CGLP Stories
Sarah Brockmeyer, Director of International Programs in National Jurist
The following is quoted from the National Jurist's recent article titled "Summer programs at home and abroad add perspective, build practical skills" By Jennifer McEntee.
Sara[h] Brockmeyer, director of international programs at Santa Clara Law, said that summer coursework and externships abroad help students stand out in a competitive legal market.
“In this day and age, it’s really hard for employers to differentiate law school students from one another, and studying abroad is something that’s very unique,” Brockmeyer said. “The majority of students who study abroad in our programs are not going to live and work abroad after graduation. They’re going to be American attorneys living and working in America, but the skills they are gaining — the intercultural competence, the ability to navigate difficult situations, the ability to make friends with people and work with people from all different cultures — those are all skills that they build in study abroad programs. Those are skills that we know employers want in their lawyers and skills that are transferable even to the most localized practices like family law.”
Santa Clara Law is home to the largest American Bar Association-approved study abroad program in the country. For more than 50 years, the law school has sent students to legal and commercial hubs across Europe, Asia and Latin America to study global topics including business, human rights and environmental law. Last year, about 130 law students studied abroad through Santa Clara Law’s summer programs.
Law school can be a pressure cooker, Brockmeyer said, and even the early years of professional legal practice leave little time for travel.
“I want students to have adventure, and I think summer abroad in particular is a great way for students to reenergize themselves and get back in touch with why they went to law school, especially for students coming out of that first year, which is really brutal,” she said.