Comparative AI Regulation
Anupam Chander and Madhavi Sunder, Georgetown Law

Countries seek to embrace the opportunities of AI but recognize that AI also carries significant risks. This course will examine different approaches to AI regulation, including those of the EU, the U.S., and China. How should we regulate a technology whose capacities are evolving and unpredictable? How can we ensure that AI information tools minimize harms? Should we worry if the government dictates what AI can say or not say? We will examine AI controversies, from the use of AI in criminal justice, to efforts to diversify AI outputs with unintended results. AI can create art instantly, but many worry about misappropriation of artistic work. Who should be liable when an AI-based system makes an error? We will focus as well on intellectual property law, tort law, speech law, and discrimination law. No prior knowledge of computer programming or AI is necessary to take this course.

2 Credits. Evaluation: Class Attendance and Participation (20%), Final research paper (4,000 words) (80%).

ONE-PLUS OPTION:

For 1 extra credit, a limited number of students who need to fulfill a graduation requirement at their home university may write a major research paper. To obtain the extra credit, the student must (a) turn in a written outline of the paper for faculty comment relatively early in the semester, (b) turn in a complete first draft for faculty comment two-thirds of the way through the semester, and (c) write a paper of 6,000 words, not including footnotes.

Please note that this course has been approved as a WR course for Georgetown students.

Comparative Jurisprudence: The Civil and Common Law Traditions
James Penner, National University of Singapore

This course will consider a number of topics, examining them from the civil law legal philosophical tradition and the Anglo-American analytic philosophical tradition which dominates in common law jurisdictions. The main focus of the course will be on how these traditions compare in their outlook on a number of subjects of jurisprudential inquiry. Topics will include legal positivism, legal norms, legal validity, sources of law, legal interpretation, legal reasoning, and the nature of legal rules and principles.

2 Credits. Evaluation: Attendance and class participation, including one assigned comment on one of the week’s reading submitted the day prior to the relevant class (20%), Final take-home exam (8 hours) (2,500 words) (80%).

Comparative Public Law in South Asia
Sourav Mandal, Jindal Global Law School

The state of human rights, rule of law, stifling of journalistic freedoms, and climate change; the rise in authoritarianism and the backsliding of democratic institutions worldwide signal at the role and limitations of/on Governments, and the successes and failures of politics in our generation—these are shared concerns at both global and local levels. Thus, for the current generation of law students, it is important that they have a basic understanding of different political systems, various forms of government, followed with a sound grasp over the foundational principles of constitutional law.

This course offers the students to learn about the political systems in the South Asian region through a basic training on the concepts and frameworks of constitutional law, role of the courts, political practice and constitutional culture in South Asia. Further, it will introduce the students to the canonical and critical scholarship on the methodologies and methods of comparative public law, that are used globally.

The course will be of interest to those who are seeking a career in the United Nations, other transnational national organizations like the World Bank, or large global NGOs engaged in human rights advocacy, or in the academia. The course should also be of interest to those seeking a career in the practice of comparative public law, constitutional and human rights litigation, or for those aspiring to have a career into politics, diplomacy and international relations.

1 Credit. Evaluation: Attendance and Class participation (35%): Students are expected to effectively participate in the class discussions while demonstrating familiarity with the course readings (by responding to and raising questions), and present course readings each week in class, in the absence of which they will not be able to score in this component of the course. Research Essay of 2,500-3,000 words (65%).

Internet Law
Anupam Chander, Georgetown Law

Almost everything we do, we do at least some aspect of it online. From commerce to speech, internet companies intermediate our daily activities. In the process, internet companies are changing how we live. Is the internet a free speech zone protected by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, or does it heed hate speech or political speech regulations from abroad? Can copyright law survive the worldwide copying machine of the internet? Is privacy dead when corporations know where you are and what you are doing nearly 24/7? Focusing on U.S. case law and statutes, but also including some European material, this course examines the evolving law regulating internet enterprises.

Required textbook: Anupam Chander, Internet Law: Cases and Materials (4th ed., 2024).

