U.S. Law & the Americas

1. U.S. Law & the Americas The Need for an Affordable & Accessible Introduction to U.S. Law for Latin American Students By Valeria Elliot Director, Lawyering in Spanish Program University of Denver School of Law

2. Goal of Presentation • Show how US law schools do not provide many opportunities for Latin American students from low income/middle class families to participate in programs that focus on learning about the US legal system. • Most of the top law firms in Latin America only hire bilingual law students and law graduates who have studied abroad. • Students who can afford to study overseas have an advantage over students with no international legal experience. • Grants and loans are not widely available in Latin America to make studying abroad more accessible.

3. Therefore, law graduates from low income and middle classfamilies in Latin America have fewer chances of being hired by firms doing international legal work.

4. Presentation Outline • Why U.S. Law for Latin American Students? • Programs currently offered • Relative cost of legal education in Latin America • University of Denver’s Introduction to the U.S. Legal System

5. WHY U.S. LAW FOR LATIN AMERICAN STUDENTS?

6. Globalization • Regional Trade Agreements • Transnational Legal Disputes • Common Markets • Need for “harmonization” of commercial laws in the hemisphere • Building legal infrastructure for hemispheric integration and free trade See Alfredo Fuentes Hernandez, Globalization and Legal Education in Latin America: Issues for Law and Development in the 21st Century, 21 Penn. St. Int’l L. Rev. 39 (2002).

7. Rule of Law • Progress in Latin America • Civil and Political Freedoms • Respect for Human Rights • Economic liberalization & stabilization • Reform of legal system needed • Impunity for crimes and corruption • Violation of Human Rights • Lack of confidence in judicial branch

8. Understanding Civil and Common Law Systems • Commentators have noted: • Benefit to having working knowledge of two of the major legal systems in the world • Integrating comparative aspect into entire legal educational experience would improve legal education • Common law legal education would benefit from incorporating aspects of civil law education, such as: • requiring a dissertation; • oral exams • allowing students to specialize; • mandatory clinical training; • adding courses on theory and philosophy See Luz Estella Nagle, Maximizing Legal Education: The International Component, 29 Stetson L. Rev. 1091 (2000); see also Xavier Blanc-Jouvan, Bijuralism in Legal Education: A French View, 52 J. Legal Educ. 61 (2002).

9. Interaction Among J.D. Students and Latin American Students “The whole law school community can benefit from and be enriched by the presence of foreign lawyer-students and foreign lawyers pursuing legal studies.” Luz Estella Nagle, Maximizing Legal Education: The International Component, 29 Stetson L. Rev. 1091, 1093 (2000).

10. Interuniversity Agreements • Powerful tool for facilitating interaction between U.S. and foreign law schools • Examples: • Chile Law Program • University of Paris – Cornell / Columbia Universities Exchange Program • University of Florida Levin – University of Costa Rica

11. U.S. Legal Education for Latin American Students • Improve marketability to firms in home countries that deal internationally • Experience with Legal English and American culture • Valuable networking for future See Carole Silver, Internationalizing U.S. Legal Education: A Report on the Education of Transnational Lawyers, 14 Cardozo J. Int’l & Comp. L. 143 (2006); see also Carole Silver, Winners and Losers in the Globalization of Legal Services: Situating the Market for Foreign Lawyers, 45 Va. J. Int’l L. 897 (2005).

12. U.S. LAW & LEGAL ENGLISH PROGRAMS CURRENTLY OFFERED FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

13. Programs Currently Offered • Surveyed 15 Summer Programs in U.S. Law and Legal English • Boston University • Case Western Reserve University School of Law • Duke Law • Fordham University School of Law • Northwestern University • University at Buffalo Law School • University of California Davis School of Law • University of Illinois • University of Pennsylvania • University of Pittsburgh Law School • University of Santa Clara Law • University of Southern California Gould School of Law • University of Washington School of Law • Washington College of Law American University • Yale University

14. Programs Currently Offered • Students: Targeted at LLM candidates, international legal professionals and international law students • Non-native English speakers; must have working knowledge of written and spoken English • 2/15 law schools restricted entrance to incoming students • Duration: Ranged from Intensive 4-Day course to 10-week course

15. Curriculum Sample Week from 4-Week Program http://lawgip.usc.edu/sle/schedule.cfm

16. Curriculum • Many programs aim to facilitate adjustment to culture of U.S. legal education • Overriding goal of improving Legal English • Assignments include: • Formal presentations • Briefs • Client Opinion Letters • Agreements • Update of the law • Interaction with Mentors (lawyer, professor, student) • Research • Note-taking • Mock Client Interviews • Lexis-Nexis and Westlaw training • Focus on business and corporate law

