Author: Ted Folkman

  • Thoughts after the Murder of Hersh Goldbeg-Polin and the Other Hostages

    I am devastated and angered by the news of the murders of Hersh Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages in Rafah. Hersh, an American Israeli, became the face of the hostage crisis in America. In part that was due to Hersh himself. Many young American Jews who visited Israel, including one of my children, got to……

  • The Special Commission on Documentary Evidence under the Evidence Convention

    Today I am highlighting the conclusions and recommendations of the 2024 Special Commission relating to Article 23 of the Evidence Convention. Article 23 provides that states may, if they wish, declare that they will “not execute Letters of Request issued for the purpose of obtaining pre-trial discovery of documents as known in Common Law countries.”……

  • The Dover Amendment and the FSIA

    The First Church in Somerville, Massachusetts, has a plan to renovate part of the church building and rent it out to the Somerville Homeless Coalition, a secular group that aids the homeless, according to a report in the Boston Globe. Under the plan, the Coalition will house the homeless in the new space (the Coalition……

  • Functus Officio at the Olympics? The Case of Jordan Chiles

    US gymnast Jordan Chiles was great at the Olympics. She was part of the team that won the gold medal. In the floor exercises, she initially came in fifth place, but after an inquiry by her coach, who thought that Chiles hadn’t “received credit for her tour jeté with a full turn, a leaping element……

  • A Step Forward On Judgment Recognition

    Friend of Letters Blogatory John Coyle has an important post up about efforts to get the United States to ratify the Convention on Choice of Court Agreements and the Judgments Convention. The United States was a prime mover in the negotiations that led to these two conventions and has signed both, but for years, US……