Ronald A. Brand was the driving force behind the creation of the University of Pittsburgh's Center for International Legal Education (CILE) and its Master of Laws Program for Foreign Law Graduates. His reputation as a scholar on international and comparative law has helped the University of Pittsburgh School of Law attract prominent visiting scholars and lecturers from around the world and enhance opportunities for students to study and work abroad.

Professor Brand's scholarship includes a number of books and many articles in major journals. His books include: International Civil Dispute Resolution (with Charles Baldwin, David Epstein, and Michael Gordon, West Group, 2d edition, 2008); The 2005 Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements: Commentary and Documents (with Paul M. Herrup, Cambridge University Press, 2008); The CISG and the Business Lawyer: The UNCITRAL Digest as a Contract Drafting Tool, (with Mark Walter and Harry Flechtner, Oxford University Press, 2008); Forum Non Conveniens: Past, Present and Future, 3 CILE Studies (with Scott Jablonski, Oxford University Press, 2008); Private Law, Private International Law, and Judicial Cooperation in the EU-US Relationship, (West 2005); and Fundamentals of International Business Transactions (Kluwer Law International, 2000).

Professor Brand has been a Fulbright Scholar at the Universiteit Brussel, a Research Scholar at the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Bologna, and a visiting professor at the University of Augsburg. He has lectured on international trade and business law matters at universities in the U.S. and abroad.

His excellence in the classroom has earned Professor Brand both the Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award, a University-wide honor, and the Law School's Excellence-in-Teaching Award. He has also received the Chancellor's Distinguished Public Service Award.
Professor Brand represented the United States at Special Commissions and the Diplomatic Conference of the Hague Conference on Private International Law that produced the 2005 Convention on Choice of Court Agreements.

Education

• International Trade Law Seminar
• Transnational Litigation

Programs

Specialization

• International Business
• International Trade
• Transnational Litigation

Selected Publications

Books:

• Competition In and From the Harmonization of Private International Law, in ECONOMIC LAW AS AN ECONOMIC GOOD: ITS RULE FUNCTION AND ITS TOOL FUNCTION IN THE COMPETITION OF SYSTEMS, Karl M. Meessen, ed., Sellier European Law Publishers, 2009. On SSRN.
• Ronald A. Brand & D. Wes Rist, editors, THE EXPORT OF LEGAL EDUCATION: ITS PROMISE AND IMPACT IN TRANSITION COUNTRIES, with Chapter 1, Introduction by Ronald A. Brand, Ashgate, 2009. Available on SSRN.
• Consent, Validity and Choice of Forum Agreements in International Contracts, in LIBER AMICORUM HUBERT BOCKEN, I. Boone, I. Claeys, L. Lavrysen, eds., Die Keure, 2009. On SSRN.
• International Civil Dispute Resolution (with Charles Baldwin, David Epstein, and Michael Gordon, West Group, 2d edition, forthcoming 2008).
• The 2005 Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements: Commentary and Documents (with Paul M. Herrup, Cambridge University Press, 2008).
• The CISG and the Business Lawyer: The UNCITRAL Digest as a Contract Drafting Tool, (with Mark Walter and Harry Flechtner, Oxford University Press, 2008).
• Forum Non Conveniens: Past, Present and Future (with Scott Jablonski, Oxford University Press, 2008).
• Private Law, Private International Law, and Judicial Cooperation in the EU-US Relationship (West 2005). Abstract available on SSRN.
• The Draft UNCITRAL Digest and Beyond – Cases, Analysis and Unresolved Issues in the U.N. Sales Convention, (with Franco Ferrari and Harry Flechtner, 2005).
• Fundamentals of International Business Transactions (Kluwer Law International, 2000).

Articles and Chapters:

