Indiana Law Review


Indiana Lai^ Revieiiv
Volume 18 1985 Number 1

Indiana and the World: International Business Law
Foreword

Lee H. Hamilton*

With this issue, the Indiana Law Review sets its sights on a goal
important to Hoosier farmers, laborers, business people, lawyers, and

citizens at large: bringing International Business Law to the forefront
of Indiana law. The Indiana University School of Law at Indianapolis
has expanded its international law program exponentially in recent years.

Today, law students may receive extensive training in international law,
while veteran attorneys may refresh their knowledge or delve into in-
ternational law for the first time.

While it is no doubt important for lawyers themselves to become

experts in international law, the ability to make practical use of such
expertise is the most important goal of all. The international marketplace

is crucial to the Indiana economy. And thus, all Hoosiers will benefit
as our state takes an aggressive presence in the international marketplace.

This is not, however, only a vision for the future.

Even now the economy of Indiana is internationalized. More than
90,000 Indiana manufacturing jobs depend upon exports.^ Among the
fifty states, Indiana manufactures over $9 billion worth of export-related

shipments annually, making it the ninth largest exporter of manufactured

products. 2 In addition, Indiana ranks eighth among the states in the
export of agricultural products,^ producing more than $1.7 billion in
agricultural exports.

Indiana must not, however, rest on these laurels. As the international
marketplace becomes more important, Indiana attorneys must, corre-

Member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Indiana's
ninth district; Chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on IntelUgence; Member of
the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Member of the Joint Economic Committee. B.A.
DePauw University, 1952; J.D., Indiana University School of Law—Bloomington 1956.

'Indiana Department of Commerce, A World of Profit What Exports Mean to
Indiana and Your City (1983) (available from the Indiana Department of Commerce,
Indianapolis, Indiana).

'Id.



2 INDIANA LA W REVIEW [Vol .18:1

spondingly, become more adept in international transactions. Sound legal

knowledge will serve to spark further growth of Indiana interests in the

international marketplace. Strenuous efforts are already underway to

encourage more small and intermediate Indiana companies to export.

By the United States Department of Commerce's estimates, more than

two thousand Indiana companies could profitably export.'^ Such potential

should not be neglected.

This Survey of International Business Law will be an important
feature of the Indiana Law Review's Survey of Recent Developments
in Indiana Law. This Article covers many aspects of international business
and offers an easy introduction to the field. The Article demonstrates

that international business law is varied, complex, interesting, and po-

tentially vital to the Indiana practitioner. And as the practitioner's
expertise increases, so will Indiana's economic position in the nation

and the world increase.

"•Interview with Phillip Grebe, Director of the International Trade Division, Indiana

Department of Commerce, in Indianapolis (Jan. 26, 1984).