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05 April 2024 | Story DR NITHA RAMNATH

The Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the Free State, Prof Francis Petersen, has the pleasure of inviting you to a guest lecture presented by H.E. Dr Reuben E Brigety, the United States Ambassador to South Africa.

Date: Tuesday 23 April 2024
Time: 15:00-16:00
Venue: Centenary Complex, Bloemfontein Campus

RSVP here by no later than 19 April 2024.


About the speaker

Reuben E Brigety II was confirmed as the 29th United States Ambassador to the Republic of South Africa on 21 July 2022.

Previously, he served as the 17th Vice-Chancellor of the University of the South and Mayor of Sewanee from June 2020 until December 2021, and as the Dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs of the George Washington University from 2015 to 2020. Ambassador Brigety’s most recent diplomatic assignment was serving as the US Representative to the African Union and US Permanent Representative to the UN Economic Commission for Africa from September 2013 to September 2015. Previously, Ambassador Brigety served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of African Affairs and as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.

A native of Jacksonville, Florida, Ambassador Brigety also held appointments as Assistant Professor of Government and Politics at George Mason University and at the School of International Service at the American University between August 2003 and April 2009. In addition, Ambassador Brigety was a researcher with the Arms Division of Human Rights Watch (HRW) from August 2001 to May 2003, where he conducted research missions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Before joining HRW, Ambassador Brigety was an active-duty US naval officer and held several staff positions in the Pentagon and in fleet support units.

Ambassador Brigety is a 1995 Distinguished Midshipman Graduate of the US Naval Academy, where he earned a BSc in Political Science (with merit), served as the Brigade Commander, and received the Thomas G Pownall Scholarship. He also holds an MPhil and a PhD in International Relations from the University of Cambridge, England, as well as a Doctor of Humane Letters (honoris causa) from Old Dominion University. Ambassador Brigety is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a recipient of the council’s International Affairs Fellowship, and a fellow of the American Academy of Diplomacy.He is married to Dr Leelie Selassie, and together they have two sons.

News Archive

UFS Law students take on the world
2007-03-25

Back, from left: Prof. Elizabeth Snyman-Van Deventer (Associate Professor at the Department of Mercantile Law, UFS), Lucien Companie, Dee Leboela, Sunette Visser and Mr Jaco Deacon (Lecturer at the Department of Mercantile Law, UFS). Front, from left: Mr Van Aswegen (Naudes Attorneys), Prof Rita-Marie Jansen (Associate Professor at the Department of Private Law, UFS), J.C. Smith and Vicky Olivier.

Photo: Stephen Collett

A team of eight students from the Faculty of Law at the University of the Free State (UFS) will compete in an international arbitration competition in Vienna, Austria, from 30 March to 5 April 2007.

The Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot is an annual competition organised by the Institute of International Commercial Law at the Pace University School of Law in New York, USA. The goal of the competition is to foster the study of international commercial law and to train students in methods of alternative dispute resolution.

Students will be judged on two crucial phases: the preparation of memoranda for the claimant and respondent, and the presentation of oral arguments before an arbitral tribunal. “The Moot teaches the basic framework of international arbitration and the application of the uniform sales law to all participating students during the preparation of the memoranda and the oral arguments,” says one of the team members, Dee Leboela, who also took part in last year’s competition.

“This competition definitely prepares students for the legal practice in all facets, whether as advocate, legislator or other areas,” added Deman Smit, one of the team members who also took part last year.

This competition brings together students from a range of legal systems and cultures from all over the world to learn from the process and from each other. “This encourages the development of social competence, and lifelong skills that are needed in our profession, of which social relations play an important role,” says Leboela.

In its maiden participation last year the UFS did not disappoint, with the highest score of 49 out of 50 and the lowest being 38 out of 50. This year the UFS will compete with 178 universities from 51 countries. “With the right strategy, which involves selecting the students on academic merit and excellent advocacy skills, I believe we would make it to the top 32,” says Leboela with confidence.

The UFS team is Leboela, Smit, Lucien Companie, Vicky Olivier, Sunette Visser, Qaqamba Vellem, Hanno Bekker and Lucy Nthotso.
 

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