'Have Law Books, Computer, Simulations –Will Travel': The Transnationalization of (some of) the Law Professoriate

Abstract

This essay (written in honor of the 10th Anniversary of the Centre for Transnational Legal Studies in London (Georgetown), and for several conferences on the globalization of legal education, describes the growth of “transnational legal education” in many forms: domestic comparative and international law, study abroad programs of various kinds, the integration (in some schools) of foreign LLMs into the full curriculum, and the author’s experience in teaching in over 25 different countries in internationalized legal studies and law programs and courses. True “transnational” or “globalized” legal education, in my view, requires full immersion in the legal culture and contexts being studied, not simply traditional forms of legal education. The essay describes a variety of experiential, as well as traditional, courses of comparative, domestic and international law, undertaken in multi-cultural settings where some diversity of teaching method, faculty and students is achieved. The ideal goals of such courses are for students (and faculty) to undertake rigorous study of legal pluralism at all levels (international, domestic, supranational and sub-national) and to understand that most law is “chosen,” not mandated or given. True transnational legal education must be socio-legal, multi-cultural, contextual, and also use multiple methods of instruction. Examples of such educational efforts in some different contexts are provided. How we evaluate the success or impact of such programs at achieving their goals remains understudied.