Courses

Greece:  Athens/ Mykonos/ Corfu

Transnational Litigation (Required 2-Credit Course, First Session)
Professor Laurence (Lonny) M. Rose, University of Miami School of Law.  This course is designed to introduce students to various aspects of transnational civil litigation. We will commence with a survey look from both a domestic and foreign perspective of personal jurisdiction and the recognition of judgments.  To the extent time permits the course will then focus upon the following:  service of process domestic and foreign, gathering of evidence abroad, sovereign immunity, act of state doctrine, forum and choice of law selection clauses, and arbitration.

Students Select Two Out of Four Course Offerings(second session)

Spain: Barcelona

Comparative and International Investment Finance (2 credits)
Professor Stephen K. Halpert, University of Miami School of Law.  This course will compare the regulation of securities, financial markets, and financial professionals in the United States and Europe, both from the perspective of businesses seeking to raise capital and investors trading in securities.  It is intended to acquaint students with the structure and operation of regulation in the United States and the European Union, and to focus them on legal issues raised by transnational investment transactions.  The United States enjoys the largest and most liquid capital markets in the world.  As a consequence, many foreign companies choose to list their securities directly for trading in United States markets or indirectly in the form of American Depository Receipts (ADRs).  Increasingly, however, United States businesses are raising money abroad—there was approximately a $650 billion dollar net inflow of investment into the United States in 2005—and United States investors are choosing to purchase securities directly in the market of the home country.  What should a United States lawyer know to advise a client who contemplates raising money abroad?  Conversely, what special concerns are raised representing foreign clients investing in United States businesses?  In the case of investment   gone  bad,  what  recourse  is available under domestic law for transactions undertaken abroad?

Comparative Trends in Family Law (2 credits)
Professor Josep Ferrer, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona.  The course will analyze the most relevant areas of family law from a comparative perspective: requirements for marriage, fault vs. no fault divorce, cohabitation, prenuptial agreements, distribution of family assets and maintenance claims after family breakdown, filiation and assisted reproduction and child custody. The discussion in the classroom will focus on broad issues of public policy in these areas, taking into consideration legal materials, judicial decisions, and principles and recommendations from major European jurisdictions, other western countries, and decisions of the European Court of Human Rights.

Comparative Legal Theory: Civil vs. Common Law (2 credits)
Professor Marisa Iglesias, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona. The purpose of the course is to reexamine the generally alleged differences between the civil law and the common law traditions, especially regarding the character and techniques of legal reasoning. We will emphasize on those factors leading to a convergence between both traditions (particularly the transformation of the sources of law and legal culture, including the phenomenon of globalization). The course will focus on the impact of these factors upon the general way of addressing several topics in legal theory: conceptions of legal interpretation, models of normative adjudication, the problem of legal determinacy, and the scope of judicial discretion in adjudication.

International Commercial Contracts (2 credits)
Professor Jose Ramon Salelles, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona.  The economic exchange that takes place in the market often has an international dimension: parties belong to different countries, products or services have to cross borders to be delivered or received. This frequent dimension of the commercial activity poses basically two different set of questions: the first one, of formal character, is related to the conflict of laws that may be applicable to a particular transaction, and makes relevant the set of rules that will lead to decide the court, or arbitrator, that will decide the case. The second one has on, the other hand, a substantive character. Parties to international commercial contracts usually provide that they shall be governed by general principles of law, usages and customs of international trade or by the lex mercatoria, and such categories are usually taken into account by judges and arbitrators when deciding a case. The course will explore the mechanisms that have been developed in international trade to solve the conflict of laws and to determine the proper jurisdiction when disputes concerning a particular contract arise. It will also explore the frame that has been provided internationally, with a different degree of compulsion, and without disregarding the role that plays the standardization of some practices, to give certainty to such transactions. Different contracts will be examined taking into account these developments, considering the importance of the Convention for the International Sale of Goods to that end, and the role of the Unidroit Principles of International Commercial Contracts, as a means of interpreting and supplementing the different instruments. The approach will be case-oriented.

Course Materials

All courses will be self-contained.  Books and other required course materials will be provided in advance of departure to Athens for the required course, Transnational Litigation.  Books and other required course materials for the remaining four courses will be supplied on-site at the Organizational Meeting on July 9 in Barcelona.  All courses will be taught in English.

Drop/ Add Courses

Due to the structure of the Summer Abroad Programs, there will be no drop/add period on site.  This will be strictly adhered to.  Students may drop/add a course before the registration deadline of March 30th.