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A leader in global legal education, Seattle University School of Law understands that lawyers must be conversant in both global and national legal developments. To further this mission, the School of Law is creating new partnerships with outside faculty and institutions, both in the United States and abroad. Among the many compelling programs in this area are:
The School of Law has developed a comprehensive curriculum to provide students the opportunity to achieve expertise in international and comparative matters in both the public and private aspects of international law. Courses include International Environmental Law, International Tax, International Intellectual Property, International Criminal Law, International Human Rights Law, Law and Development, and Comparative Law of the Middle East.
The Center for Global Justice furthers the mission of the law school by combining a justice-based approach to globalization with a commitment to academic excellence. Among the Center’s projects are a speakers series, a student fellows program and internship opportunities. Student fellows work with members of the faculty on a variety of international research and advocacy projects. The center is designed to appeal to and benefit three core constituencies of the law school: students, faculty and the local legal community, including alumni.
In Summer 2007, the School of Law launched Global Justice Advocacy, a four-week study abroad program in Johannesburg, South Africa, co-sponsored by The Mandela Institute of the University of the Witwaterstrand Law School in South Africa. Courses offered include global advocacy, international humanitarian law, international criminal law, and South African constitutional law, and are taught by faculty from Seattle University and the Wits Law School. Equal numbers of US and African students are enrolled, and work together on course projects.
The law school also is a cosponsor of Summer Legal & Policy Study in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, offering courses in international and environmental law. The program is offered through a consortium between Seattle University School of Law, Georgia State University College of Law and the University of Tennessee College of Law.
The law school provides generous funding to students for summer internship placements overseas. Students may secure their own placement or take advantage of dedicated placements the school has established in Cambodia and Nicaragua. The law school also has established externship programs with some of the premier international organizations in Europe in the areas of international criminal law and international environmental law, as well as judicial externships In Uganda. Students who are selected may work for these organizations and earn academic credit toward graduation.
Seattle University School of Law established the first international human rights clinic in the Pacific Northwest, and one of the few such programs on the West Coast. Students work with experienced human rights attorneys to represent individuals and organizations claiming violations of international human rights law. The clinic has worked with some of the premier international human rights agencies in the United States, including the Center for Justice and Accountability in San Francisco and the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, on cases and projects involving human rights violations in South America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
A semester exchange program with Bucerius Law School allows up to two SU law students to spend the fall 3L or 4L semester in Hamburg, Germany, earning up to 12 credits. In exchange, up to two German students may study at Seattle University School of Law.
The Latin America-U.S. Program for Academic and Judicial Exchanges brings academics and judicial officers from Latin America to the United States and sends U.S. academics and judicial officers to Latin America to teach and learn about each other’s legal systems. The program exposes students to some of the most important scholars from Latin America, emphasizing the importance of transnational relationships in legal education and providing essential tools for the solution of multi-national challenges such as immigration, terrorism, environmental protection, and resource conservation.
For more information about these exciting programs, please contact:
Ron Slye
Director of International and Comparative Law Programs
Phone: (206) 398-4045
E-mail: slye@seattleu.edu
Junsen Ohno
International Programs Administrator
Phone: (206) 398-4283
E-mail: ohnoj@seattleu.edu