Curriculum

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Students may enroll in any of seven ABA-approved courses, including the legal internship program, to earn up to six credit hours during our four-week Dublin program. Two of these courses are two-credit courses, offered five days per week for four weeks.  Four other courses are one-credit courses offered over a two-week period.  Approximately half of the students who enroll in the Dublin program choose to enroll in four credit hours of coursework or courses in combination with an internship and the remainder choose to enroll in five or six credit hours.  Students may not enroll in more than three classes during a two-week period. 

All courses involve a European, international, or comparative law perspective.  Some of the courses include Irish or other European guest lecturers and field trips to various legal, political, and financial institutions.  Typically all students in the Dublin program, regardless of whether they are enrolled in the particular course, are invited to hear the speakers and attend the field trips.  Some speakers or trips may be scheduled for the entire program, unconnected to a particular course.

Tulsa Students: Any of the other courses and the Legal Internship will satisfy the Tulsa Transnational Graduation Requirement. None of the courses, including the Legal Internship, will satisfy the Skills Graduation Requirement.

Course Descriptions

International Intellectual Property Law
Professor Seamus Clarke (2 credits)

This course will cover the core elements of Intellectual Property law--Copyright Law, Trademark Law and Patent Law--from a comparative perspective, examining how these rights are protected in the global, US, and European legal environments. Particular emphasis will be placed on the instructor's area of expertise, e-commerce law, and on how these traditional concepts must cope with new innovation, creation, and branding.
Introduction to European Union Law I and II (2 credits)

This is a two-credit offering. Both segments will be assessed by one exam, divided into two parts, which will be administered at the end of the four-week period. The offering will be team taught, and students will receive separate grades for EU I and EU II, assigned by each professor based on the portion of the exam reflecting the material covered in his or her segment. Therefore, students choosing to enroll in EU Law must enroll in both EU Law I and EU Law II.

 

Introduction to European Law Part I     

Professor Suzanne Kingston
(1 credit; first two weeks of the program) 

The Law of the European Union, Part One, will introduce EU constitutional and administrative law. The course will examine the legal and institutional framework of the European Union, the principles and enforcement of EU law, and the relation of EU law to Irish law. Topics to be covered will include the EU legislative process, judicial review of EU legislation, the relationship between EU and Member State law, the reception of EU law in the Member States, and the preliminary reference process.

Introduction to European Law Part II

Professor Bruce Carolan
(1 credit; Second two weeks of the program) 

The Law of the European Union, Part Two, will focus on the substantive law of the European Union, particularly the free movement guarantees of the European Union. This course will examine efforts to create a single European market by laws guaranteeing the free movement of goods, services, people and capital. The class will review the relevant portions of the Treaties underpinning the European Union and the case law of the Court of Justice interpreting these Treaty articles and other sources of law.

The course will include topics such as the elimination of tariffs, quotas and measures equivalent to quantitative restrictions; freedom of individuals to move about the European Union for economic and other purposes; provision of services across EU borders; and other issues. By the conclusion of the course, a student should be able to apply EU law to a hypothetical fact pattern and advise on the likely outcome, and critically evaluate provisions of EU law directed to the creation of a single European market. 
 

European Union Competition Law
Professor Mary Catherine Lucey
(1 credit; first two weeks of program)

An American lawyer advising U.S. companies must be aware of European antitrust law, or, as it is called in Europe, competition law. The Court of Justice, the "Supreme Court" of the European Union, has ruled that the competition laws of the European Union can apply to companies outside the EU, if their activities have an impact within the EU. Knowledge of European Union competition law and its possible application to U.S. companies doing business across national borders may enhance employment prospects. This course aims to provide students with an overview of the competition law of the European Union. In some ways, parts of this law are similar to U.S. antitrust laws, and students may recognize some of the concepts employed in EU law. By the conclusion of this course, a student will be able to apply EU competition law to a hypothetical factual situation and to provide advice on various aspects of EU competition law. No prior knowledge of US Antitrust law is expected.

International Sales of Goods
Professor Robert Butkin
(1 credit; first two weeks of program)

This course will provide an overview of the law relating to the international sales of goods, with a principal focus on the United Nations Convention on the International Sale of Goods (“CISG”). The course will also expose students to the United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the “New York Convention”) and the Uniform Foreign Money Judgments Recognition Act. The course topics will include: 1) the scope of the CISG; 2) comparisons between relevant portions of the CISG and of Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code; 3) the application of the CISG to issues involving contract formation; obligation of parties; remedies for breach; and damages; and 4) international arbitration.

International Children's Rights
Professor Paul Ward
(1 credit; second two weeks of the program)

This course examines a number of emerging issues relating to the rights of children. The source of the rights emanate from many jurisdictions - Ireland, England & Wales, Canada, New Zealand, and the developing jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. The topics include Civil Remedies for Children in State Care, Child Sexual Abuse Actions and Limitation Periods, Constitutional Protection of Children in State Care, Succession and Inheritance Rights, Adoption and Parent Tracing, and International Child Abduction.

The Death Penalty and International Law
Professor Lyn Entzeroth
(1 credit; second two weeks of program)

Today as many as two-thirds of the world’s nations have abolished capital punishment either in law or in practice. Yet, some nations still retain the death penalty, including China, Japan, Iran, Pakistan, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the United States. In the past ten years, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United States and Yemen have carried out the most executions.

International law can have a major impact on the use and application of the death penalty in nations that still retain that form of punishment. Among the international human rights standards that express international opposition to the death penalty are the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Protocol 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights, and Resolution 62/149 approved by the U.N General Assembly.

This course will study the international standards and treaties that affect the death penalty in nations that retain the practice. In particular, the course will consider the effect of such standards and treaties on the practice of the death penalty in the United States. In this regard, the course will examine several key cases including Soering v. United Kingdom and Short v. Kingdom of the Netherlands as well as a consideration of the death row phenomenon in light of international law. The course will also provide an overview of comparative death penalty systems, examining and contrasting several major death penalty nations as well as a number of non-death penalty nations.

Legal Internships
Dr. Fergus Ryan (2 credits)

This program offers students a unique opportunity to learn about Irish, comparative, and international law while working in unpaid internships for four weeks, during the mornings or afternoons, with Irish lawyers and government and non-profit legal institutions. The program also includes a four-hour classroom component examining various aspects of the Irish legal system and law. For more information on the Internship Program, see the Internships page.