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Bem vindo! Welcome!
The summer legal and policy study program offers a maximum degree of flexibility for students who wish to earn either three (3) or six (6) credits in the study of comparative and international law. The month-long program permits students to take one or two modules. Each two-week module is worth three (3) credit hours. Traditional lecture and class discussions will be supplemented by in-class exercises and on-site demonstrations from local researchers and practitioners. All lectures will be in English or accompanied by English translation.
The program offers a broad selection of courses with a strong social and economic justice focus, including courses in comparative and international environmental law; international trade law and comparative corporate law; human rights law courses examining race, ethnicity, gender and indigenous rights; and courses in comparative criminal and family law.
Each of the courses is designed to maximize opportunities for students to learn about Brazil and Rio de Janeiro from those who know it best – its citizens. To that end, each course features field trips and Brazilian speakers drawn from law, government and civil society. Courses are taught in collaboration with faculty drawn from Rio’s top universities.
In short, the program has been designed to offer students the widest possible exposure to Brazil and above all, to the richness of its most famous city, Rio de Janeiro. The program is demanding intellectually and professionally. Students will also have time to enjoy themselves apart from their studies and return home invigorated by their time in “a cidade maravilhosa” – “the marvelous city.”
The Summer Legal and Policy Study Program in Rio is a project of the Center for the Comparative Study of Metropolitan Growth at the Georgia State University College of Law, Seattle University School of Law and the University of Tennessee College of Law.
The program is fully accredited by the American Bar Association.
(Arrive by May 17)
Students can choose from among a wide range of offerings in areas that are substantively distinct but complementary. Each course is co-taught by a U.S. faculty member in conjunction with one or more Brazilian faculty affiliates. Students may choose one three-credit course during each module as follows:
Comparative Concepts of Criminal Justice
This course will examine how Brazil and the United States conceive of criminal
justice. The course will explore questions like: What does it mean to have equal
rights under the law? What is justice? Does the law protect some and favor prosecution
of others? What do fair criminal justice systems look like? The course will
also ask students to consider, on a comparative basis, how crime can be reduced
, whether, for example, the solution is tougher policing or sentencing measures
or increased educational or other social and economic opportunities. Throughout
the course, students will consider how the answers to all of the above questions
change depending on whether one looks at it from the perspective of Brazil or
the United States. This course will be taught by Professor James Forman, Jr.
Comparative Approaches to Race, Ethnicity and the Law Seminar
The seminar will focus on the comparative value of importing the U.S. affirmative-active
framework to Brazil, which, like the U.S., boasts a distinct – although
different – history of race and color based economic, social and political
subordination. It will examine the extent to which the applicability of legislative
and jurisprudential responses to historical and continuing racial discrimination
in the U.S. is circumscribed by organic and constituted conceptions of race,
color and ethnicity that inform those responses. In particular it will evaluate
the efficacy of the affirmative action project in both countries and will consider
alternative regulatory and jurisprudential frameworks for redressing and mitigating
the effects of historical and continuing racial disparities that are tailored
to the unique experience and relevance of race, color and ethnicity in the U.S.
and Brazilian contexts. This course will be taught by Professor Tanya Washington.
International Environmental Law
This course introduces some of the legal and policy responses to global environmental
degradation. The course begins with an introduction to the international law
framework within which international environmental law has developed and provides
an overview of the major environmental problems confronting the international
community. The course then shifts approach, focusing on the analysis of several
specific environmental problems and the legal regimes that have developed to
address these problems. Some of the problems will be discussed and analyzed
in class. Others will be the subject of in-class role-playing exercises. The
emphasis throughout the course is on the relationship between environmental
protection and economic development and on the conflicting perspectives and
priorities of industrialized countries and developing countries. The course
will highlight international environmental issues of particular relevance to
Brazil, including protection of biodiversity, implementation of the Kyoto Protocol,
and trade and the environment. This course will be taught by Professor Carmen
G. Gonzalez.
International Trade Law
This course examines the legal framework for international regulation of trade.
