NAFTA region; customs-related business facilitation measures in connection with the FTAA process; competition law and policy in Mexico; alternative dispute resolution in private commercial disputes; establishment and enforcement of child support obligations in the Inter-American context; securitization of real estate assets to increase the availability of real estate financing in the Americas; development of legal framework to support system of dematerialized investment securities for Latin America; and commercial law assessment of the CAFTA countries to build regional trade capacity.
The Center has also developed the InterAmSM Legal Database of laws, regulations and secondary source materials for selected countries in the Americas. This collection, primarily in original language (Spanish or Portuguese) but with some materials translated into English, is arranged in over 20 substantive areas and is accessed primarily by major research universities, international law firm libraries, large multinational corporations and government agencies.
Additionally, the Center co-conducts a Master’s program (LL.M) in International Trade Law at the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona. This program has attracted students worldwide, including (but not limited to) Mexico, Canada, the United States, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Venezuela, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Peru, Australia, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Taiwan, Russia, Cameroon, Israel, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Spain, Finland and Germany.
The Center (also in conjunction with the Master’s program and the law school at the University of Arizona) has been actively engaged in the training of legal scholars and professors from the Americas, Europe and Asia. In addition, the Center has produced curricular materials in the area of commercial and trade law, including a four-volume collection entitled United States Law of Trade and Investment, as well as Making Free Trade Work in the Americas: Toward Seamless Borders.
Finally, in conjunction with the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona, the Center actively participates in the North American Consortium on Legal Education (NACLE).