Can conflicts between U.S. and European laws on personal privacy be resolved? These conflicts, which are burdening international transactions and cross-border litigation, were recently debated at a Distinguished Lawyers’ Conference at Duke Law School on November 29 and 30, 2012. The conference was called to air, in an academic setting, different approaches given to the use of confidential data in litigation in the United States, compared to the treatment given to privacy data in E.U. countries and across the world. All speakers noted a great deal of confusion and inconsistency among courts considering this issue, but developed a consensus on what steps needed to be taken to add clarity and improve the situation.
The panelists at the conference, recognized experts in the field, included prominent professors, practitioners and judges. Federal judges Anthony Scirica (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit), Michael Moore (S.D. Fla.), Michael Baylson (E.D. Pa.), magistrate judges Frank Maas (S.D.N.Y.) and Viktor Pohorelsky (E.D.N.Y.) engaged in frank discussions with experienced practitioners, including, among others, David Bernick, David Ichel, Peter Kahn, Christopher Wolf, Christina Peters, Mary Ellen Callahan, Amor Esteban, David Hoffman, and noted law professors Stephen Burbank, Rick Marcus and Ralf Michaels.
