Schnitzel, Beer, and Marketing Your Study Abroad Experience

Classroom at Justus Liebig UniversityThis past summer I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to participate in Marquette University Law School’s summer program in Giessen, Germany.  The program, run jointly with the University of Wisconsin Law School and Justus Liebig University in Giessen, provides Marquette students with the opportunity to study a variety of international law topics at a foreign university with classmates from around the globe.  Course offerings this past summer included Comparative Law, International Economic Law & Business Transactions, International Intellectual Property Law, and the Law of Armed Conflict.  The courses were taught by both American and German professors over the course of a (somewhat intense) four week period that included weekend excursions to Munich and Berlin.  While the subject matter of the classes was incredibly interesting, this was further magnified by the international make-up of the student body.  My classmates this past summer hailed from 17 different countries including the United States Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Germany, Spain, Moldova, Turkey, India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, South Korea, China, Benin, Senegal, Cameroon, and Ethiopia.  The discussions and conversations we had, both in and out of the classroom, provided insights about international legal issues that would be difficult to duplicate outside of such an experience. Not only was I able to learn about international, German, and EU law, but I was also able to gain a better understanding of US law.

The value of a study abroad experience, both in terms of the substantive knowledge gained as well as the “soft” skills developed, is likely to be clear to someone who teaches or participates in such a program (see Professor Fallone’s semi-exhaustive list of ten reasons why one should study abroad).  However, those less familiar with international study experiences may not always ascribe the same value or benefit to study abroad programs.  This can be problematic for law students who hope to show potential employers that their time spent studying overseas was more than just an excuse to sample copious amounts of schnitzel and beer.   While CALI awards, clerkships, internships, pro bono work, and participation in law review or moot court are all ways that students have traditionally distinguished themselves to potential employers, the same has not been true for participation in study abroad programs, which are a relatively new phenomena in the law school curriculum.

It is important to note that international study experiences do not just benefit those students who hope to someday practice law in an international setting.  According to Cheryl Matherly, the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs at Rice University, “most new graduates will join the ranks of the ‘domestic internationals’.”  She writes, in a report titled “Impact of Education Abroad on Career Development” for the American Institute for Foreign Study, that “[i]n a global workplace, most employees will continue to live and work at home, but will use technology to customize…services for clients worldwide…and collaborate on projects with overseas offices.  New graduates will be immersed in many foreign cultures as part of their jobs without ever setting foot overseas.”  A 2009 study by the Philadelphia Bar Association investigating the globalization of the legal profession further demonstrates this point.  In the study, 67.5% of the responding lawyers, sampled from a wide variety of practice areas and firm sizes, reported having worked “on a legal matter within the past year that required them to have some knowledge of foreign and/or traditional law.”  The study concludes that “it logically follows that these lawyers need to have the professional skills required to access [international] law and effectively communicate and interact in a professional and culturally appropriate manner with foreign nationals they are encountering as clients, witnesses, coworkers, opposing counsel, and perhaps decision-makers.”

So how does one go about “marketing” their international study experience?  Noting a study abroad experience can certainly distinguish your résumé and provide a topic of conversation during interviews.  An attorney familiar with the hiring process agreed that “any unique experience has the potential to enhance future experience.”  The challenge, this attorney contends, “is showing how that experience applies to the particular job one is seeking.”  He cautions that this does not mean that you should “present the foreign studies as a specialized training that would allow you to jump immediately into, say, negotiating a contract with a foreign company.”  Instead, the marketing of an international experience should focus on how these studies helped to develop good legal fundamentals and good character.

According to Matherly, “[i]t is simply not enough to seek an international experience – the experience itself has little value for an employer.  The savvy job seeker must be able to speak about this experience in terms of the transferable skills that he or she developed while abroad and how they can be applied to the workplace.”  When considering the opportunities and challenges present in any international study experience, it is easy to develop a list of such skills.  Successful participation in a study abroad program requires a student to further develop their communication skills, listening skills, interpersonal skills, self awareness, relationship building skills, patience, tenacity, problem solving skills, creativity, and (perhaps most importantly) a sense of humor, amongst other many other skills.

I found my time in Germany to be an exceptionally valuable experience.  Classes taught by professors from a variety of backgrounds and legal cultures helped me to both to learn new material as well as to think about what I had already learned in new ways.  A classroom that was truly a global community led to interesting discussions that introduced me to new ideas and also allowed me to reconsider my feelings and beliefs on a wide variety of legal, economic, and cultural issues.  The extra-curricular trips to Munich, Dachau, Nuremberg, and Berlin provided not only a fascinating examination of Germany’s past, but also a view into how that country, and the world around it, has moved on from the horrors of World War II and the Cold War.   And of course, there’s also the schnitzel and beer.

Photos: (top) The classroom at Justus Liebig University in Giessen; (below) The courtroom where the Nuremberg War Crime Trials were held.

Nuremberg Courtroom

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