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THE LATEST NEWS FROM THE LAWYERS' COMMITTEE
Happy New Year!
2011 was a busy year for the Lawyers’ Committee. Issues relating to and disputes involving cultural heritage abounded. And new challenges — such as the looting of archaeological sites, libraries, and museums in the wake of the Arab Spring — called out for action by those of us in the field.
 On another note, 2011 was also a year of greater cooperation between the Lawyers' Committee and our partners. In January, we launched an appeal drawing attention to the emergency in Egypt, which was joined by 19 other institutions. In July, following a surge in museum heists targeting rhinoceros horn, we also teamed with conservation organizations in warning that the illegal trafficking of art and wildlife is a threat to the public and the world's natural and cultural heritage.
This increased cooperation was highlighted by the outstanding conference, Keeping the Lid on Davy Jones' Locker: The Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage from Titanic to Today, held on November 3 at the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington, DC.  Speakers from all over the world, as well as attendees involved with all aspects of cultural heritage preservation from the private and public sectors, participated in the November conference. The conference marked the upcoming 100th anniversary of the sinking of Titanic, an event significant in and of itself for historical purposes, and one that also left the world with many questions regarding underwater cultural heritage. In the words of one participant, the conference “catapulted” the Lawyers’ Committee to a new level of significance. In addition to this superb conference,
which will soon be posted on www.culturalheritagelaw.org, we conducted a workshop on the development of customary
international law in the area of underwater cultural heritage. It is our hope that the workshop
participants’ contributions will aid the Lawyers’ Committee in advancing
customary international law in this field.
 2012 also holds in store our Third Annual National Cultural
Heritage Moot Court Competition, as well as our Student Writing
Competition. Keep your eyes peeled
as well for our 2012 Annual Conference, to be announced soon.
As we leave 2011
behind, we can be sure that 2012 will be filled with challenges to cultural
heritage both domestically and abroad, and therefore challenges to those of us
who seek to preserve and protect these invaluable parts of our past. We urge you to get involved — or,
if you are involved already, to increase your efforts — in the Lawyers’ Committee’s
advocacy and educational activities.
Best wishes for the new year,
Diane Penneys Edelman
President, Lawyers’ Committee on Cultural Heritage Preservation
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