Michigan State University-DCL College of Law addresses the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement during two-day conference

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Jacqueline Harrington
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For Release September 8, 2003

In cooperation with the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law and Universidad Panamericana School of Law (Guadalajara campus), Michigan State University-DCL College of Law will host a two-day conference in celebration of the ten-year anniversary of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The conference, “The First Decade of NAFTA: The Future of Free Trade in North America” will be held October 16-17 at the Law College Building.

The conference will address the successes and failures of NAFTA during its first decade of operation as well as the future direction of the agreement. Other core issues discussed will be the looming agricultural trade crisis in Mexico as well as Canadian-U.S. agricultural trade frictions.

The conference features keynote speaker, Ambassador Peter Allgeier, deputy U. S. trade representative, and includes panelists from the academic arena, private law practices, business sectors and governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States.

“I’m confident that the speaker’s presentation will make an invaluable contribution to the deeper understanding of both North American and hemispheric economic relations,” said Kevin Kennedy, MSU-DCL professor and NAFTA conference director. “Anyone with an interest in the NAFTA agreement won’t want to miss the conference.”

Members of the general public interested in attending can register online at www.law.msu.edu/nafta before October 9, 2003.

Michigan State University-DCL College of Law, formerly known as Detroit College of Law, was founded in 1891 and was the first law school in Detroit. To extend its commitment to educational excellence, the Detroit College of Law affiliated with Michigan State University in 1995 and moved to MSU’s East Lansing campus in 1997.

The move to MSU enabled the Law College to build a $28 million facility and provide law students the benefits of a Big Ten university while maintaining its private law school status. Today, MSU-DCL remains the nation’s oldest continuously operating independent law school.

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