Globalizing the U.S. Law School Curriculum: How Should Legal Educators Respond?

Abstract

This article examines the implications of globalization for legal practice, law students, and law school curricula. It opens with a review of the impact of globalization on the legal profession, together with an overview of the benefits and challenges that come with globalizing legal education. The article then examines the current state of U.S. legal education by identifying some of the schools that have expressed or demonstrated a commitment to providing a global legal education, and surveying the types of reforms that these schools have adopted in order to meet this objective. The article considers schools’ attitudes to and choice of reforms in light of the view that the typical new American lawyer is inadequately prepared to practice law in today's global legal order, in which he or she is increasingly likely to be called upon to resolve legal issues of a transnational nature. Preparing students to practice law in a globalized society, the article contends, should therefore be a key objective for American legal educators. With this goal in mind, the article examines the current program at Northwestern University School of Law as a case study and offers recommendations that can help to achieve the goal of globalizing legal education while responding to the needs and concerns of today's law students and future legal practitioners.