Oxford:Harvard videoconference on Obligations

On 15 February 2011, the Obligations Discussion Group, which is run under the auspices of the Oxford Law Faculty, held a videoconference with a counterpart group at Harvard Law School. The Obligations Discussion Group, which is concerned with all aspects of private law, is run and attended by academics and postgraduate students at Oxford. The videoconference comprised a dialogue between Professor Andrew Kull, the Reporter of the American Law Institute’s Third Restatement on Unjust Enrichment and Restitution and a Professor at Boston University, and Professor Andrew Burrows of the Oxford Law Faculty. The videoconference, which was the first of its kind at Oxford, discussed the evolution of the Third Restatement, the history of the law of unjust enrichment and tracing into comingled funds. Specific attention was given to the problem of Ponzi schemes and how the law might best protect the rights of victims of such schemes. The videoconference was well attended at both the Oxford  and Harvard ends. Its success ensures that the Obligation Discussion Group, and doubtlessly other discussion groups at Oxford, will run similar links in the future.