The Brazilian Connection and our first international alumni gathering

Last week, Professors Bo Cole and Mike Floyd and I traveled to Sao Paulo, Brazil. The visit had three purposes. The first was to meet many of the contacts Professor Cole had made over his past 20 years of travel to Brazil. The second was to present academic papers. I presented a paper on the US discovery system to a gathering of Brazilian federal judges and law clerks and Professors Cole and Floyd and I each presented papers at an international conference celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Brazilian constitution. We were joined at that conference by professors from Portugal and Canada. Lastly, we joined the Brazilian Cumberland alumni for the first ever Brazilian Cumberland Club meeting.

The trip was a resounding success. It really is impossible to describe the impact that Professor Cole has had on the Brazilian Judiciary. He is an incredibly revered and well liked figure. His efforts have made Brazil the only civil law country in the world to embrace a modified system of stare decises. Everywhere we went our law school was warmly greeted because of Professor Cole.

While we were there we had the opportunity to meet with law school deans, judges and lawyers. We spent almost two hours with the president of the Sao Paulo State Supreme Court who is the equivalent of our state chief justice. We also spent significant time with the Brazilian equivalent of the Chief Judge of our federal court of appeals. We had wonderful exchanges with these distinguished jurists.

Our hostess for our trip was Desembargadora (Justice) Christina Zucchi who is a graduate of our Masters of Comparative Law Program. She worked around the clock to make sure our visit was a success. We also had tremendous assistance from the staff of the United States Consulate in Sao Paulo.

The highlight of our trip (aside from eating some of the best beef in the world and drinking some of the best coffee) was the first ever meeting of the Cumberland Club of Brazil. The meeting was attended by almost 50 people. The members of our club are all graduates of our Masters of Comparative Law Program which brings lawyers and judges from Brazil to our law school for two summers. It was great getting to meet and know our graduates all of whom are shining stars in the judiciary and practicing bar in Brazil. We are exploring the possibilities of even greater connections with them.

This trip gave me yet another opportunity to reflect on the greatness of our law school. Cumberland, through Professor Cole's efforts, has made an important contribution to the cause of justice in Brazil.

Tommorrow, I head to Jasper, Alabama for lunch with some of our alumni. Last week, Sao Paulo, this week Jasper - all part of the life of the Cumberland dean.