Last week, the VU Law Fcaulty invited to four events, where various topics were discussed: the achievements of Professor Stasys Vėlyvis, the institute of citizenship, Soviet and Russian crimes in Ukraine, and artificial intelligence assistants.
The conference “Professor (HP) Stasys Vėlyvis (1938-2023) and Civil Procedure – Teacher and Disciples” was held at the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences on March 13th. The event focused on topical issues of law and judicial work.
On the same day, a conference to commemorate the Day of Restoration of Independence of Lithuania – “11th of March, 1990 and the Institute of Citizenship” was held at the VU SCIC Library. The event featured three presentations and a discussion. Dr. Vaidotas Vaičaitis, Associate Professor at the Law Faculty, presented the Institute of Citizenship before the restoration of Lithuanian Independence. Dr. Toma Birmontienė, professor at Mykolas Romeris University, explaining the constitutional concept of the citizenship institute, said that dual citizenship remains a complex issue in the constitution. According to her, the years of occupation froze our inter-war concept of citizenship, when there was a belief that only one citizenship was possible. She concluded by expressing her concern that the loss of citizenship is now a matter for politicians. In her view, it should be decided by the courts. The last presentation was given by Dalia Asanavičiūtė, Member of the Seimas. She explained the significance of the upcoming referendum on dual citizenship for the Lithuanian state and outlined how the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania would change if the citizens agreed to the proposed changes.
The last week, the Law Faculty was visited by Dr. Tomasz Lachowski, Research Fellow at the Department of International Law and International Relations in the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Lodz. On 14 March, he gave a lecture to students of the Faculty, during which he presented a comparison of Soviet and Russian crimes in Ukraine and scenarios for a model of justice after the war in Ukraine. T. Lachowski recalled the crimes committed by the Soviets, discussed the characteristics and functioning of a totalitarian-imperialist state, and presented the concept of genocide as developed by Raphael Limkin, including its comparison with the definition in the Genocide Convention. Researcher‘s visit was organised by the Center of Ukrainian Law at VU Law Faculty.
The last event was held on March 15th, it was the conference “Living with Personal AI Agents: Risks, Challengers, Opportunities”, which was held at Aula Parva at the Vilnius University. The event focused on issues related to artificial intelligence: AI assistants and their practical relevance; what legal reglamentation is needed to ensure the smooth integration of AI into everyday activities; what is not being said about AI assistants. The event was organized by VU Law Faculty researchers dr. Paulius Jurčys and PhD candidate Goda Strikaitė-Latušinskaja, together with partners from Japan’s Gakushuin University. The conference record is here.
