International and Comparative Law
Program of Study Faculty Leaders:
William Alford
Gerald Neuman
I. Introduction and Overview
Reflecting the increased importance of a basic understanding of international and comparative law principles to legal education and practice, every first year J.D. student at HLS is required to take a course in international legal studies. The benefits of such courses are most obvious for students intending to specialize in the international arena, but even individuals who anticipate a career anchored principally in their own nation’s legal system have much to gain from such offerings. The flow of goods, technology, ideas, capital, and people across borders means that the work of lawyers, whether in private practice or public service, increasingly involves matters in which knowledge of legal systems beyond one’s own can prove important. Moreover, exposure to the ways in which others think about law has the potential to enrich how each of us understands what may (or may not) be universal in our own legal system and in the relationship between law and society in general. For instance, many students report that international and comparative courses open up ideas about alternative norms, rules strategies, and institutions that help them better see and understand choices made within the United States.
International legal studies at Harvard are, in many respects, a microcosm of the broader law school curriculum. Taken as a whole, they encompass familiar legal disciplines such as finance and family law, legal history and anti-trust, among many others, even as they accentuate questions regarding both relations across national boundaries between states, entities and citizens and the transnational transmission of ideas about law. As with the curriculum in general, courses at Harvard in international legal studies embody a spectrum of methodologies, ranging from, but not limited to, empirical legal studies to critical legal theory to socio-legal studies. And, again paralleling the curriculum more generally, international and comparative classes include opportunities for students to learn in a variety of ways the skills and professional responsibilities of persons working in the law.
This guide—including the hypothetical courses of study that follow—focuses chiefly on curricular offerings in international legal studies, but students should realize that there are many other avenues through which they may learn about international, comparative and foreign law. A number of general courses (i.e., courses not predominantly focused on international and comparative law) in fact devote significant attention to questions of international, comparative and foreign law—reflecting the growing importance to lawyers and legal thinkers of developments beyond their home jurisdictions.
In addition, beyond the HLS classroom as such, there are multiple opportunities to cultivate expertise regarding international, comparative and foreign law. These opportunities, described in more detail below, include independent study with a faculty member; joint degree programs; the semester abroad program; opportunities for internationally oriented research and internships; moot courts; membership in the Harvard International Law Journal, the Human Rights Journal and other pertinent student organizations; participation in the array of workshops offered by the Law School’s doctoral students or other engagement with the students that HLS draws worldwide from more than 70 different jurisdictions; and work as teaching assistants in international studies offerings at Harvard and other area universities.
II. Academics
A. Courses
Harvard offers three types of classes in international legal studies: foundational courses, advanced courses and seminars, and “capstone” seminars. Although we do not rigidly classify courses and there is no uniform format for any class, the foundational international legal studies classes offered to 1Ls, and in some cases, to LL.M.s, generally are intended to introduce students to
(a) the history, internal rationale, basic institutions, and processes of norm creation and of norm interpretation of a legal system (national or international) other than that of the United States, and
(b) the movement of ideas about law across national borders, be it by the actions of a court, the work of officials, businesspersons and non-governmental actors or the writings of scholars, and through this, how assumptions about law, the state, regulation, the individual and the interplay of modes of social control may (or may not) vary across time and place.
For 2008-09, foundational courses available to 2Ls, 3Ls and LL.M.s that complement the 1L required courses in the field include Public International Law (Visiting Professor Philip Alston, Fall and Visiting Professor Lori Damrosch, Spring); International Trade (Visiting Professor Jeffrey Dunoff, Fall); International Human Rights (Professor Ryan Goodman, Spring); European Union Law (Visiting Professor Grainne de Burca, Fall); and International Finance (Professor Hal Scott, Spring). The choice among them is likely to be less important, especially for the non-specialist, than the decision to take something in this area.
For students interested in academia, the International Law Workshop provides the opportunity to undertake rigorous analysis of international legal scholarship.
Even for students wishing to specialize in international legal studies, there is no single prescribed path, given the richness of our curriculum and the enormous diversity of student interests. Indeed, we would counsel students to think “outside the box” in putting together their curricular choices. Hence, the following are meant simply to be illustrative of the range of possibilities.
Student A hopes to work in international trade. Beyond the Law School’s offerings in trade, she might, inter alia, consider selecting from among classes on public international law, international finance, international intellectual property, law and development, globalization, administrative law (considering the importance of ad law to the securing of trade remedies in the US), the European Union (both because of its prominence in the WTO and for the example it provides of a cross border economic entity), Chinese law, Japanese law, and the internationally focused legal research class. Student A may also want to consider courses offered at the KSG, HBS, and Fletcher, the semester abroad program in Geneva, a summer or winter term placement with a pertinent international organization, governmental agency or NGO.
Student B intends to work in human rights. In addition to specialized courses in human rights (including our rich array of clinical offerings), one could imagine such a student selecting from a broad range of other courses, depending upon his/her specific interests. At the Law School, these might include public international law (to understand the background within which international human rights agreements are situated), trade (given proposals that trade sanctions be used to promote greater compliance with international human rights), the law of foreign relations, immigration law, multi-culturalism, comparative constitutional law, or international criminal justice, not for profit organizations, an area specific course, such as Chinese, European or Islamic law (to understand how rights are viewed and enforced in different national settings) and the internationally focused legal research class. He might also consider taking a course at the Kennedy School, Department of Government or the Fletcher School. Student B might also want to involve himself with the Law School’s active Human Rights Program, spend a summer with a fellowship (preferably after having done some pertinent coursework) or a semester abroad (studying human rights) and work with a pertinent student organization or journal.
