Loyola University New Orleans College of Law’s emphasis on comparative and international law has generated curricular innovation and numerous programs offering students and faculty opportunities to study and develop expertise in this growing field. In addition to its many summer legal studies programs, the College of Law now annually sponsors:
Loyola’s summer legal studies programs are an important component of Loyola College of Law’s international focus. Loyola currently sponsors programs in six foreign countries: Austria (in cooperation with the University of Vienna Law School); Hungary (in cooperation with the Eötvös Loránd University College of Law in Budapest); Mexico (a three-week program in Cuernavaca); Brazil (in conjunction with the State University of Rio de Janeiro Faculty of Law); Costa Rica (in conjunction with the University of Costa Rica Law School); and Russia (in conjunction with Moscow State University). These sessions offer a broad selection of comparative and international law courses, with particular emphasis on those relevant to the host countries’ legal systems and cultures. In summer 2011, more than 200 students throughout the United States and abroad participated in these programs. Loyola’s summer legal studies programs are open to students in good standing from any accredited law school.
The University of Vienna Law School is the site of Loyola’s largest foreign summer program. Seven one-credit-hour seminars and one three-credit-hour comparative law course are taught by University of Vienna and Loyola College of Law faculty. Side trips to Salzburg, Prague, and Venice enhance the weekends during the program. In 2010, 100 students studied at Loyola’s Vienna program. For more information on the Vienna program, please visit our website: www.loyno.edu/ip/vienna-austria.
Loyola College of Law, in cooperation with Moscow State University, sponsors a three-week summer program in Moscow, Russia. The program affords students the opportunity to study law in a historic country whose legal, economic, social, and cultural institutions are undergoing a dramatic transition. Witnessing the evolution of the new Russian legal system and economy provides firsthand experience in comparative law. Courses, supplemental lectures, and tours allow students not only to study substantive legal issues, but also to compare the emerging Russian legal system with options from the United States and other common law and civil law jurisdictions. For more information on the Russia program, please visit our website: www.loyno.edu/ip/russia.
In conjunction with the Eötvös Loránd University College of Law, the Budapest Summer Legal Studies Program presents a two-week, two-course comparative law offering for those interested in the evolving political and legal landscape of central Europe. Participants have the opportunity to witness firsthand the dramatic evolution of this dynamic Central European country. The comparative law curriculum is complemented by visits to key legal institutions in Budapest, including the Supreme Court, the Parliament, and an international law firm. Classes are conducted at the distinguished Eötvös Loránd University law facility, conveniently located in the downtown area of the city, and students reside nearby in the university neighborhood. For more information on the Budapest program, please visit our website: www.loyno.edu/ip/budapest-hungary.
Loyola College of Law and Louisiana's sister Spanish colony have historically had close legal ties with Latin America. The Civil Code of Louisiana is similar to the Civil Codes of the respective Latin American countries, and in fact, was used as a source in the drafting of many of them. Because of this, Loyola has a greater number of Summer Programs in Latin America than any other American law school, and our programs are the longest running programs in each of the countries where they are offered.
Loyola offers a three-week summer session in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Famous for its year-round agreeable climate, Cuernavaca is smaller and more manageable than Mexico City, yet is less than an hour away from the capital’s attractions via modern buses. All courses include comparative instruction regarding Mexico’s legal system and are taught by faculty from Loyola and other foreign law schools. The Summer Program in Mexico offers interaction with the Mexican legal community, including tours of judicial, legal, and government offices and a conference with the Justices of the Supreme Court of the State of Morelos. In addition, the program offers one of the only credit internships in a foreign court, where students fluent in Spanish work in the trial courts of the State of Morelos, under the supervision of the Supreme Court of the State Supreme Court. For more information on the Mexico program, please visit our website: http://loyno.edu/ip/mexico.
