Why Attend?

It is a paradox that the catalogs and brochures of many of our law schools embrace the globalization of law even while these schools often are not altogether clear on what globalization consists of or demands, even while segments of faculties are deeply ambivalent about such efforts, and even while many students say they do not perceive pedagogical consequences for most courses resulting from efforts to build a “world law school.”

This workshop is about globalization, what it is, when it is appropriate and for whom. It is an inquiry into when a global law school is primarily an expensive sideshow to the usual program rather than the creation of a faculty and program that readies lawyers for a world where law will be, as always, local but increasingly formed, influenced or channeled by legal traditions and law-making processes a great distance away.

In the morning, the workshop considers the faculty debates nationwide about globalization of the law school: when, to what extent, to what end, for how much. A panel of legal education leaders takes on these questions by considering the politically incorrect topic: “americanization of the global law school?” New deans are beset by arguments as to the value of many perspectives on the law. When are foreign and international perspectives on law any more important than the insights gained by historical or literary perspectives? How are the majority of American law schools to appropriately globalize without distorting their budgets?

In the afternoon, the workshop considers and debates the practical steps that faculty can take to enrich their major course offerings. Two series of small break out sessions will examine how international and comparative law perspectives have been incorporated into the various parts of the law school curriculum. It is time to share approaches, and to consider new possibilities for excitement in the classroom.