17. Program Cost • 4-Day intensive course was the least expensive at $800 • Does not include housing, food, travel expenses, visa, other expenses • Least expensive for time spent is University of Illinois Legal English Certificate Program at $1450 for 3 weeks. • Does not include housing, materials, health insurance, other expenses http://www.wcl.american.edu/slei/ http://www.law.uiuc.edu/academics/legalenglish.asp

18. Program Cost • More expensive programs include • University of Santa Clara Law’s 3-wk U.S. Law Program at $4,200 (not including housing) & • University of Southern California’s 4-wk Summer Law & English Program at $4,200 + minimum of $1350 for housing. www.scu.edu/law/international/us-law-program.cfm http://lawfip.usc.edu/summer.cfm

19. RELATIVE COST OF LATIN AMERICAN LEGAL EDUCATION

20. Relative Cost of Latin American Legal Education • Considerations • Legal education usually 4-6 year undergraduate program, resulting in bachillerato or licenciatura • Each country differs significantly in amount of grants, scholarships and loans available • Cost of living varies significantly in each country, and compared to the United States • Looking at GDP per capita and cost of education in five different Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru)

21. GDP per capita for Latin America and U.S.

22. GDP per capita for Latin America and the U.S.

23. Cost of Tertiary Education (Tuition) *Average cost of a legal education in Argentina is $17,785. Legal education varies between four and five years.

24. Education Cost/GDP per capita

25. Living Costs • Living costs = accomodation and food for the academic year • Living costs in the U.S. are only 17% of the GDP per capita • Living costs in Brazil, Colombia and Peru are between 30-38% of the GDP per capita • Only Mexico has lower cost of living at 11%

26. Living Costs “Even with free (public) university education, living costs amount to a substantial financial burden for students from low-income families.” Yuki Murakami & Andreas Blom, Accessibility and Affordability of Tertiary Education in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru within a Global Context, The World Bank 15 (2008).

27. Grants • Grants in the U.S. average 11% / GDP per capita • Colombia provides average grants of 6% / GDP per capita • Mexico, Brazil and Peru have underdeveloped grant programs with only 1%, <1%, and <1% respectively

28. Loans • Loans are extensively available in the United States (on average, 13% GDP per capita) • The average student in Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and Peru receives a loan equivalent to 2% of the GDP per capita

29. Out-of-pocket costs Low student assistance & high total cost of education compared with the GDP per capita in Latin American countries makes education less affordable than in the United States.

30. Inequity in Enrollment in Latin America • 23% enrollment tertiary education in Latin America, compared with 56% in high income countries • FACTORS: • Affordability and lack of financing • Insufficient and unequal access to secondary ed • Lack of information • Low expectation of attending tertiary education among youth from low-income families

31. Accessibility of U.S. Law and Legal English Programs Country Statistics Summer Programs

32. AFFORDABLE & ACCESSIBLE INTRODUCTION TO U.S. LAW FOR LATIN AMERICAN STUDENTS UNIVERSITY OF DENVER STURM COLLEGE OF LAW

33. Introduction to U.S. Law at University of Denver Sturm College of Law • Designed to provide Latin American students with the theoretical and practical knowledge required to understand the practice of law in the United States. • Goals: • Expose foreign law students to the U.S. legal system • Stimulate interaction between Latin American law students and students, faculty and legal professionals from the United States. • Affordable and accessible program for middle and low-income Latin American Students

34. Seminar Objectives • Recognize and understand basic legal terminology; • Understand the sources of American law; • Understand the structure and basic jurisdiction of the federal and state court systems; • Understand the basics of civil litigation; • Demonstrate an ability to analyze statutes and case law; • Demonstrate an ability to apply legal reasoning to case-specific legal problems; • Have a broad overview of major substantive areas of law.

35. Curriculum

36. Curriculum • Video production project • Presentations by students in Spanish • Civil Law related topics • Used in Lawyering in Spanish classes • Facilitate interactions between Latin American students, professors, and Lawyering in Spanish students • Help students develop professional network in the U.S.

37. Cost • Tuition = $400 • Visa Application Fee = $100 • Estimated Living Expenses = $1500 • TOTAL COST = $2000

38. CONCLUSION • The case for Intro to U.S. Law Programs: Globalization, regionalization, interuniversity agreements • Programs in existence are not accessible to low- & middle-income Latin American students • Relative high cost of legal education in Latin America and low amount of student assistance contributing to inequality • Details of a more affordable Intro to U.S. Legal Program