Sciences Po, Paris
Georgetown offers third year students the opportunity to study for a year at Institut d'Études Politique de Paris (Sciences Po), one of France's most highly regarded universities. The program awards a Master's in Economic Law, Global Governance Studies Specialization. In addition, Georgetown students receive up to a maximum of 28 Georgetown credits toward their J.D. degree.
This unique year-long program is designed to provide a comprehensive theoretical and practical approach to legal issues in a global context, whether from a perspective of international litigation and arbitration, of supranational economic governance, or as a matter of transnational advocacy in human rights cases.
It comprises a compulsory common core of classes relating to advanced private and economic international law, international commercial and investment arbitration, and human rights, development, and corporate social responsibility. The students are then free to choose electives which focus either on global business and economic law, litigation and arbitration, or accountability, development, and human rights.
Methodologically, it offers a deliberately comparative and transdisciplinary perspective on global issues, emphasizing multiple cultural viewpoints. Epistemologically, it rests on a pluralistic conception of the legal field in global context, encouraging students to break the frames of traditional state-centered legal discourse in public and private international law and to think how to design legal tools for purposes of social innovation.
Teaching takes place largely in English, but students may opt for course offerings in French and, in some instances, Spanish. The overall intake of students is 50 and classes are small (a maximum enrollment of 20 for the compulsory classes and less for the electives). Seven Georgetown students participated in 2012-2013, and there are seven spaces available in 2013. The small number of students ensures close attention and assistance.
The richness of this program lies in the interaction between students from different institutions and countries, with differing aspirations, horizons, and cultural backgrounds; in the equally varied faculty and guests, who contribute views of globalization from the South and the East; in the compulsory common core of course offerings, which prevents the usual gap between the study of business law and economic governance on the one hand, and issues of social justice, development, and human rights on the other.
With the successful completion of all course work, American students will obtain a French national law degree, entitling them to sit for the French bar exam.
