‘07 Grad Serves as Delegate to the U.N. Commission on International Trade Law

Jennifer Mehaffey ‘07 served as a US government delegate to the annual United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) session at the United Nations in New York from June 16 to July 3, 2008.  Mehaffey participated in the portion of the session dedicated to negotiating and approving the draft “Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea.”

The draft Convention will be presented to the General Assembly for conclusion later in 2008. Since 2002, UNCITRAL and its Working Group on Transport Law has been working in close cooperation with interested international, inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations to prepare the new text.  The draft Convention, entitled the “Rotterdam Rules” encompasses the international and intermodal carriage of goods which include an international sea leg and should lead to an overall reduction in transaction costs, increased predictability when problems are encountered, and greater commercial confidence when doing business internationally.

UNCITRAL is the core legal body of the United Nations system in the field of international trade law. Its mandate is to remove legal obstacles to international trade by progressively modernizing and harmonizing trade law.

Mehaffey graduated from the Marine Affairs Joint Degree Program that offers a law degree from Roger Williams University and a master’s in marine affairs from the University of Rhode Island and magna cum laude from Mount Holyoke College. While in law school, she also received the 2006 National Association of Women Judges Award for Access to Justice. Mehaffey was awarded the prestigious Dean John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship through the RI Sea Grant College Program for 2008 and is working as Policy Advisor to the Director of the Committee on Marine Transportation System, a Cabinet-level interagency partnership located within the U.S. Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C.