UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI SCHOOL OF LAW
ON THE MOVE….

In addition to the recent appointment of Patricia White as the Dean, the School of Law is hiring additional faculty and implementing new initiatives that will impact your experiences and opportunities while you are a Miami Law student. Over the next few years, the School of Law will hire 12 new faculty members, and build a new Law School facility here on the main campus which will allow us to continue the high quality of education provided to our students in a state-of-the-art, modern facility.  This is an exciting time to be involved with the University of Miami School of Law.  Here is a sampling of new programs and initiatives: 

International Arbitration Institute:  Beginning in the Fall of 2009, Jan Paulsson will serve as the Michael Klein Distinguished Scholar at the University of Miami School of Law. He is head of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s pre-eminent international commercial arbitration practice, and is consistently ranked one of the top three worldwide arbitration practitioners in the annual survey conducted by Who’s Who Legal. In addition to his practice, Paulsson is also the president of both the London Court of International Arbitration and the World Bank Administrative Tribunal.  In his post, Paulsson will head a newly established institute for international arbitration at the School of Law that will include an enhanced international curriculum, an LL.M. with a concentration in international arbitration, training, and CLE programs. The curriculum will feature offerings of special interest to students from Latin America. In addition, the institute will promote opportunities for international moot court competitions and will bring to campus arbitration specialists for lectures and seminars. “We are very excited that Jan Paulsson, one of the world’s leading experts on international arbitration, is joining our faculty,” said UM President Donna E. Shalala. “With his leadership, the School of Law will be prominently positioned as an important center for the study of international law.”

Immigration Clinic:  The Immigration Clinic will build on our existing faculty and curricular strengths by providing additional opportunities for our students to gain integrated practical legal experience through expanding live client clinical offerings in the area of immigration.  The Clinic will also enhance opportunities for community outreach and service, developing relationship with the local bench and bar and our alumni.  Further, the experience offered by the Clinic will enhance student learning and marketability. The Clinic will be directed by Professor Rebecca Sharpless.  Professor Sharpless received her Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School and served as a Supervising Attorney at the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center.

Therapeutic Jurisprudence Center:  The Center will conduct theoretical and empirical research, publish scholarly books, articles, and reports, perform training for judges and lawyers, conduct community programs, and hold conferences, symposia, and other educational programs locally, nationally, and internationally.  It also will participate in existing and future clinical and skills training programs at the law school, helping to implement new models, to develop teaching materials, and to conduct research concerning these programs. The Center will be directed by Professor Bruce Winick, a pioneer and major architect of therapeutic jurisprudence. It will generate scholarship in a wide range of legal areas, including mental health law and law and psychology generally. Colleagues from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, the University of Miami Ethics Programs, the University of Miami School of Education and the University of Miami Department of Psychology have worked with law school faculty on Therapeutic Jurisprudence projects in the past  The Center will provide a structure to facilitate the continuation and expansion of such interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary work with faculty at the University of Miami and at other academic institutions.

Business and Financial Law Certificate Program: Practicing business law today requires familiarity with a broad range of complex legal subjects. The Business and Financial Law Certificate program enables students to focus their studies in preparation for assisting clients undertaking sophisticated business, commercial and financial transactions. The program draws on our distinguished Faculty and outstanding practitioners from the Miami legal community to provide a rich offering of courses, informed guidance, and the opportunity to develop practice skills. Students who successfully complete the program receive special recognition on their on their transcripts and diplomas.

Transactional Externships: The School of Law has initiated a new program to place students in transactional externships.  Students receive 3 hours credit for working 12-15 hours per week for a semester in a private practice under the supervision of a practicing attorney.  Placements include the general counsel’s office in large corporations, including MTV-Latin America, Odebrecht Construction, and HEICO, and major law firms.  Placements are intended to expose the students to various transactional undertakings, including mergers and acquisitions, subcontracting, licensing and reorganizations.

Zurich Exchange Program: Beginning in the 2009-2010 academic year, Miami will offer a Zurich-Miami short term exchange program loosely based on Miami’s very successful program with the Law Faculty at Leipzig, Germany.  The Zurich program will offer a small group of selected Miami students an opportunity to spend a week in Zurich with students and professors from the University of Zurich and one week at Miami Law hosting visiting students from that institution.  Relevant topics will be drawn from the fields of international law governing international business comparative business law. 

Summer Abroad 2010:  In summer 2010, Miami will offer a new abroad program called Total China which is the only law summer abroad program that combines courses students really want to take, such as doing business in China and transactions and dispute resolution, while also including visits to all of the locations and sites students really want to explore.

Abroad offerings in Europe will include two sessions:  Session 1 will offer three options: LEAP (London/English Countryside/Amsterdam/Paris); Greece & Italy; or MLB Plus (Madrid/Lisbon/ Barcelona).  Session 2 will offer two options: Middle Europe (Venice/Ljubljana/ Zagreb/ Budapest/Vienna/Prague/Berlin) or Italy and Greece.