Program Specifics
GLS students are required to take a total of eight courses to satisfy program requirements, although in practice this may work out to only seven courses because, as is explained below, two requirements may be satisfied with one qualifying seminar.
Three of the eight required classes are seminars created especially for, and restricted to, GLS students. Students must attend the first year GLS seminar during their 1L year. There are two second-year seminars, each worth one credit. The first semester is structured around building an international skill-set, and the second semester applies those skills to the achievement of a predetermined goal. The division of the second-year seminar is intended to facilitate study abroad during students' 2L year.
The other five are courses that are open to all Georgetown law students. Two of these five are foundational courses: International Law I, which must be taken as an elective in students' first year; and International Law II, which must be taken in students' second year.
Students can choose the remaining three required courses or seminars from a lengthy list of qualifying alternatives. The first must be a seminar that satisfies students' J.D. writing requirement and must deal with international, transnational, or comparative law. The second is Comparative Law or one of a number of approved substitutes. Please note that some of the approved substitutes for Comparative Law include seminars that also satisfy students' J.D. writing requirement. Thus, if a student selects a qualifying comparative law J.D. writing requirement seminar, the student will satisfy both requirements in one course.
Finally, students are required to take a "focus" elective that involves international legal problems in a specific context. This last requirement is designed to allow students to pull together the U.S., foreign, and international dimensions of legal problems in a specific substantive area. This is a requirement that must be satisfied independent of the above requisites. For example, students may not satisfy both this and the J.D. writing seminar requirement by taking one writing requirement seminar dealing with international legal problems in a specific context. Students are encouraged, but not required, to take other relevant international courses. The Program Director will work with each GLS student to counsel them on course selections and to ensure that they meet program requirements. Prior approval of alternatives and electives is required.
Please Note: GLS Students cannot elect to enroll in Section 3's "Alternative" Curriculum. We generally insist that all GLS students be enrolled in a single section, for solidarity as well as scheduling reasons. More important, GLS students must take an international law elective in their first year, which serves as the prerequisite for many upper division classes and permits GLS students to begin taking internationally-oriented courses in the first semester of their second year. Section 3 does not have electives.
