Professor Hubert Isak of Karl-Franzens University in Graz, Austria, will visit with faculty and students at the UALR Bowen School of Law Sept. 9-12 as an extension of the UALR exchange program with the European university.

Isak is a member of the Advisory Committee in European Affairs to the European Union’s (EU) Ministry for Foreign Affairs and standing expert on PHARE-Programme for Slovenia and was a member of the Austrian Delegation to the United Nations Conference on the Law of Treaties between States and International Organizations or between International Organizations. He is an author of numerous publications and a dedicated teacher.

Professor Sarah Howard Jenkins-Hobbs met Isak when she visited Graz in 2006 as a part of the UALR faculty-staff exchange program. The two law professors discussed the differences between constitutional processes in the United States and in the European Union and determined that both their research and teaching would benefit from further interaction.

“The dominance and expansion of the European Union, including its proliferation of treaties and directives, is a matter of concern for all lawyers,” Jenkins-Hobbs said.

“It is our hope that Bowen law students would glean from the various presentations the differences between the United States and EU unions on key issues such as constitutional processes; the relative sovereignty of EU member states versus that of our federal-state union; the relative primacy in each system of individual state law vis-a-vis union law; the system of EU judicial review; and the primacy, coordination, and preemption of Austrian and EU laws.”

Isak’s scheduled presentations and speeches during the visit will address salient EU constitutional law issues:

• Panel presentation – 11 a.m. Sept. 9 – Isak and Dean John DiPippa will engage in a comparative assessment of European Union-United States law and processes.

• Political science lecture – 2 p.m. Sept. 9 – Department of Political Science, UALR main campus – Isak will lecture on how Lisbon has altered the legal (or foreign relations) landscape of the EU and judicial review in the European Union, unique system in the international context.

• Constitutional law class – 5:30 p.m. Sept. 9 – Isak will lecture on the constitutional issues of European integration.

• Elementary German class – 8 a.m. Sept. 10 – Department of Second Language Studies, UALR main campus – Isak will discuss university education and the law of the EU.

• German club lunch – noon Sept. 10 – Stabler Hall, UALR main campus

• Conflict of laws class – 5:30 p.m. Sept. 10 – Isak will discuss the primacy, coordination, and preemption of Austrian law-EU law.

For more information on any of these events, contact the Bowen School of Law at 501-324-9896.