Internationalism:
Engagement on a Global Scale

Michigan Law’s internationalism is reflected in its leadership in public and private international law, comparative law, and in the global perspective that the faculty bring to their teaching and scholarship.

In this era of global interconnectedness, virtually every area of the law is being internationalized; every lawyer needs to understand this dramatic transformation of the global legal order and the transnational legal issues that will inevitably arise in practice. As the first top law school to require Transnational Law, Michigan ensures that its students explore the foundations of public and private international law and the fluidity of the traditional boundaries between these areas. Transnational Law serves as the basic course on which further, more specialized courses build; students benefit from Michigan’s breadth of international subjects, such as international trade, tax, environmental, and human rights law. They also learn from a faculty whose legal expertise covers the world’s major economies outside the United States: those of China, India, Japan, and the European Union. In addition to a rich doctrinal curriculum, Michigan offers three clinics involving cross-border issues, in the fields of Human Trafficking, International Transactions, and International Taxation. Finally, students may receive one semester of credit either through study abroad at foreign law schools or through externship opportunities. Michigan offers a fall externship program with law reform agencies in South Africa, and a winter program in Geneva with leading UN agencies and international NGOs.

Beyond curricular offerings, a great variety of symposia, speakers, workshops, pro bono projects, and student organization activities reflect a strong institutional commitment to global affairs, much of it coming under the aegis of the Center for International and Comparative Law. Topics are as varied as intelligence-gathering and international law, the impact of journalists and lawyers on legal reform in China, and corporate governance in transitional economies. Participation of eminent lawyers, public figures, and government officials from across the globe in classes, conferences, and workshops greatly enriches the student experience.

The Law School also offers a variety of noncredit international opportunities, many of them funded by the School. Michigan places students in internships with NGOs in Cambodia, with leading refugee law agencies around the world, and with the AIRE Center, a human rights organization in London. Law School funding allows students and recent graduates to pursue a variety of student-initiated international opportunities, such as internships at the International Lesbian and Gay Association in Belgium, the International Finance Corporation in Turkey, and the UNHCR in Malawi. Finally, with Michigan’s support, students have regularly served as clerks at the European Court of Justice, the International Court of Justice, and other judicial institutions overseas.