Comments on: Should Students Study International Law?

By: sharon akachi

sharon akachi — Thu, 03 May 2012 21:09:48 +0000

are you saying law is similar to international law?…which must be studied first…..

By: Staatsrecht

Staatsrecht — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 09:47:43 +0000

Thanks for this information please keep up this creative writing.

By: Abby

Abby — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 16:10:45 +0000

As a UK based lawyer, I think that there is some value to studying international law at degree level, as it gives you an appreciation of the wider, global problems that we’re facing and it makes you a better citizen.

However, it’s not necessarily going to be any help in practice, when you’re faced with a client that wants to sell their company, divorce their husband, or sue their employer…

By: bikey

bikey — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 09:05:19 +0000

As the US moves away from post-WWII international legal standards, it becomes increasingly important for anyone who considers himself/herself to be educated in the law to have some knowledge of what international law teaches, especially considering how little attention US undergrads pay to the study of history. Torture and war crimes would have little resonance in US law were it not for international law. Modifying these statutes is not like changing traffic regulations.
They are there to keep/make us civilized, something lawyers should keep in mind, arguably above all else. Everyone should study international law, even undergrads!

By: Bart Smit Duijzentkunst

Bart Smit Duijzentkunst — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 17:33:51 +0000

Some thoughts from a European law student enrolled in a US LL.M program:

When comparing the US vs. European law school curriculum, it is important to keep in mind the different structure of legal education on both continents. Whereas in Europe law is primarily taught as an undergraduate degree, US law schools are exclusively graduate institutions. Without elaborating on the (dis)advantages of a graduate law school (note that Melbourne law school is switching to the latter, as Kevin Heller blogged over at Opinio Juris), this significantly affects the role the respective law schools play in a student’s academic development. When a student is first confronted with academic education in law school, as is the case in much of Europe, it is the task of the law school not just to train the student vocationally, but also to introduce him or her to academic thought and curiosity and to provide a broad overview of “what is out there”. Confronting students with international law, something outside their home jurisdiction, might help to develop this academic foundation.

On the other hand, US law students will have often studied some politics, comparative government or international affairs in their undergraduate years, and are coming to law school to prepare for the legal job market. Their level of experience and academic training will often be completely different, as is their expectation what the law school will bring them (a well paid job in the legal sector). Consequently, they might be a little pickier when it comes to course offerings and select the courses that matter most to employers.

Another interesting difference is the cost of legal education in both systems. Tuition fees in Europe tend to be fairly low, especially when compared to the enormous amounts that US law schools charge (see the comments on Michael Scharf’s blog at Volokh). When you’re paying thousands of borrowed dollars for any given course, you’d better be sure that it pays out (not the strongest point of international law).