2 Credits. Evaluation: Class Attendance and Participation (20%), Final take-home exam (8 hours) (2,500 words) (80%).

Judging History: International Adjudication (1872-2024)
Niccolò Ridi, King’s College London

This course offers a unique exploration into the evolution of the global geopolitical landscape and through the lens of international adjudication, that is to say, litigation through international courts and tribunals. Through the lens of landmark cases, this course traces the history of how international law has played a pivotal role in resolving conflicts that have shaped nations and international relations—or in not resolving them at all. 

Each lecture will delve into one to three significant cases, examining the legal arguments, historical context, and broader implications of the decisions. The course will explore pivotal cases such as the Alabama Claims arbitration, which was instrumental in the thawing of the relations between the US and the UK after the American Civil War; the Nicaragua case, a watershed moment in the Cold War, where the ICJ ruled against the US interference in Nicaraguan affairs, shaping perceptions of U.S. foreign policy during this period; the WTO Rare Earths dispute, involving China’s export restrictions on critical materials, which highlighted the potential for resource-based leverage in international relations and the role of trade law in addressing power imbalances; the Indus Waters Treaty arbitrations, showing how procedural law can either stimulate or stand in the way of the resolution of a long-standing water-sharing conflict between India and Pakistan; the Von Pezold v Zimbabwe case, in which questions of foreign direct investment protection became interwoven  with matters of land ownership and racial discrimination in Zimbabwe, shedding light of the intersection between human rights, property rights, and postcolonial justice in the African context. 

Students will engage critically with primary sources such as judgments and pleadings to understand how international law (substantive and procedural) and its application determined the resolution of these disputes, as well as the societal impacts of these rulings. By connecting these cases to broader historical shifts, the course aims to illustrate how international adjudication may serve as a lens and a privileged point of observation to witness the world’s changing political, social, and moral landscapes.

This course is designed for students interested in the intersections of law, history, and international relations, providing them with a comprehensive understanding of the role of law in international affairs and its capacity to drive societal change.

2 Credits. Evaluation: Class participation (20%), Final take-home exam (8 hours) (2,500-3,000 words) (80%).

Queering Family Law: How to use Transnational Law as an Advocacy Toolkit
Sourav Mandal, Jindal Global Law School

The theory and practice of Family Law in both domestic and international legal frameworks is gradually transitioning towards an increasingly egalitarian and inclusive space from a domain that has essentially been (and continues to remain) ‘heteronormative’ at its core. Such foundational frames of reference have been shifting/challenged in the last three decades in most parts of the Global North; in the recent years, waves of change are visible in many regions of the Global South too. However, the trajectories of such changes are multi-axial and non-linear, representing a set of complex political and cultural narratives that are often built upon some of the classic conundrums of our times—universal human rights versus pluralism of cultural values; sovereignty of nation states versus a workable transnational legal order; formal versus informal law; law as a tool of governance versus law as an agent of positive social change; legal changes through judicialization versus legislation.

2 Credits. Evaluation: Attendance and Class participation (25%): Students are expected to effectively participate in the class discussions while demonstrating familiarity with the course readings (by responding to and raising questions), and present course readings each week in class, in the absence of which they will not be able to score in this component of the course.
Submission of Research Plan (25%), Final Draft of Research Essay (4,000 words) (50%).

ONE-PLUS OPTION:

For 1 extra credit, a limited number of students who need to fulfill a graduation requirement at their home university may write a major research paper. To obtain the extra credit, the student must (a) turn in a written outline of the paper for faculty comment relatively early in the semester, (b) turn in a complete first draft for faculty comment two-thirds of the way through the semester, and (c) write a paper of 6,000 words, not including footnotes.

Please note that this course has been approved as a WR course for Georgetown students.

Talking about Justice
Hubert Stöckli, University of Fribourg

Delivering justice is a core aspect of any legal system. However, it does not get the attention it deserves in legal education, or so this professor thinks. After many years of teaching, he believes more could be done in this area. This course allows you (and him) to explore different aspects revolving around justice, exchange your views with others, and, quite critically, have your opinions challenged by others. Although essential, the principal aim of this class is not to impart theoretical knowledge. Instead, we will approach the question of what justice can mean in various contexts and how it can be produced, or at least how one can move towards it, by discussing specific problems and cases. This professor’s background is the law of obligations, which explains why some (not all!) cases will be drawn from that area of the law. Guest speakers with diverse expertise will help expand our horizons. Students are expected to actively participate and contribute their views and experiences to the discussions in class.

