This blog post is part of our ongoing guest Blog Series: “Opportunity Knocks.” For a full schedule, please see: http://law.scu.edu/lcs-blog/upcoming-blog-series-opportunity-knocks/
If you are a first-year law student, you are probably starting to think about your options for summer 2014. As you assess the pros and cons of different options, I would encourage you to think seriously about enrolling in a summer abroad program.
Santa Clara’s Center for Global Law and Policy (CGLP) offers summer courses in Sydney, Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Istanbul, Vienna, Munich, Geneva, The Hague, Oxford, and San Jose (Costa Rica). Topics include international business law, intellectual property law, international human rights, international criminal law, refugee law, comparative law, and much more. Most classes are taught by local professors and/or practitioners. All are taught by individuals who are leading experts in their fields. Detailed information about each of our summer abroad programs is available at http://law.scu.edu/international/summer-abroad/.
Most of our summer programs include an internship component. In addition to the countries where classes are held, potential internship destinations include Korea, Cambodia, Vietnam, Mongolia, India, Kuwait, Dubai, Hungary, France, Ireland, Ghana, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and Peru. CGLP places students in law firms, private companies, international organizations (IOs), and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). If you apply to CGLP for a summer internship, it will be the easiest job search that you ever do, because we find the internship placement for you. Doing an overseas internship between your 1L and 2L years is a great way to gain valuable work experience, and it looks good on your resume. You can get a sense of the types and variety of internship placements by reading student testimonials in the CGLP Newsletter at http://law.scu.edu/international/international-law-e-news/
We live in a world that is heavily shaped by the forces of globalization. For students graduating law school in 2016 who expect to practice law for the next 30-40 years, this means that your legal practice will inevitably be a transnational practice. In the twenty-first century, even the most “local” law practice will have a transnational element. Doing a legal internship in a foreign country is a great way to prepare for this aspect of your future law practice.
Internships in certain locations are quite competitive, so it makes sense to apply early if you want to do an overseas internship next summer. We will begin accepting applications for summer 2014 on January 1, 2014. For information about the application process, see http://law.scu.edu/international/summer-abroad-application-information/. Please also feel free to drop by the CGLP offices in Bannan Hall, suite 301. Vinita Bali, Monica Davis and I will be happy to speak with you in more detail about summer abroad opportunities.
Professor David Sloss
Professor Sloss is an internationally renowned scholar who has published two books and numerous law review articles addressing the application of international law in domestic courts. His scholarship in this area is informed by a decade of experience in the federal government, where he helped draft and negotiate several major international treaties. Professor Sloss serves frequently as a consultant for U.S. attorneys who seek advice on the domestic application of international law in U.S. courts.
Prior to joining the Santa Clara University School of Law faculty, Professor Sloss taught for nine years at Saint Louis University School of Law. Before Sloss started his teaching career, he worked as a litigation associate at Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto and clerked for Senior Judge Joseph T. Sneed, U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, San Francisco. He also worked for the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency for nine years before he attended law school. During that time Sloss helped draft and negotiate three major East-West arms control treaties.
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