If authors are willing to submit to our scrutiny, we're not going to question whether their topic is germane to the Colloquium's official agenda-even if their paper never mentions the Constitution. Like some of NYU's other Colloquia, the Constitutional Theory Colloquium is a day-long affair for the speaker and the two conveners. Substantive conversation begins before noon and continues through lunch. The preliminary talks lay the foundation for the three-hour public session, which begins late in the afternoon and runs into the early evening. The private discussions can be even more intense than the formal follow-up.
Speakers typically find the experience both exhausting and rewarding.
More than once, our guests have told us that nobody has ever read their work as carefully as the Colloquium did. As one might expect at the Global Law School, papers presented at the Colloquium frequently have an international flavor. Presentations have included one on the South African constitution by NYU Professor Howard Venable and a comparative analysis of federalism by Professor John Ferejohn. For example, last year Professor Carlos Rosenkrantz, who helped to draft the Argentinean constitution, was a regular participant in Colloquium sessions, and German Constitutional Court Justice Dieter Grimm attended the Colloquium this past spring during his week at the Law School. For Sager and Eisgruber, the Colloquium has become one element in a larger, and very successful, collaboration.