study abroad in law school???

[cj003]

<p>ok, so Im graduating soon and planning on going to law school. My undergrad was great, I accomplished more than i ever thought i could. One thing I never got to do was study abroad. I was wondering if law school have any study abroad programs???</p>

[stacy]

<p>yes, they do. most are for a semester. I’ve seen offerings in Singapore, Geneva, the Netherlands, Israel, South Africa, England, and lots of other places.</p>

[jerushs]

<p>wow i didn’t know the JD offering was so popular outside of america. i mean, they practice commonwealth law in singapore…</p>

[chocoman]

<p>Duke law school has a combined JD/LLM in Int’l law program that requires study abroad. You can either go to Hong Kong or Geneva.</p>

[Student615]

<p>I came across a lot of law schools that offered study abroad options, but not in the way it’s often offered at undergrads. If I remember correctly, most of the programs I saw were offered through the home university, but in abroad locations, and there wasn’t always a wide range of choices (see chocoman’s example…“either/or”).</p>

<p>This info might be totally unrepresentative, but it’s what I recall from my own search. Each school’s website should give particulars.</p>

[sallyawp]

<p>Studying abroad is not nearly as popular or common in law school as it is in undergrad. </p>

<p>The ABA has the following to say on the matter:</p>

<p>

Standard 307 of the ABA Standards for the Approval of Law Schools provides that an ABA-approved law school may not grant credit for studies or activities in a foreign country unless those studies or activities are approved in accordance with the Rules of Procedure and Criteria adopted by the Council. Outside of programs that meet these Criteria, an ABA-approved law school may not award credit toward the J.D. degree to an enrolled student for studies or activities outside the United States.</p>

<p>Students currently enrolled at an ABA-approved law school who desire to receive credit toward their J.D. degree for study abroad should read carefully the applicable criteria for their course of study and should consult with members of the law school staff or faculty who advise students about foreign study. These programs are only open to students who have successfully completed their first year of study and are enrolled in an ABA approved law school. Under the approved Criteria, students enrolled in ABA-approved law schools may earn credit toward the J.D. degree for participating in an approved Semester Abroad Program, an approved Foreign Summer Program or through school-approved individual study programs, sometimes within an approved Cooperative Program between an ABA-approved law school and a foreign institution.</p>

<p>These processes and Criteria have operated for almost 20 years. They reflect the belief of the Council that law students, the law schools, and ultimately the legal profession benefit by study abroad programs and opportunities. In August 2002, the Council approved a report of its Task Force on Foreign Programs and new Criteria implementing this report were approved in February 2003. The Task Force Report recognized the need to streamline the review process and to take into account the variety of ways that law schools are now seeking to expand their foreign programs.

</p>

<p>The following is a link to all approved study abroad programs:</p>

<p>[Foreign</a> Study Abroad Semester](<a href=“http://www.abanet.org/legaled/studyabroad/semester.html]Foreign”>http://www.abanet.org/legaled/studyabroad/semester.html)</p>

<p>Any program not on this list may be interesting and fun, but will not earn you credits at any ABA-approved law school.</p>

<p>There are a few more summer abroad programs (though then you won’t be able to take on the all-important summer internships/summer associateships that often win you a job after graduation), which are linked to the link I provided above.</p>

[marny1]

<p>Many of the schools seem to have Cooperative Programs which you can also link to from the reference Sally listed above.</p>

<p>Columbia-Cornell-Georgetown-UVA seem to have Co-Op programs. Don’t quite get the distinction (though my guess is that the program is run in conjunction with a foreign U).<br>
I also remember reading U Penn had a few programs, including one in Barcelona. But I do not see it listed on any of the ABA lists. </p>

<p>–maybe you need to be planning to go into International law or a related field. But I find it strange that top law schools would offer these programs like the one I saw at UPenn if they did not follow ABA guidelines for credit.</p>

[sallyawp]

<p>I don’t know why the ABA states that there are so few approved courses of study abroad when there do seem to be a number of schools offering the opportunity to do so. Perhaps the programs are part of a JD/MA program?</p>