Professor, Faculty of Law,
University of British Columbia
Biography: Robert Paterson is a professor of law at the University of British Columbia. A member of the bars of British Columbia and New Zealand he has developed a specialization in cultural heritage and art law over the past 15 years. During that time he has been a visiting professor in the subject at the University of Fribourg, the University of San Diego, Oxford University and Southwestern Law School. In 1994 he organized a UNESCO-sponsored conference at his university entitled "Material Culture in Flux; Repatriation of Cultural Property". The conference papers were published as a 1995 Special Issue of the University of BC Law Review. Paterson is an editor of the International Journal of Cultural Property and the Rapporteur of the Cultural Heritage Law Committee of the International Law Association. In 2007 he was appointed to the Advisory Board of the UBC Museum of Anthropology. His recent publications include; "The Caring and Sharing Alternative: Recent Progress in the International Law Association to Develop Draft Cultural Material Principles", (2005)12 Int. J. of Cul. Prop. 62, "Totems and Teapots: The Royal British Columbia Museum Corporation", (2007)40 U.B.C. Law Rev. 421, and "Resolving Material Cultural Disputes: Human Rights, Property Rights and Crimes Against Humanity", (2008)14 Willamette J. of Int. Law and Dispute Resolution, 155.