Loyola's program in Brazil, offered in cooperation with the State University of Rio Faculty of Law, features two two-credit-hour courses and two one-credit-hour courses. Classroom instruction is enhanced by visits to one of Brazil's leading law firms, the State University of Rio de Janeiro College of Law (where select classes are held) and various courts in the Brazilian judicial system. These visits allow opportunities for interaction with Brazilian attorneys, law students and judges, and give an overview of the entire Latin American legal system. Side trips to Sugar Loaf Island and Petropolis further enhance the program. For more information on the Brazil program, please visit our website: http://loyno.edu/ip/brazil.
Loyola's program in Costa Rica, offered in cooperation with the University of Costa Rica Law School, also offers two two-credit-hour courses and two one-credit-hour courses. Classroom instruction is enhanced by visits to one of Costa Rica’s leading law firms, the University of Costa Rica Law School (where select classes are held) and various courts in the Costa Rican judicial system. The program also features an optional weekend excursion to Arenal Volcano and rainforest or one of Costa Rica’s most beautiful beach resorts. For more information on the Costa Rica program, please visit our website: www.loyno.edu/ip/costa-rica.
Each December since 1998, Loyola has offered a tour of the principal institutions of the European Union (EU) for students studying this developing area of transnational law. Arriving in Brussels, the group participates in lectures and tours at the Council of the European Union and the European Commission, as well as an evening reception hosted by an American law firm. The group then travels by rail to Luxembourg to witness an oral argument at the European Court of Justice (with a preliminary case briefing and instruction in the court’s procedures). The tour then travels to Strasbourg, France, featuring tours and instruction at the European Parliament and the Council of Europe’s Court of Human Rights. The group then travels to Paris for a final weekend and return flights home. For more information on the EU Seminar/Tour, please visit our website: www.loyno.edu/ip/eu-seminar-tour.
Each May since 2004, Loyola has offered an eight-day Seminar/Tour of Istanbul which explores the roots of Civil Law. The group travels to Istanbul, the former “Constantinople,” which was the capital of the Roman/ Byzantine Empire from 330 AD to 1453 AD. There are guided walking tours of the magnificent church of Hagia Sophia, (built by the Emperor Justinian, whose massive compilation of Roman law, the Corpus Iuris Civilis, has inspired codification efforts up to the present era), the Blue Mosque, the Hippodrome and the Basilica cistern. The Seminar/Tour continues with presentations on the contemporary legal system and legal education in Turkey and a leisurely cruise up the enchanting Bosphorus, the boundary between Europe and Asia Minor. The group then travels to the costal city of Kusadasi and visits the famous archaeological site of Ephesus. The Seminar/Tour concludes with a ferry trip to the Greek island of Samos, birthplace of Pythagoras and home to the tunnel Eupalinos. For more information on the Istanbul Seminar/Tour, please visit our website: www.loyno.edu/ip/istanbul-seminar/tour.
Since 1995, Loyola’s Commercial Law Arbitration students have been invited to compete in the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot Court Competition at the University of Vienna School of Law in Austria. The invitational competition features teams from five continents and 28 countries, and more than 500 students. This Moot Court competition brings together 200 lawyers, jurists, and professors from around the world.
As described further in this bulletin, Loyola law students may also pursue special certification in the area of international law.
Loyola College of Law has enabled our students to benefit from having visiting professors from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Italy, Russia, Serbia, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. Additional faculty exchanges have placed Loyola faculty around the world in places including Australia, Canada, China, Finland, France, Greece, South Korea, Lithuania, Brazil, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Speakers from Egypt, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Lebanon, Mongolia, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Costa Rica and South Africa have also graced the portals of the law school. In addition, Loyola faculty members have published books, articles, and papers with presses and learned journals in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Italy, and Malaysia.
A special advisory board of foreign law scholars and practitioners has for several years offered guidance to Loyola students and faculty in pursuing studies and research in international and comparative law. For more information about the Advisory Board, please visit our website: http://loyno.edu/ip/advisory-board.
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