Abstract: Ms. Laina Lopez, Berliner Corcoran & Rowe LLP, is one of the attorneys representing Iran in a fascinating lawsuit captioned Rubin v. Iran. Ms. Lopez will explain the history and impact of this lawsuit, which involves ancient artifact collections housed at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, the Field Museum in Chicago, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and Harvard University. Ms. Lopez will explore the allegations of the plaintiffs, a group of persons who were injured in a terrorist bombing in Israel, as well as the defenses of the museums and Iran. She also will discuss the concerns of the museum community vis a vis this important piece of litigation.

Speaker Bio: Ms. Lopez is an attorney with Berliner, Corcoran & Rowe, LLP, a law firm in Washington, D.C. Ms. Lopez represents a variety of international and domestic clients in federal and state courts at both the trial and appellate levels. She focuses on complex civil and criminal litigation involving the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, the Alien Tort Statute, and other federal statutes. She has guest lectured on foreign sovereign immunity and in particular on the case of Rubin v. Iran at Columbia University and Tulsa University, and has served as a speaker on several panels addressing international law and cultural heritage issues. She is also a Co-Vice Chair for the American Bar Association’s Art and Cultural Heritage Law Committee.

For more information, email Sasha Renninger <sashafr@sas.upenn.edu>.