International LL.M. Courses
Comparative Law
(3 credit hours)
Examines the problems and issues that arise where legal practice involves foreign law, foreign legal systems, and/or foreign lawyers. In particular, the course focuses on the differences between legal systems and strategies for responding to those differences.
European Union Law
(3 credit hours)
A seminar examining the role of such Union institutions as the Council, Commission, Court Justice, and Parliament. The seminar also deals with specific topics such as European competition law and the regulation of trade and investment with the EU.
International Aspects of Intellectual Property Law
(3 credit hours)
Focuses on the international system for the protection and regulation of intellectual property rights, and on mechanisms for technology transfer to encourage global economic development.
International Business Transactions
(3 credit hours)
Studies the legal environment of private international business. Focuses on sales, distributorships, licensing of technology, and international investment as well as international dispute resolution mechanisms.
International Criminal Law
(2 credit hours)
Explores three principal areas: (1) the international procedural regime for enforcing national criminal law such as the extradition process and Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties; (2) substantive international criminal law such as that which defines and proscribes genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against peace; and (3) the development and functioning of the new institutions created to indict, try, and punish those accused of serious international crimes, such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Court.
International Human Rights Law
(2 credit hours)
Considers the role of international law, international agreements, and international organizations in promoting and protecting human rights. The course also reviews strategies for invoking international human rights standards in the courts of the United States and other countries.
International Law
(3 credit hours)
Introduces key concepts and doctrines, including sources, of international law such as custom and treaty, the role of international organizations such as the United Nations, the basis of international jurisdiction, the law governing the use of force and protection of human rights, and the constitutional basis for United States participation in the international legal system.
International Law Moot Court
(1 credit hour)
Students demonstrating excellence in written and oral advocacy of international law issues may join the International Law Moot Court Honor Society. Members compete in a variety of competitions including in recent years, the Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Competition, the Canada/U.S. Law Institute Niagara Competition, the Space Law Competition, and the William C. Vis International Commercail Arbitrators Moot Court.
International Securities Regulation
(3 credit hours)
Examines domestic corporation law and its connection to the regulation and operations of securities law in the stock markets in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Japan. The course includes the processes of harmonization and reciprocity with the European Union for corporation law, securities law, and banking law.
International Trade
(3 credit hours)
Focuses on the international trade system established by the World Trade Organization and on such regional organizations as the European Union and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Students are introduced to trade dispute settlement procedures, and examine United State's laws regulating trade.
International and Comparative Antitrust Seminar
(2 credit hours)
Studies selected topics in foreign and international antitrust law, including differences between U.S. and foreign antitrust regimes, the international reach of the U.S. antitrust law and problems of litigation relating to the international enforcement of antitrust laws.
Introduction to the American Legal System for Foreign Lawyers
(2 credit hours)
Designed to give foreign attorneys in the LL.M. Program in International and Comparative Law an overview of American Law.
Legal Drafting and Research for the International Lawyer
(3 credit hours)
Provides instruction in legal research, analysis, and writing for the international lawyer.
Tax Planning for International Business
(2 credit hours)
Examines the application of United States tax structures to international investments and business undertakings by United States citizens abroad and similar enterprises by foreign persons in the United States. The course begins with a problem approach to explore fundamental United States tax principles governing international transactions. The course ends with an examination of strategies in formation, acquisition, financing, operation and disposition of international business activities.
Topics in Comparative Constitutional Law
(2 credits)
This course will begin with readings from three different constitutional systems on the question of abortion and will focus on the possibility of sharing, borrowing or in some other way incorporating foreign constitutional law. The relationships between different constitutional systems and the limitations of comparison and comparative law will then be discussed more generally and systematically. The next section will look at the role and structure of constitutional courts, in particular positive and negative claims about judicial review. Finally, the course will return to individual and group rights focusing on the question what substantive norms are necessary for a constitutional system and can such questions be answered across different constitutional cultures. Prerequisites: Constitutional Law (please see Professor Harding if you wish to take this course and are taking Constitutional Law at the same time). Two credit hours.
Conflict of Laws
(3 Credits)
A study of the legal problems that arise when the domiciles of the parties or other significant facts of a controversy are connected with states other than that where the litigation occurs. Among the topics included are: the choice of applicable law, jurisdiction of courts, the effect of out-of-state judgments, and the rules of decision applicable in multi-state transactions. International conflicts are becoming increasingly frequent and important, and thus the class will include discussion of the international aspects of each of the three main areas of inquiry (choice of law, jurisdiction, and enforcement of judgments). Similarly, the application of these rules in the context of cyberspace is given attention. Three credit hours.
Immigration Law and Policy
(3 Credits)
This course first explores the historical backdrop to modern immigration law and policy and the sources of federal power in the area. Additional topics include immigrant preference categories (employment and family), other visas, admission and change of status, removal, issues surrounding undocumented aliens, and current refugee/asylum policy and procedures. Three credit hours.
International Capital Markets
(3 Credits)
This course examines the international aspects of the U.S. regulation of banking and securities; the international systems of regulating banking and capital markets including payments, settlements and capital adequacy; and the capital markets of the European Union (particularly U.K., Germany and France), and of Canada, and Japan. The course covers special instruments and techniques including Eurodollar deposits, Eurobonds, Global Bonds, international asset securitization, futures, options, swaps, offshore trusts, and project finance. Included are materials on second-tier markets such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, several of the emerging markets such as Mexico, Argentina, etc. and the special problems of the "offshore" centers such as Liechtenstein, Cayman Islands, Antigua, Jersey, and the like. Three credit hours.
International Commercial Litigation
(3 Credits)
This course will examine international commercial litigation from the investigation of transnational disputes through the enforcement of judgments in the United States and abroad. Topics studied will include, among others, case analysis, jurisdiction over non-U.S. defendants, service of process on foreign defendants, obtaining evidence abroad, extraterritoriality, trial of transnational cases, and enforcement of judgments. International arbitration will also be examined. The course will be taught from both an academic and practical perspective, using actual court documents where appropriate. Three credit hours.
Internet Law
(3 Credits)
This course covers legal and policy issues raised by the impact of the Internet on existing law. Topics considered include: freedom of speech, privacy, intellectual property, trademark and copyright, commercial transactions, computer crime, and jurisdictional issues. Course materials are available only on the Internet. It is a prerequisite of this course that students have a laptop with ability to connect to the Internet from home and the classroom. Three credit hours.
International Rule of Law Externship
(2 Credits)
The Rule of Law Externship Program seeks to develop externships in emerging democracies such as Bosnia, Poland and Macedonia. Students spend some time prior to the externship familiarizing themselves with the relevant law of the country in which they will extern and they then spend two or three weeks in the country in which the externship placement is situated performing their assigned tasks. Students receive two externship credits, graded on a pass/low pass/fail basis. After they return to Chicago-Kent, students write a scholarly paper on a topic related to their externship for which they receive graded credit.
International Environmental Law
(2 Credits)
Many resource-use issues transcend national boundaries. Some are recognized as common issues such as global warming and ozone depletion and others are discrete trans-boundary problems such as hazardous materials spills in international waterways. Still other problems such as rain forest depletion are both local and global problems. The seminar explores the international dimensions of environmentalism. Topics include: existing efforts of the international community to define a common set of environmental standards by which individual acts of sovereign nations can be judged, international law principles of trans-boundary liability, international environmental agreements, bilateral environmental agreements and indirect ways to induce individual nations to act in an environmentally responsible manner.
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