Student C envisions a career in international corporate practice, situated principally in the US. In addition to taking classes in corporate law, taxation, and international finance, she might well consider taking classes regarding the EU, Japan, China or comparative law more generally (to better understand different models of corporate governance and potential cross border issues), international tax, conflicts, international litigation/arbitration (if for no other reason than to understand problems to be avoided),law and development (given the increasing presence of developing nations in major capital markets), and the internationally focused legal research class. Such a student might also consider taking course offerings at HBS, a summer work experience outside the US, and the HLS-Cambridge University joint degree program (which would expose her to European thinking about corporate law and be an avenue for earning a graduate degree in law from a non-US institution of distinction).
B. Dual Degree and Study Abroad Opportunities
Harvard offers three types of dual degree programs pertinent to students with international interests: (1) The Harvard-Cambridge LLM program enables students to earn an HLS JD and a Cambridge University LLM in 3.5 years; (2) The HLS-Fletcher School JD/MALD concurrent degree enables students to earn both a JD and a MALD (Masters in Law and Diplomacy) in 4 years; (3) HLS students may also pursue dual degrees involving international studies with the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Business School, and the Harvard School of Public Health. More details about dual degree programs are available at www.law.harvard.edu/academics/special_programs/. In addition to the Cambridge program, Harvard Law students may apply to spend a JD semester in a law program abroad. For details, please see www.law.harvard.edu/ils/curriculum/study_abroad/.
C. Independent Research Opportunities
As the faculty’s research interests increasingly involve international, comparative and foreign law issues, the number of opportunities to involve students in such projects has increased. So it is, by way of example, that recently, Professor Howell Jackson engaged students to assist on a project concerning international securities law while Professor Ryan Goodman retained student assistants on a project concerning treaty compliance and Professor William Alford enlisted student assistance in his pro bono work concerning disability law issues in China.
Law School doctoral students include former Supreme Court clerks, law faculty and other leading young lawyers from a host of jurisdictions. Semester or year-long workshops offered last year concerned topics including legal education, law and development, comparative criminal law, and gender and development. Although these are not for credit, JD and LLM students can do independent study papers with faculty in conjunction with them.
III. International Legal Studies Opportunities Outside the Classroom
More than 80 HLS students worked overseas for multilateral organizations, NGOs, and in other public interest positions this past summer, principally through the Chayes Fellowship Program and the Human Rights Program. HLS offers funding for students to conduct clinical work or independent research over the Winter Term and in 2008, nearly 90 students took advantage of the opportunity. Additionally, dozens of students spent the summer working overseas with private employers.The Law School is home to the broadest array of internationally oriented research programs of any North American law school. These include the East Asian Legal Studies Program, the European Law Research Center, the Human Rights Program, Islamic Legal Studies Program, and the Program on International Financial Systems. In a typical year, hundreds of students participate in these programs which include speakers series, research opportunities, a chance to engage scholars from the pertinent regions or disciplines, and social events. There are also opportunities, via a JD-LLM host student program, via research programs, and via a range of other activity to engage students from other jurisdictions.
Internationally focused student organizations are among the largest and most active at the Law School. One such organization is the Harvard Law School Advocates through which more than 100 students last year took part in human rights advocacy including preparing a petition to the European Human Rights Commission on behalf of Romany peoples (in the course of which satisfying their pro bono requirement). The Law School has fielded teams in the Jessup (public international law) Competition, the Vis (international arbitration) Competition, and the European Law Competition.
IV. Academic Careers
Students who wish to pursue academic careers in this area should think about combining the course work discussed above with opportunities for significant research and writing.
More than 70 HLS students worked (principally overseas) for multilateral organizations, NGOs, and in other public interest positions this past summer, principally through the Chayes Fellowship Program, the Human Rights Program, and the Lewis Program. Additionally, dozens of students spent the summer working overseas with private employers.
The Law School is home to the broadest array of internationally oriented research programs of any North American law school. These include the East Asian Legal Studies Program, the European Law Research Center, the Human Rights Program, Islamic Legal Studies Program, and the Program on International Financial Systems. In a typical year, hundreds of students participate in these programs which include speakers series, research opportunities, a chance to engage scholars from the pertinent regions or disciplines, and social events. There are also opportunities, via a JD-LLM host student program, via research programs, and via a range of other activity to engage students from other jurisdictions.
Internationally focused student organizations are among the largest and most active at the Law School. One such organization is the Harvard Law School Advocates through which more than 100 students last year took part in human rights advocacy including preparing a petition to the European Human Rights Commission on behalf of Romany peoples (in the course of which satisfying their pro bono requirement). The Law School has fielded teams in the Jessup (public international law) Competition, the Vis (international arbitration) Competition, and the European Law Competition.
IV. Academic Careers
Students who wish to pursue academic careers in this area should think about combining the course work discussed above with opportunities for significant research and writing.