New York Law Journal: Law Schools, April 27 2009

» school classmates.

New business opportunities can arise at any time and they should be prepared.”

professional connections and leads abroad.”

The Center for Transnational Studies was launched in October 2008 to help address these concerns. Spearheaded by Georgetown Law, the center, which is physically housed in London and draws students and faculty from around the world, is a collaborative effort by 10 premier law schools from five continents to offer a transnational legal education.

“We now live in a time when nations are increasingly interdependent, people more interconnected, humanity less divided by narrow domestic walls,” explains Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia. With these changes, he notes, come challenges, among them “the need to adequately prepare students for this unparalleled new world.”

More than
70 percent
of those
surveyed think
law schools
should focus
more on
transnational
studies and offer
study abroad.

Recognizing that lawyers must practice law in a global context, the Program in International Law at Stanford Law School focuses students

The Rankings

What Frims Want

Going Global

Another topic on the minds of our respondents is the increasingly global aspect of the legal industry. More than 70 percent of those surveyed think law schools should focus more on transnational studies and offer study-abroad programs.

“The opportunity to study abroad would be a plus in this global economy,” agreed Ms. Woods. “It would be a great enhancement to classroom learning.” Another respondent added:

“Transnational and study-abroad programs help law schools expand their international profile and help students develop

As stated on the
Georgetown Web site:

“Just as American law schools shifted from state-specific to national legal training in the mid-1900s, they now must take the next step and educate students for practice in the global legal environment.”

International law is no longer just about trea-ties. Lawyers are increasingly called upon to advise businesses, individuals, non-gov-ernmental entities and governments

in matters that involve parties, laws and decision-makers in two or more countries. Course offerings include transnational issues in art, culture and law; globalization, gov-

do not,” notes Stanford Law Dean Larry Kramer. “International law, particularly the law governing private actors in the international arena, has gone from the periph-

ery to the center, and law schools have been scrambling to adapt.”

ernance and justice; national security and human rights in transnational and comparative perspective; and international legal institutions.

on the interrelationship between international law, business and policy and key areas of change in the global political economy, transnational business environment, and developing international legal structure.

“Where only a tiny number of graduates used to practice law across national borders, today only a tiny number

Management
Skills

Seventy percent of our respondents believe a course or workshop on law firm management would be useful. A litigation partner in an AmLaw 100 firm had this to say: