Summer in Oxford Program

2010 Academic Program

Five different courses will be offered, each with a maximum class size of thirty students. Students enrolled in the program may choose any combination of the five courses and earn up to six semester hours of credit.

Comparative Legal Professions (3 semester hours). This course examines the legal professions in England and the United States. It examines the ways in which services are delivered to clients in the two countries, and will challenge commonly held assumptions about lawyers and the legal profession. Reference also will be made to the comparative ethical requirements imposed upon lawyers in the United States and England. The course will be taught by Professor Christopher Whelan who has taught legal profession courses in both Great Britain and the United States. This course may satisfy state bar or law school requirements in professional responsibility. Students are advised, however, to check their local requirements.

Comparative Corporate Law (3 semester hours). Lawyers, policy makers, executives and even small business are increasingly interacting with foreign corporations and international financial markets. This course offers a basic introduction to the major corporate law issues arising in international corporate practice from a comparative perspective. The course will focus on issues relating to choice of law, creditor and shareholder rights, corporate governance structures, enforcement of fiduciary duties by regulators and shareholders, insider trading, and mergers and acquisitions. While each of these situations will obviously require consultation with a local attorney or advisor, every lawyer should have a general understanding of the major comparative differences, which are not only essential to assist clients in international deals but are an important source of ideas and innovation for purely domestic business transactions. A familiarity with corporate law is not a prerequisite. The course will be taught by Professor Paul Rose of The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. Professor Rose practiced law in the corporate and securities practice group at Covington & Burling’s before beginning his academic career.

Comparative Dispute Resolution (2 semester hours). This course examines the primary methods for resolving disputes other than a formal trial and compares cross-culturally the design and implementation principles governing their use. Students will analyze the strengths and weaknesses in using both consensual processes, such as negotiation, conciliation, mediation and fact-finding and adjudicatory forum such as arbitration to resolve civil, employment, family and commercial disputes, and explore how different cultures address such design questions as intervener neutrality and party power imbalance. The course will be taught by Professor Joseph B. Stulberg of The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. Professor Stulberg is a former Vice President of the American Arbitration Association and currently a Distinguished Fellow of the American College of Civil Trial Mediators.

European Union Law (3 semester hours). This course introduces the institutional and constitutional framework of the European law in its political, economic, and international context. It also examines the economic objectives of the European Union, the role of law in achieving those objectives, and the feasibility of law-based market integration. The course will be taught by Professor Christopher Whelan who is currently Associate Director, International Law Programs at the University of Oxford.

Comparative Sentencing and Punishment (1 semester hour). This course explores some of the major issues surrounding the administration of criminal justice in England and the United States. The course focuses on generic questions, and deals with broad principles and general problems in an effort to get students thinking about how law works as a means of social control. It takes a socio-legal view, focusing on the key institutions of the criminal justice system in both countries. The course will be taught by Professor Keith Hawkins who is currently Professor of Law and Society at the University of Oxford.

The University of Oxford–Ohio State Summer Law Program is now in its 18th year, having taught over 800 law students. The academic program has been approved by the American Bar Association's Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar and credit is awarded by The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.

Guest Lectures

In addition to the regularly scheduled classes, the Program features at least six or seven lectures by prominent scholars in their respective fields. Topics of past lectures have included "Tony Blair's Domestic Policy Triumphs 1997-2007," "From Blair to Brown: British Foreign Policy in Flux," and "The Conservative Challenge: The Politics of David Cameron." The cost of these lectures is included in the program tuition.

Side Trips

The Program also includes numerous educational and cultural side trips. Students will visit courts in Oxford and London (including the Old Bailey), the English Inns of Court, and the Houses of Parliament. Trips also will be scheduled to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, Windsor Castle, and Runnymede. The cost of these trips is included in the program tuition.