Going Global
BC Law becomes more international in nature
Sometimes it seems that certain themes, once expressed, crop up everywhere.
In this space in the Spring/Summer issue of BC Law Magazine, for instance,
I wrote about the prevalence of stories that were evidence of the Law School’s
curricular shift toward international law. It now seems what you read about
then was just the tip of an educational iceberg.
The buzz about international law is growing. In an effort to understand the
full impact of globalization on the legal academy, reporter Jeri Zeder set out
to learn from faculty and legal practitioners how they are redefining their
courses and their jobs in the new worldwide context. The result is the cover
story in our upcoming issue, which demonstrates how pervasive international
issues are in the classroom and the workplace. Zeder writes: “Today, the
law school still offers international law courses—in fact, it offers many
more than in the past—but here’s the difference: International law
now covers more than just the relations between states. It also covers
rights created among individuals across national borders. And, international
law topics have a significant presence in courses that used to be dedicated
entirely to domestic law.” Corporate and criminal lawyers are similarly
affected. Stephen K. Fogg ’75, for one, says the international component
of his work has “exploded” in the past five years.
As BC Law explores establishing an L.LM. program, which would simultaneously
educate foreign students in American law and extend the international nature
of the Law School community, it’s interesting to note how small the world
has already become.
Professor Catharine Wells traveled recently to Tibet and brought back a new
perspective on teaching, thanks to witnessing how monks there debate. In the
annual Owen M. Kupferschmid Holocaust/Human Rights lecture this fall, Guatemalan
activist Olivia Ceto shook the complacency of the classroom with the harsh realities
of civil war and genocide. Professor Frank Garcia was called upon by the US
Conference of Bishops to advise on just trade in the American hemisphere. Hispanic
Business magazine named Brigida Benitez ’93, the daughter of Cuban
immigrants, Woman of the Year for her work on behalf of Hispanics and other
minorities.
Even in Professor Gregory Kalscheur’s account of his personal journey
from Catholic layman to law student to corporate lawyer to Jesuit priest, there
resonates the mission to do good throughout the world that compelled Ignatius
of Loyola to found of the Society of Jesus. Michael Greco ’72, who emigrated
from Italy as a seven-year-old boy, has become the second BC Law alumnus to
head the American Bar Association (the first was John J. Curtin ’57).
Greco’s first sight of the Statue of Liberty colors to this day his commitment
to liberty and rights.
The list goes on. Hardly a section of the magazine doesn’t itself mirror
the phenomenon of BC Law’s own global footprint.
Vicki Sanders
Editor in Chief
Look for the new issue of BC Law Magazine in your mailbox and
online at the beginning of December!
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