This seminar examines the practicalities of litigating cases with transnational elements in U.S. courts and their implications for fairness, access to justice, and international comity. Litigation involving foreign parties, foreign laws, or a foreign situs has become routine in the federal judiciary. We will explore the dynamic interaction between U.S. courts and foreign sovereigns, the subtle influence of procedural differences across legal systems, and the role of commercial arbitration in resolving cross-border disputes. Students will master fundamental concepts including jurisdiction, forum non convenien, choice of law, discovery across borders, recognition of foreign judgments, and arbitral award enforcement while engaging with the concrete challenges lawyers confront in these cases. Our discussions will move fluidly between theory and practice, with emphasis on real-world application. We will analyze landmark cases like the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal, which illustrates the bidirectional influence between U.S. and foreign litigation--where U.S. class actions and multidistrict litigation prompted regulatory action and legislative reform in Germany. We'll also study cases like In re Zofran, where American plaintiffs leveraged Japanese regulatory documents to defeat summary judgment, demonstrating how litigation can effectively import foreign regulatory standards into U.S. courts. Even more, we'll study how European regulatory actions against tech giants like Google and Meta have triggered parallel securities fraud and antitrust litigation in U.S. courts, as plaintiffs leverage GDPR enforcement penalties and European Commission findings to build claims that companies failed to disclose material risks to investors or engaged in anticompetitive behavior. Elements used in grading: Attendance, class participation, written assignments. Global Quarter (GQ).
2 units · Law Honors/Pass/Restrd Cr/Fail
This seminar examines the practicalities of litigating cases with transnational elements in U.S. courts and their implications for fairness, access to justice, and international comity. Litigation involving foreign parties, foreign laws, or a foreign situs has become routine in the federal judiciary. We will explore the dynamic interaction between U.S. courts and foreign sovereigns, the subtle influence of procedural differences across legal systems, and the role of commercial arbitration in resolving cross-border disputes. Students will master fundamental concepts including jurisdiction, forum non convenien, choice of law, discovery across borders, recognition of foreign judgments, and arbitral award enforcement while engaging with the concrete challenges lawyers confront in these cases. Our discussions will move fluidly between theory and practice, with emphasis on real-world application. We will analyze landmark cases like the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal, which illustrates the bidirectional influence between U.S. and foreign litigation--where U.S. class actions and multidistrict litigation prompted regulatory action and legislative reform in Germany. We'll also study cases like In re Zofran, where American plaintiffs leveraged Japanese regulatory documents to defeat summary judgment, demonstrating how litigation can effectively import foreign regulatory standards into U.S. courts. Even more, we'll study how European regulatory actions against tech giants like Google and Meta have triggered parallel securities fraud and antitrust litigation in U.S. courts, as plaintiffs leverage GDPR enforcement penalties and European Commission findings to build claims that companies failed to disclose material risks to investors or engaged in anticompetitive behavior. Elements used in grading: Attendance, class participation, written assignments. Global Quarter (GQ).
Offered in Winter 2026 at Stanford University.