• Recognition Jurisdiction and the Hague Choice of Court Convention, LIBER AMICORUM KRESIMIR SAJKO (Davor Babic, ed., forthcoming 2011) 
• How Far Does Legal Education Go? 32 HARVARD INTERNATIONAL REVIEW (Issue 2, Summer 2010).
• Arbitration or Litigation? Choice of Forum After the 2005 Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements, LVII BELGRADE LAW REVIEW 23-35 (Issue No. 3, 2009), also reprinted at 7 TRANSNATIONAL DISPUTE MANAGEMENT (Issue 1, April 2010).  
• Consent, Validity, and Choice of Forum Agreements in International Contracts, LIBER AMICORUM HUBERT BOCKEN 541-553 (I Boone, I. Claeys, & L. Lavrysen, eds., Die Keure, 2009).
• Treaties and the Separation of Powers in the United States: A Reassessment after Medillín v. Texas, 47 DUQUESNE LAW REVIEW 707-729 (2009). 
•  The European Magnet and the U.S. Centrifuge: Ten Selected Private International Law Developments of 2008, 15 ILSA JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE LAW 367- 393 (2009).
• Competition in and from the Harmonization of Private International Law, ECONOMIC LAW AS AN ECONOMIC GOOD, ITS RULE FUNCTION AND ITS TOOL FUNCTION IN THE COMPETITION OF SYSTEMS 353-368 (Karl M. Meessen, Marc Bungenberg and Adelheid Puttler, eds. Sellier European Law Publishers, Munich, 2009). 
• An American Perspective on the New Japanese Act on General Rules for Application of Laws, JAPANESE YEARBOOK OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 298-313 (2009) (with Tabitha Fish). 
• External Effects of Internal Developments: A US Perspective on Changing Competence for Private International Law in Europe, LIBER FAUSTO POCAR : NEW INSTRUMENTS OF PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW 163-179 (Stefania Bariatti and Gabriella Venturini eds. 2009).
• Forum Non Conveniens, MAX PLANCK ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW (2008).
• The Road to Vindabona: Preparing for the Moot, THE VIS BOOK: A PARTICIPANT’S GUIDE TO THE WILLEM C. VIS INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION MOOT, Chapter 3 (Janet Walker, ed. 2008). 
• Effective Techniques for Teaching About Other Cultures and Legal Systems, International Association of Law Schools Educational Program, Effective Teaching Techniques About Other Cultures and Legal Systems, p. 209, May 30, 2008.
• A New Role for Litigation in CISG Contracts: The 2005 Hague Choice of Court Convention, DRAFTING CONTRACTS UNDER THE CISG, 149-166 (Harry Flechtner, Ronald A. Brand and Mark Walter eds., 2007). 
• Judicial Review and United States Supreme Court Citations to Foreign and International Law, 46 DUQUESNE LAW REVIEW 423-437 (2007).
• Balancing Sovereignty and Party Autonomy in Private International Law: Regression at the European Court of Justice, in Universalism, Tradition and the Individual, Liber amicorum dedicated to Professor Petar Šarèiviè 35 (Johan Erauw, Vesna Tomljenovic, and Paul Volken, eds., 2006)
• Federalism and the Allocation of Sovereignty Beyond the State in the European Union, 44 Duquesne Law Review 71-79 (2005)
• CISG Article 31: When Substantive Law Rules Affect Jurisdictional Results, 25 Journal of Law and Commerce 181-202 (2005).
• The European Union’s New Role in International Private Litigation, 2 Loyola University Chicago School of Law International Law Review 277-293 (2005)
• Punitive Damages Revisited: Taking the Rationale for Non-Recognition of Foreign Judgments Too Far, 24 Journal of Law and Commerce 181-196 (2005)
• The 1999 Hague Preliminary Draft Convention Text on Jurisdiction and Judgments: A View From the United States, The Hague Preliminary Draft Convention on Jurisdiction and Judgments 3-40 (Fausto Pocar and Constanza Honorati, editors, 2005)
• ASIL Insight: The New Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements ASIL Insight, July 26, 2005
• Community Competence for Matters of Judicial Cooperation at the Hague Conference on Private International Law: A View from the United States, 21 Journal of Law and Commerce 191-208 (2002)
• Sovereignty: The State, the Individual, and the International Legal System in the Twenty-First Century, 25 Hastings International & Comparative Law Review 279-295 (2002)
• Forum Selection and Forum Rejection in US Courts: One Rationale for a Global Choice of Court Convention, in Reform and Development of Private International Law: Festschrift for Sir Peter North 51-87 (James Fawcett, ed., 2002)
• Comparative Forum Non Conveniens and the Hague Judgments Convention, 37 Texas International Law Journal 467-498 (2002)

SSRN Author Page

Awards and Honors

• 2003 Chancellor's Distinguished Public Service Award

• 1990 University Center for International Studies Senior Research Fellowship

• 1989 Fulbright Fellowship for Research in Belgium

• 1989 Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award

• 1988 Student Bar Association Excellence in Teaching Award