A Guide to U.S. Master's Degree Programs for International Students
International Law Programs Promote Global Understanding
International Law Programs provide international students with the opportunity to learn about the U.S. constitutional law process, to gain a more global perspective on legal issues, and to return to their countries with the ability to help them succeed internationally.
Students can also network with attorneys from around the globe, making international law programs all the more enticing. One student from Brazil also commented on the contacts he’d made, stating that he’d had the opportunity of living with attorneys from 18 different countries. “Besides improving my skills in solving common and civil law problems with an international perspective, I had a chance to make friends from around the world.”
Abdoulaye Sangare, an attorney and Fulbright student from Mali, said: “There is a great need in Africa to harmonize the laws among its countries, and the U.S. has set an example with its 50 states whose laws and regulations work in conjunction with federal law. American law is also at the heart of much of the business done around the world, and there’s a need to synthesize Mali’s commercial laws and regulations with those of the United States so that foreign investors are more willing to do business in Mali.”
Many international students come to programs in the U.S. for the exposure to the U.S. educational and legal systems. Saud Alarifi of Saudi Arabia noted that American universities are the best in the world. “Here you learn to think. And it’s not just from the professors, I’m learning from my classmates as well.”
Because of the globalization of national economies and the progressive increase in international trade, lawyers around the world increasingly find that their work requires them to advise and assist clients regarding foreign laws and legal systems, and to reconcile their countries’ legal requirements with those of foreign jurisdictions. Through LL.M. Programs, law schools participate in transnational law and economic development and prepare their students for their professional roles in the internationalized economy and in global integration. Foreign law graduates gain not only a basic knowledge of the U.S. legal system but have the opportunity to develop expertise in a particular area, by working on special projects and doing original research under the direction of a faculty member.
Nationally and internationally distinguished faculty have often pioneered law in such areas as scientific evidence, partnership law, conflict of laws, nonmarital cohabitation and criminal sentencing. They help to shape environmental law in Washington, D.C.; constitutions in Eastern Europe; commercial law in China; family law in England, the Netherlands and Germany; and arbitration and alternative dispute resolution in Indonesia.
Article provided by Susan Silva, UC Davis Extension International Law Program.
