I want to thank those who responded to my question on choice of law
provisions in your state.  For your convenience, I have copied my question
to the listserve below:

 There is a Louisiana statute which prohibits state agencies from
 agreeing to any provision in a contract which requires interpretation of
 the agreement according to the laws of another jurisdiction.  I am aware
 of other states which have similar laws, and we are usually able to
 resolve this issue when negotiating subawards with other public
 universities by agreeing to be silent on the choice of law.

 However, sponsors (usually commercial) will occasionally argue that
 universities in states other than Louisiana readily agree to be bound by
 the laws of another jurisdiction and consequently we are unreasonable in
 our position.  I would like to conduct a survey on the choice of law
 provisions in other states.  If you will share the information with me,
 I will compile a list of states which have a statutory choice of law
 requirement and post it to RESADM-L at a later date.  A list of states
 which have choice of law provisions would prove useful when this issue
 arises during contract negotiations.

Unfortunately, I did not ask the question as clearly as I should have.
Please take a moment to fill in the blanks below and respond directly to
me.  I will compile a list of responses and post it to the RESADM-L.

1.  Your state:  _______________________

2.  Is your institution:  ___ public   ___ private

3.  Will your institution agree to a contract provision which requires
interpretation of the agreement according to the laws of another
state/country:  ___ yes  ___ no

4.  If the answer is no to question 2, is your refusal based on:  ___
institutional policy  ___ state law

Jim
________________________________________
James L. Bates
Director, Office of Sponsored Programs
330 Thomas Boyd Hall
Louisiana State University and A&M College
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803
Phone: (225)578-3386
Fax: (225)578-5403
e-mail: xxxxxx@lsu.edu

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