Legacies Continued

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Jul 05, 2016
by Louise Hallman
Legacies Continued

Salzburg Global Seminar honors two of its longest-serving Board Members  

Cutler Law Fellows gather for the traditional group photo at the United States Institute of Peace.

Sir Michael Palliser 

When long-time Fellow and Vice Chair of the Board Sir Michael Palliser passed away in 2012, staff and Board Members of Salzburg Global Seminar were determined to preserve his memory and legacy.  

A long-serving diplomat and a great believer in European unity, Sir Michael’s memory is now honored through an annual lecture series held in London, UK, examining the future of the continent. 

Opening the series in January 2014, Salzburg Global Seminar Senior Program Advisor and former director of communications to the Secretary General of the United Nations, Edward Mortimer, delivered the inaugural lecture at the UK’s House of Lords, addressing: Europe’s Future: 1814, 1914 – Or Something Completely Different? 

Mortimer, who previously also served as senior vice president and chief program officer at Salzburg Global Seminar, called Sir Michael “a truly generous spirit, a man of sound judgment as well as high principle, and an infallibly loyal friend.” 

In March 2015, British Member of Parliament and former UK Attorney General Dominic Grieve delivered the second lecture, asking: Britain’s International Obligations – Fetters or Keys? 

Held at the headquarters of HSCB (Sir Michael had served on the board of one the bank’s subsidiaries), the event saw Grieve speak in strong support of the UK’s involvement in the European Union and European Court of Human Rights. His message was apt for the occasion, as Sir Michael Palliser was also a staunch supporter of European unity, having formed part of the team that negotiated Britain’s membership of what was to later become the European Union. 

“British foreign policy, even during the height of Empire, was driven by a desire to engage internationally, both to secure peace and ensure national prosperity,” Grieve said. “We should build on what is on offer and not hanker after some simpler world that does not and has never existed.” 

The third lecture will be especially timely; former UK Prime Minister John Major will deliver a lecture on the theme The EU: In or Out? in June 2016, a week before the UK heads to the polls in its “Brexit” referendum.

Lloyd N. Cutler

Since 2012, Salzburg Global Seminar has held an annual program in Washington, DC for future international lawyers and legal experts in honor of long-serving Salzburg Global Chair of the Board and Washington “super lawyer” Lloyd N. Cutler. The 2015 Salzburg Cutler Law Fellows Program brought together 43 graduate law students from ten of the leading law schools in the US to explore cutting-edge issues in international law, international human rights, and humanitarian law to trade law.  

The year’s program also had an additional focus on careers in public service, with speakers including Justice Richard Goldstone (former Salzburg Global board member, former Chief Prosecutor of the UN International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and member of the Constitutional Court of South Africa) offering insights into their own career paths.  

Closing the two-day session, Salzburg Global President Stephen L. Salyer told the Fellows: “You have an extraordinary opportunity to shape the future of international law and institutions. Seize it.” 


FIND OUT MORE

Copies of the transcripts of the Palliser lectures are available. PLEASE CONTACT: press@salzburgglobal.org to receive a copy.