Mainstreaming International Law in Legal Education

globeThis week is “International Education Week”, a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education to promote “programs that prepare Americans for a global environment and attract future leaders from abroad to study, learn, and exchange experiences in the United States.”  Schools and other educational institutions around the country have been carrying out activities around this national theme, including Marquette University.

The thematic week prompts me to explore the role of international law in the American law school setting. Although the curriculum of law schools in the United States has traditionally offered a narrow focus on domestic law, it has slowly expanded over the last century to include an international focus, albeit a limited one.   While this development can be seen most readily with the proliferation of foreign exchange programs such as Marquette Law School’s own summer program in Giessen, Germany, it also appears through the positioning of international law classes in the curriculum of traditional legal education.

Since the mid-century, it has become common for law schools to sprinkle course listings with upper-level and elective classes in international law. 

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Wanted: Lawyers Who Speak Spanish

Writing in 2004, Anne Marie Slaughter, the current Director of Policy Planning for the United States Department of State and former Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University recognized, “The consensus among lawyers, CEOs, NGO activists, and others is that the people whom they would most like to hire are those who understand how to navigate between cultures.  In a dream world, such competence would include knowledge of at least one foreign language.”

Slaughter’s wishful thinking now appears to be reality. A recent Wisconsin Law Journal article reports that bilingual attorneys are carving out a “growing niche” in legal practice in the state.  The WLJ reports, “As the minority populations in the state continue to grow, so too has the opportunity for bilingual attorneys to expand their client base.”   Now it seems, new lawyers will not only wish to market their law school academic achievements, but also their command of a language other than English.

In particular, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Hispanic population in Wisconsin has increased by 48.2 percent since 2000, numbering close to 300,000 members of our community.  In Milwaukee alone, the Hispanic population represents twelve percent of the population.  

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Hope and Optimism

1345598329_3dd58320f2Every year, about this time, the stress level here at the law school starts to rise.  First-year students seem particularly susceptible.  I hear the word “outline” a lot in the halls.  Students talk about how much they studied over the weekend instead of how much fun they had.  Everyone gets a little bit more serious.

Serious is fine.

Frantic is counter-productive.

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