2 Credits. Evaluation: Class participation (20%), Final research paper (4,000 words) (80%).

The European Union in the World: The Law of EU External Relations
Alberto Miglio, University of Torino

The European Union (EU) is a major actor in international relations and the impact of its policies on the international scene has grown steadily over the years. At the same time, the ability of the EU to act externally is closely tied to the specificities of its own legal order, such as the principle of conferral and its peculiar institutional structure. The study of the law regulating EU external relations is therefore indispensable to understand the scope and the effects of EU action in the international arena.

Against this background, the course is addressed to students with an interest in EU law, trade law or international law more generally and aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the legal aspects of EU external relations.

The course is strongly case law based. Most of the readings are judgments or opinions of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

2 Credits. Evaluation: Attendance and class participation, including one class presentation (25%), Final take-home exam (8 hours) (75%).

The Institutions and Domestic Laws of the European Union
Giovanni Gruni, ESADE Law School

The European Union (EU) is a family of liberal democratic countries, acting collectively through an institutionalized system of decision-making. The EU was set up as a consequence of the negative experiences of the founding member states during and in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. The objective of peace went hand in hand with a desire to ensure that Europe was able to get back on its feet economically after 1945. Although the EU has changed dramatically since the early days of the Community, growth and employment remain at the top of the EU’s agenda. This course will review in depth the origins, evolution and current challenges of the European integration project. The course will focus specifically on the institutional laws of the EU, its core legal concepts and principles as well as the rules on the EU internal market and other core areas of domestic EU laws.

Required textbook: Karen Davies, Maarten van Munster and Isabel Düsterhöft, Understanding European Union Law (8th ed., 2023).

2 Credits. Evaluation: Class participation (20%), Final presentation (30%), Final take-home exam (8 hours) (2,500 words) (50%).

Transnational Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution
Alberto Miglio, University of Torino and Hubert Stöckli, University of Fribourg

The course provides an overview of the legal framework and the strategic aspects of commercial dispute resolution in a transnational context. It covers both the jurisdictional aspects of cross-border litigation (jurisdiction, choice-of-court agreements, parallel proceedings) and the main alternative dispute resolution methods (mediation, arbitration).

The course approaches the topic from different, complementary perspectives. On the one hand, it looks at how different legal orders regulate transnational dispute settlement. On the other hand, it focuses on the roles of parties involved in the conflict, their lawyers, and neutral third parties hired to help manage the dispute.

The course requires active participation from students. It combines lectures and class discussions with practical activities (e.g., a simulation or a drafting exercise), guest lecture(s), and possibly a visit to a judicial or arbitral institution.

2 Credits. Evaluation: Class participation and practical exercises (30%), Problem-based final take-home exam (8 hours) (2,200 words maximum) (70%).

Transnational Wealth Management Law
James Penner, National University of Singapore

With the leaks of the ‘Panama Papers’ and the ‘Paradise Papers’ the so-called ‘offshore’ financial industry has come under increasing scrutiny in the media. The main question this course will cover is how, in legal terms, the offshore financial industry works. The emphasis will be on the law of trusts of the offshore world, where many of the modern trusts employed to safeguard the assets of the wealthy were developed, especially the development of modern discretionary trust structures. No prior knowledge of the law of trusts is required. The course will also cover the use of civil law foundations to achieve many of the same purposes.

2 Credits. Evaluation: Attendance and class participation, including one assigned comment on one of the week’s reading submitted the day prior to the relevant class (20%), Final take-home exam (8 hours) (2,500 words) (80%).

World Trade Law
Giovanni Gruni, ESADE Law School

World trade law is the body of international laws underpinning international economic exchanges between States. From an embryonic system of rules created after World War II to deal mainly with customs duties on goods, world trade law blossomed into an extensive apparatus of norms including not only free movement of goods and services but also intellectual property rights, food safety, public intervention into the economy and many other areas of regulation. Notably, world trade law is endowed with an exceptionally efficient dispute settlement mechanism, the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which distinguishes itself for its automatic jurisdiction on all matters related to WTO covered agreements. The WTO itself is a complex international organisation created in 1995 which is playing a pivotal role in shaping the rules and policies governing globalisation. In addition to the WTO a complex web of free trade agreements (FTAs) creates one of most developed bodies of norms known to public international law.