The course focuses primarily on the international trade regime represented by
the World Trade Organizations (WTO) and the agreements it administers, in particular
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The course also examines
some regional trade agreements such as Mercosur and to some extent, the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). It also covers certain aspects of U.S.
trade law, such as anti-dumping and “escape clause” proceedings.
The course places particular emphasis on the relationship between developing
and developed countries in international trade policy. Brazil’s leadership
among developing countries will be highlighted on questions relating to agriculture,
intellectual property and others. This course will be jointly taught by Professor
Mark Chinen and Professor Florian Hoffmann.
Comparative Corporate Law: Governance, Transactions, and Practice
This course compares and contrasts the systems for regulating internal governance
and corporate finance in various countries, with a primary emphasis on the United
States and Brazil. The course will illustrate relevant theory and themes by
focusing on the law and practice of domestic and cross-border business combinations
– mergers, stock purchases (including tender offers), asset transfers,
and other available transactions. Students will examine corporate governance
and corporate finance laws and regulations, stock exchange rules, decisional
law, and related scholarly works. Emphasis will be placed on underlying theory
and policies and the ramifications of those theories and policies on corporate
constituencies in and outside the core corporate governance structure (i.e.,
“other constituencies” as well as directors, officers, and shareholders).
In this vein, the course will address managerialism and the market for corporate
control, as well as evidence of board primacy or shareholder primacy in merger
and acquisition regulation in various countries, and identify implications of
these themes for corporate governance in particular countries and in the global
marketplace. In addition, the course will involve discussions and analysis of:
common and civil law traditions; the convergence/path dependence debate; overall
social, political, and economic forces that determine acquisition and takeover
regulation; whether law matters; and the differing roles of regulatory organizations.
Whenever possible, the course also will illustrate and allow for the practice
of related legal drafting skills. Recommended course(s) prior to enrollment:
Business Associations or Corporations. This course will be taught by Professor
Joan Heminway.
Family Law Seminar: Comparative Perspectives on Domestic Violence and
the Law
This seminar will compare U.S. and Brazilian legal, cultural, social, economic
and political constructs to explore jurisprudential and theoretical responses
to violence within domestic relationships in both countries. The seminar will
provide students with a comparative overview of the theoretical and jurisprudential
paradigms that examine the definitions and causes of, and the responses to domestic
violence. While the course will emphasize comparative legal analysis, the examination
of domestic violence as crime and social norm will draw from various disciplines
including sociology, women’s studies, psychiatry, psychology, anthropology
and social work. Course work will also consider how culture, gender, race and
socio-economic status inform the efficacy of interventions for domestic violence
victims in the U.S. and Brazil. This course will be taught by Professor Tanya
Washington.
Human Rights Law Seminar
The right to a nationality, as well as the ability to maintain one’s ethnic,
religious, or cultural identity, is recognized as a fundamental human right
in international law. In practice, however, the protection of these rights often
depends upon a state’s domestic laws concerning citizenship and the treatment
of those perceived as internal minorities, based on race, ethnicity, national
origin, religion, or language. Sometimes citizenship is not recognized; in other
cases it is imposed at the expense of peoples’ right to self-determination.
This seminar will compare the legal history and contemporary practices of the
United States and Brazil with respect to how each country has defined citizenship
in the context of selected topics such as the treatment of indigenous peoples,
the role of slavery peonage, racial and ethnic classifications, immigration
policies, voting rights and civil rights. This course will be taught by Professor
Kathleen Cleaver.
Sustainable Development Law
The law of sustainable development, which aims to better integrate international
environmental law and international economic law relating to development, human
rights and labor law, was first enunciated at the highest level in the Rio Declaration,
an official call to action coming from the United Nations Conference on Environment
and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. This course surveys the field
of sustainable development law as it has grown in importance for more than fifteen
years, using materials related to difficulties in conducting good governance
of selected bio-diverse areas as varied as the Atlantic and Amazonian rain forests,
as well as fisheries on the high seas. Reading materials use in the course will
include case law from the International Court of Justice and the Appellate Body
of the World Trade Organizations, as well as policy papers, legislation and
judicial opinions from national governments. The course will aim to use the
location of the course itself to explore its important themes. This course will
be taught by Charles Marvin.
