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, 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 LLM 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 to Tibet and brought back a new perspective
on teaching, thanks to witnessing how monks there debate. In a campus 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 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