This course is an introduction to world trade law in all its substantive, procedural and institutional elements. The course starts with an overview of the history of world trade law since the end of World War II to the creation of the WTO and the emergence of FTAs. The course then delves into the details of WTO institutional design and of selected areas of WTO law and practice: the GATT and free movement of goods, the GATS and free movement of services, Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The courses then focuses on new challenges to world trade law created by the need to protect the environment and social rights, its institutional crisis and the utilization of FTAs as regulatory alternative to the WTO. The last part of the course will explain how the European Union and United States influence the development of world trade law via their international trade policy.

Required textbook: Peter Van den Bossche and Denise Prévost, Essentials of WTO Law (2nd ed., 2021).

2 Credits. Evaluation: Class participation (20%), Final presentation (30%), Final take-home exam (8 hours) (2,500 words) (50%).

Bioethics and the Law in Legal Comparative Perspective
Simona Novaretti, University of Torino

The course aims to define the complex relations among law, ethics and the body in different legal cultural settings, through a comparison among international, Euro-American (“Western”) and Asian (“Eastern”) legal patterns and attitudes.

In particular, the course analyses the impact of philosophical and religious traditions on the development of the concept of physical body and of the events related to it, such as birth, life, suffering (physical pain), and death in different area of the world. Then, it explores if and how the interplay among diverse moral principles have affected the way in which biotechnological innovations have been received and regulated by international and national legal systems. The course deals with topics such as assisted procreation, gestational surrogacy, abortion, organ transplantation, genetic engineering, cloning, medical ethics, animal testing and euthanasia. Each issue will be analysed using the tools of comparative law, to understand whether friction points in regulating the biosciences exist, both theoretically and operationally, among different legal traditions and legal systems within them, and how they look like.

2 Credits. Evaluation: Class participation (30%), Research paper (4,000 words) on a topic related to the course (70%).

ONE-PLUS OPTION:

For 1 extra credit, a limited number of students who need to fulfill a graduation requirement at their home university may write a major research paper. To obtain the extra credit, the student must (a) turn in a written outline of the paper for faculty comment relatively early in the semester, (b) turn in a complete first draft for faculty comment two-thirds of the way through the semester, and (c) write a paper of 6,000 words, not including footnotes.

Please note that this course has been approved as a WR course for Georgetown students.

Charity Law and Regulation: International Perspectives
Rosemary Langford, University of Melbourne

Charities are an essential part of the social fabric and economy in many jurisdictions and vital to social cohesion and wellbeing, as well as making significant economic contributions. Charities face challenges due to acute economic, social and technical changes, as well as increased public scrutiny, often partly due to charity scandals and failures. The international dimensions of charity law – and the insights that can be gained from the experience and perspective of other jurisdictions – cannot be underestimated. This course provides a multijurisdictional perspective on key issues in governance and regulation of charities, incorporating insights from common law and civil jurisdictions. The course looks first at the characteristics of charities, including core aspects common to a number of jurisdictions. It then appraises challenges facing charities, including the nature of charity accountability; governance of charities and the role of purpose; regulation of charities; bespoke charity legal vehicles; and reform of charity law and regulation.

2 Credits. Evaluation: Class Participation and Presentation (20%), Research Essay (4,000 words) (80%).

Citizenship and Nationality
Audrey Macklin, University of Toronto

The term “citizenship” has many legal facets. Citizenship can denote a status, a package  of rights (and, to a lesser extent, responsibilities), or a set of practices and performances. Inside the state, citizens and non-citizens are created and differentiated by citizenship law, immigration  law, constitutional law and other branches of national law. International law recognizes  the right of each state to determine who are its nationals, but also constrains the  state’s ability to do so and regulates the rights and duties that attach to nationality.  This seminar will explore theoretical and comparative perspectives on the acquisition,  enjoyment and loss of legal citizenship. It will also examine law’s role in honing citizenship’s sociological and political facets. Topics to be discussed may include birthright citizenship, naturalization, dual citizenship, denationalization, non-resident citizen and non-citizen resident voting, the rights of citizens and foreign nationals,  supranational (EU) citizenship, and statelessness.

