Curriculum

 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 one- or 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 a particular course, are invited to hear guest speakers and attend field trips. Some speakers or trips may be scheduled for the entire program, unconnected to a particular course.

Tulsa Students: All courses and the Legal Internship will satisfy the Tulsa Transnational Graduation Requirement. The International Trade and Commerce course, if not used for the Transnational requirement, may be used to satisfy one hour of the two-hour Skills Graduation Requirement.

 

2013 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     

Dr. 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 Trade & Commerce: Drafting and Negotiating International Commercial Agreements 
Janet Levit, Dean and Dean John Rogers Endowed Chair
(1 credit; first week of program)

This course explores globalization from the perspective of the private companies and government entities engaged in cross-border trade of goods and services. The objectives of this course are fourfold. First, this course exposes students to the patchwork of regulatory material that today's international commercial lawyer navigates. Second, students will appreciate international law and lawmaking as a polycentric process that engages numerous transnational actors, including not only nation-states, bit also inter-governmental institutions, trade associations, NGOs, and private entities. Third, the course offers students the opportunity to practice transactional skills--contract drafting, negotiating, strategizing, and public speaking--in the context of a "doctrinal" class. Finally, students will learn to collaborate productively--to bridge disparate views, to create an end-product as a group undertaking, and ultimately to value classmates as future colleagues.

Students will draft and negotiate international commercial agreements from the vantage point of multinational companies, foreign governments and/or foreign companies, including an arbitration clause, a sales agreement, a distributorship agreement, and a licensing agreement. The course weaves doctrine seamlessly into the exigencies of commercial practice, introducing an array of regulatory and doctrinal material--from treaties to domestic laws to informal industry-specific codes--as it relates to the drafting exercises. During the live negotiating sessions, students in role must balance the ultimate goal of "closing" the transaction against the concessions necessary to achieve this end. Students will also anticipate and plan for international commercial disputes, weighing the costs and benefits of transnational alternative dispute resolution (focusing on international arbitration) and drafting the dispute resolution clauses that their clients will trigger if the commercial relationship runs awry.

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 Multinational Corporation and Human Rights: Selected Issues 
Professor Thomas Arnold 
(1 credit; second two weeks of program)

The operations of the modern multinational corporation can encompass activities in a large number of countries. The revenues of the corporation can exceed the tax revenues of the country in which it does business, and the activities of the corporation can significantly impact the people, environment, and culture of such country. The engagement of the multinational corporation in a country can be a positive force in promoting human rights and human dignity; unfortunately, the activities of the corporation also can have the effect of supporting or exacerbating practices or conditions that are detrimental to human rights and dignity.

This course will examine several methods that have been used by various parties attempting to address the issues raised by the activities of multinational corporations. Some of these methods involve procedures that are external to the corporation. For example, we will examine attempts to use Alien Tort Claims Act against corporations for alleged involvement in human rights violations. We may also discuss 1) the attempt in the Nike v. Kasky case to use laws relating to unfair and deceptive trade practices to address allegedly false statements by a corporation about its human rights record; or 2) the possible use of security fraud statutes to address false statements by a corporation about its human rights record and the concept of socially responsible investing.

Other methods involve procedures that are internal to the corporation. These include, among others, voluntary codes of conduct and shareholder proxy resolutions. We will consider one or more of these internal procedures. Some methods, such as the concept of socially responsible investing, seem to be somewhat of a hybrid of the two methods.

Important questions underlying any discussion in this area are whether the multinational corporation is a public or a private institution, and the extent to which the corporation should be treated as a person.

This course will not attempt to survey all possible methods of addressing the issues raised by the activities of multinational corporations. Rather, the goal will be to examine several methods in some detail in order to develop an appreciation of the issues involved and the challenges posed in addressing them. 

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.