The program welcomes applications from law students who will have completed the first year curriculum by May 2008. Program size is limited, and early application is encouraged.
Students who successfully complete the entire Program will receive six hours of credit; students attending only one module will receive 3 hours of credit.
The three (3) cost components for Summer Legal & Policy Study in Rio de Janeiro for 2008 are as follows:
Both Modules $2,250.00
One Module $1,450.00
| Both modules Single accommodations $1,595.00 Double accommodations $1,250.00 Triple accommodations $ 850.00 |
One module Single accommodations $1,065.00 Double accommodations $ 900.00 Triple accommodations $ 725.00 |
Both modules/six (6) credits $2,112.00
One module/three (3) credits $1,056.00
Airfare must be purchased separately. Cultural visa fee (by mail) $170.00. The Program recommends between $20-$25 per day for living expenses, although people can get by on less and some spend more, plus expenses for books and class materials.
To apply, visit http://law.gsu.edu/rio. Applications are due Friday, February 15, 2008.
Mark A. Chinen
Associate Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law
Kathleen
Neal Cleaver
Senior Lecturer & Research Fellow, Emory University School of Law, and Senior
Lecturer, Department of African-American Studies, Yale University
Colin
Crawford
Program Director, Summer Legal & Policy Study in Rio de Janeiro, and Associate
Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Center for the Comparative Study of
Metropolitan Growth, Georgia State University College of Law
James Forman, Jr.
Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center
Carmen G. Gonzalez
Associate Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law
Joan
MacLeod Heminway
Associate Professor of Law, The University of Tennessee College of Law, and
Research Fellow, The University of Tennessee Corporate Governance Center
Charles
A. Marvin
Professor of Law, Georgia State University College of Law
Tanya
Washington
Associate Professor, Georgia State University College of Law
Ronald
Wheeler
Associate Director and Public Services Librarian, Georgia State University College
of Law Library
Cristine Abdalla has degrees from PUC-Rio and from New York University, where she studied Anthropology. She now works as a medical anthropologist with some of Rio's most underserved communities.
Humberto Dalla is a state prosecutor in Rio de Janeiro who has a doctorate in law from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ). A specialist in constitutional law and civil procedure, Dr. Dalla teaches at several top law schools, including UERJ.
Pedro Ferraz is on the faculty at the State University of Rio de Janeiro.
Florian Fabian Hoffmann teaches human rights law at PUC-Rio.
José Antonio Nascimento is a researcher at the federal Brazilian Institute of Statistics and Geography. He has degrees in environmental engineering and in geography from the Federal university of Rio de Janeiro.
Rodolfo Noronha, Esq., is a staff attorney with the Balcão de Direitos, a project of the non-governmental organization Viva Rio, which works in over of 30 of Rio de Janeiro’s poorest communities to promote community development. Mr. Noronha is a graduate of University Bennett and has a post-graduate qualifiacation in Human Rights Management.
Karin Ozón is a practicing lawyer who received an LL.M. from New York University. She runs the environmental law certificate program in the law program at the Fundação Geútulio Vargas.
Rodolfo Paranhos is a professor of biology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He specializes in water quality issues, especially relating to Rio de Janeiro and the Bay of Guanabara.
Sergio Potsch is a Professor of Biology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro who has been working in the Atlantic Rainforest for over 30 years.
Fernando Cavalcanti Walcacer is a Professor of Law and Director of the Environmental Law Nucleus and Coordinator of the Environmental Law Post-Graduate Program at the Pontifical Catholic University School of Law in Rio de Janeiro.
For more information, visit http://law.gsu.edu/rio/ or contact Junsen Ohno at ohnoj@seattleu.edu.