2 Credits. Evaluation: Class Participation (20%): The instructor may assign students specific tasks (brief reaction paper, class presentation), Final take-home exam (8 hours) (80%).

Comparative and Transnational Family Law: Understanding the Global Family
Sharon Shakargy, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Family law regulates one of the most significant building blocks of society. It is a dynamic and ever-evolving social framework. The way in which the law regulates the family not only profoundly influences lives but also mirrors the core values of its creators. At the same time, family laws worldwide also demonstrate similar tendencies, influenced by global mobility, international norms (such as human rights), common needs emerging worldwide, and shared histories and influences  (such as the Judeo-Christian paradigm). This course explores the ways in which different legal systems around the globe shape families and individuals’ lives through a comparative lens. The course will discuss marriage and various emerging family forms, child rights, and property distribution across multiple jurisdictions and critically examine the impact of cultural values, religious doctrines, and international human rights norms on family law.

Prior training in family law is not required.

2 Credits. Evaluation: Active class participation (30%), Research paper on a specific case with an oral presentation in class (70%).

Crimmigration
Audrey Macklin, University of Toronto

The term ‘crimmigration’ was coined by Juliet Stumpf in her 2006 article, The Crimmigration Crisis: Immigrants, Crime, and Sovereign Power, 56 Am. U. L. Rev. 367.  Crimmigration describes the nexus between criminal and immigration law and enforcement.  One scholar described it as ‘a new system of social control that draws from both immigration and criminal justice, but is purely neither.’  Although immigration law is a branch of administrative law (like environmental, securities, or labour law), non-citizens have long been subject to negative stereotypes and discourses that encourage a linkage of immigration with crime, as exemplified by the label ‘illegal immigrant.’  This course explores how immigration law increasingly draws on techniques and logics associated with the penal governance, and also how the criminal law has been mobilized to turn breaches of immigration law in criminal offences, thus creating crimes applicable only to non-citizens.  Topics include the production of irregular or ‘illegal’ status, race and the legacy of colonialism, migrant detention, ‘hostile environment’ policies that surveille and stigmatize non-citizens, deportation on grounds of criminaity, counter-terrorism, anti-smuggling, and denationalization.

2 Credits. Evaluation: Class Participation (20%): The instructor may assign students specific tasks (brief reaction paper, class presentation), Final take-home exam (8 hours) (80%).

Current Issues in Corporate Governance
Rosemary Langford, University of Melbourne

It is a momentous time in the area of corporate governance, with significant challenges and changes confronting governance paradigms, as well as the potential for important transformations. The focus of this course is on key topics and themes that transcend national boundaries and confront multiple jurisdictions and the international community as a whole. The course first outlines the concept of corporate governance and its core components, as well as central aspects of directors’ duties. It then focuses on key topics and themes such as corporate purpose and corporate voice; sustainability and sustainability reporting (including greenwashing); the contours of the interests of the company and the concept of social licence to operate; cybersecurity; shareholder activism; and regulatory challenges arising from the rapid rise in technology (such as decentralised autonomous organisations and crypto assets).

2 Credits. Evaluation: Class Participation and Presentation (20%), Research Essay (4,000 words) (80%).

ONE-PLUS OPTION:

For 1 extra credit, a limited number of students who need to fulfill a graduation requirement at their home university may write a major research paper. To obtain the extra credit, the student must (a) turn in a written outline of the paper for faculty comment relatively early in the semester, and (b) write a paper of 6,000 words, not including footnotes.

Please note that this course has not been approved as a WR course for Georgetown students.

Internet Law
Anupam Chander, Georgetown Law

Almost everything we do, we do at least some aspect of it online. From commerce to speech, internet companies intermediate our daily activities. In the process, internet companies are changing how we live. Is the internet a free speech zone protected by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, or does it heed hate speech or political speech regulations from abroad? Can copyright law survive the worldwide copying machine of the internet? Is privacy dead when corporations know where you are and what you are doing nearly 24/7? Focusing on U.S. case law and statutes, but also including some European material, this course examines the evolving law regulating internet enterprises.

