International and Comparative Law Curriculum

The School's programs and courses in international and comparative law have both business and public dimensions, and are intended to meet the different needs of those students who fall into one or more of the following five categories:

(1) Students whose general interests lie not only inside but also outside the United States and the American legal system, and who tentatively plan to practice law or pursue related careers in a transnational setting.

(2) Students with specific cross-border interests in business law involving, for example, international sales, or international trade, or international finance, or international transfers of technology, or international commercial disputes.

(3) Students interested in public international law including international human rights, whether from a theoretical perspective or as an area of legal practice in governmental or non-governmental organizations in the United States or abroad.

(4) Students who, while tending toward becoming active in areas of domestic legal practice in the United States, have interests in other countries that lead them to seek familiarity with areas of law related to the global economy.

(5) Students who have already begun to specialize in particular substantive areas of law (such as tax, antitrust, or civil rights) and who want to begin to master their fields by approaching central issues from the vantage points of other legal systems.

Core Courses

For all five groups of students, each of these five core courses -- in different ways -- helps students to look at fundamental aspects of law from an international perspective (though you don't need to take all five courses.) 

Either of the basic International Law courses or Transnational Law introduces students to the complex subject of treaty formation and implementation, and to global and regional regimes for law-making in such diverse areas as trade, human rights, and criminal law.

Comparative Law seeks to uncover both similarities and significant differences in the underlying assumptions with which different legal traditions operate in regard to legal institutions and processes, individual justice, efficiency, and modes of interpretation.

Conflict of Laws, a subject with both domestic and international applications, introduces students to fundamental problems that arise when autonomous legal systems are drawn into conflict as regards applicable substantive law, jurisdictional matters, and other issues.

International Business Transactions is a broad-based course covering the topics specified in its title, the resolution of international commercial disputes, and other aspects of international business law.

Advanced Courses

Advanced courses relating to various aspects of International and Comparative Law are grouped below in five categories.

Business Law: European Community Law; International Arbitration; International Finance; International Economic Law. For students planning to take International Finance, one of the following courses is recommended: Accounting for Lawyers: Basic Concepts, Bankruptcy, Corporate and Securities Law: Advanced Topics, Corporate Finance, Corporations, Sales and Payment Systems, Secured Transactions, and Securities Regulation

Geographic Areas: European Community Law, Islamic Law, United Nations and World Order

Human Rights: Global Law and Justice; International Human Rights Seminar; International Human Rights Workshop; International Human Rights and Transitional Justice; and Workplace Rights & International Business. For students planning to take the International Human Rights Seminar, one of the following courses is recommended: International Law: Selected Topics; The Law of War; and United Nations and World Order

Litigation and Dispute Resolution: Alternative Dispute Resolution; European Community Law; International Arbitration; and International Economic Law

International and Comparative Aspects of Particular Fields: Broadcasting Regulation in European States; Comparative Criminal Procedure; European Copyright and Intellectual Property Law; European Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law; International Human Rights Law; International Human Rights Seminar; International Human Rights Workshop; International Finance; and International Taxation


Scheduling Your Curriculum

To schedule your curriculum in International and Comparative Law: Business and Public Dimensions, you should feel free to consult any of Professors Molly Beutz, Lloyd Bonfield, Lung-chu Chen, Tai-Heng Cheng, Sydney M. Cone, III, Stephen Ellmann, Sadiq Reza, Rudolph Peritz, or Ruti Teitel, or obtain information from the Center for International Law.