Required textbook: Anupam Chander, Internet Law: Cases and Materials (5th ed., 2025).

2 Credits. Evaluation: Class Attendance and Participation (20%), Final take-home exam (8 hours) (2,500 words) (80%).

Liability and Insurance
Christian Armbrüster, Free University of Berlin

Life entails liability risks, and this is in particular true for any economic activity. For instance, the user of a car who causes an accident is subject to drivers’ liability, and a car manufacturer incurs the risk of product liability for any defects. Equally a lawyer or a medical doctor who does not meet professional standards will, in principle, have to come up for the damage caused. Managers may be liable for breach of duty towards their employers or shareholders. If guarantees given in an M&A transaction turn out to be wrong this may lead to a claim for compensation by the buyer of the target company.

Nowadays all over the world liability risks are frequently transferred to an insurance company. This risk transfer enables individuals as well as companies to act without constant fear of financial losses (or even ruin) due to their liability for damages. As a side effect it fosters technological innovations.

The course examines, in a comparative perspective, the basic rules of private liability and of liability insurance. As a starting point we will analyse the various scenarios in which liability may occur, along with the principles that govern liability in different legal systems. The course then focusses on the functioning of liability insurance as an instrument of risk transfer, its effectiveness and its limits. Various alternative instruments will be discussed as well, such as compensation funds, captive insurance or the different forms of ATR (alternative risk transfer).

We will benefit from London’s role as a leading centre of the global insurance and reinsurance industry by doing field trips to insurance companies and to law firms that specialise in this important and exciting area of private law.

2 Credits. Evaluation: Active class participation (20%), Visits and external activities (10%), Research paper with oral presentation in class (4,000 words) (70%). 

Miscarriages of Justice
Hannah Quirk, King’s College London

Miscarriages of justice take place in every system and the causes are broadly the same. The risks of their occurrence and the measures taken to mitigate against them vary, but scholarship and practice have been quite insular. This course uses England and Wales as a useful model, as miscarriages of justice have been the drivers of greatest systemic as well as procedural changes to the criminal justice system but some of the examples will be from other jurisdictions and students will be encouraged to reflect upon comparisons with their own legal system.

This course gives an introduction to miscarriages of justice: the contested definitions; some of the causes (such as erroneous eyewitness testimony, false confessions, faulty circumstantial evidence, and prosecutorial excesses); efforts to overturn them; and different mechanisms for dealing with them, such as journalism, individual campaigns, innocence projects and state organisations. It will also examine how miscarriages of justice are treated in popular culture so there will be a suggested programme of novels, films, podcasts and television programmes (including Atonement, Twelve Angry Men, Serial and Making a Murderer.)

2 Credits. Evaluation: Class Participation: a 5-minute presentation to the class about a miscarriage of justice from the student’s own country (10%), Final take-home exam (8 hours) (90%).

Private International Law – A Comparative Approach
Christian Armbrüster, Free University of Berlin and Sharon Shakargy, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

In any private law case with a connection to more than one country, first of all, the rules of Private International Law come into the picture. These rules belong to national law and thus, while they often follow universally accepted principles, they vary from country to country, unless they have been unified, as it is the case in the EU. Our course aims at presenting and analysing the fundamental rules of Private International Law on a comparative basis. We will explore common principles as well as differences between national rules with a certain – but by no means exclusive – focus on UK and EU law. This will be done by looking at classic ‘landmark cases’ from various jurisdictions as well as modern (and sometimes very unusual) cases where Private International Law has been applied.

The course does not require any prior familiarity with Private International Law but a willingness to explore a wide range of legal areas, from family and succession law to contract, trade and company law to cultural heritage law.

Required textbook: Gilles Cuniberti, Conflict of Laws: A Comparative Approach, Text and Cases, 2nd edition. Also available as an e-book.

3 Credits. Evaluation: Active class participation (30%), Research paper on a specific case with oral presentation in class (4,000 words) (70%).