GGU/UPX Paris Summer Comparative Law Program

The 2009 Paris Summer Program dates are Saturday May 30 - Tuesday June 30, 2009

The GGU/UPX Paris Summer Comparative Law Program operates each June, in partnership with the University of Paris X (Nanterre). All classes are held at the Nanterre campus on the western edge of Paris, and are team-taught by a professor from Nanterre and a professor from the US. Most of the students reside at the Cite International Universite de Paris, a beautiful and comfortable campus located in the 14th arrondissement, on the southern edge of Paris.

The academic portion of the program is divided into two sessions lasting two weeks each, as described below. All classes are taught in English. (The class schedule is accessible by a link below.) All classes meet in the afternoon, leaving time for cultural activities and independent study.

During the first session, all students take a single two-unit course, Introduction to French & EU Law. The course is co-taught by our French co-director, Professor Anne Deysine of Nanterre, and GGU Professor Helen Hartnell. Classes meet four days a week for 210 minutes of lectures each day (usually three 60-75 minute sessions), and include lectures by faculty (including a few guest lectures), and by lawyers, public officials and judges at law firms, courts and agencies. Our visits will include at least two of the three French Supreme Courts (the Civil/Criminal Court, the Administrative Court, and the Constitutional Court, with lectures at each by members of the Court), an overnight trip to visit the European Commission in Brussels, and visits to major international law firms.

During the second session, students choose one of five two-unit comparative law courses, and are joined in the classroom by French and other EU graduate law students. Students are in class for two 60-75 minute sessions each day, followed by a 60-90 minute panel or mini-conference on a topic of comparative law, four days a week. Each course is team taught by an American law professor and a French law professor from the University of Paris faculty.

We welcome all law students with access to Westlaw to add our GGU/UPX Paris Program to their TWEN courses. Use the TWEN site to peruse the detailed outline of the program, read comments by and post questions for past participants, view photos, and contact Professor and Associate Dean David Oppenheimer.

If you have an existing Westlaw TWEN account, you can add the Paris Summer Program to your courses by simply clicking here for the TWEN course page and you'll be added.

Non-Westlaw users can obtain a guest login to the TWEN course by emailing Sandra Derian. You will receive a password within one business day.

Sponsored by Golden Gate University School of Law and the University of Paris X (Nanterre)

Click here to view photos taken by Carl Basile during the 2005 program.

United States, Canadian, and European students spend a month in Paris (May 30-June 30, 2009) studying comparative law in English with distinguished American and French law faculty and judges. The program will be limited to 60 US/Canadian students and 40 EU students. In 2009, we will offer:

• Comparative Remedies with Professor Sheila Foster of Fordham Law School and Professor Florence Bellivier of the University of Paris.
  
• Comparative Labor Law with Professor Paul Secunda of Marquette University Law School and Professor Pascal Lokiec of the University of Paris.
  
• Comparative Corporate Law with Professor Eric Gouvin of Western New England College School of Law and Professor Thierry Abella of the University of Paris.
  
• Comparative Criminal Justice with Professor Rachel Van Cleave of GGU and Professor Pascal Beauvais of the University of Paris.
  
• Comparative Equality Law with Professor David Oppenheimer of GGU and Professor Sophie Robin-Olivier of the University of Paris. (Professor Oppenheimer also serves as co-director of the program, handling all of the US administration, and all fiscal administration.)

Read the Course descriptions for the 2009 program.

Read about the faculty for the 2009 program.

Course Credits

• US and Canadian students earn 4 credits in the program.
• EU students may arrange for credits through University of Paris X (UPX).

Read the Credit and Enrollment policies for the 2009 program.

During the second session we sponsor a series of small conferences with special guests. In 2005 our guests included Catharine McKinnon of the University of Michigan School of Law. In 2006 our guests included Charles Ogletree of Harvard Law School, Nadine Strossen, President of the National ACLU, and Jesse Choper of the University of California Berkeley School of Law. In 2007 our guests included Eva Paterson, President of the Equal Justice Society, Kendall Thomas of Columbia Law School, and Sophie Latraverse, chief counsel of the HALDE (the French equivelent of the EEOC). In 2008 our guests included Luke Cole from the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment, AALS President-elect Rachel Moran, Bertrand du Marais, a member of the Counseil d'Etat (the Council of State, which is the French supreme court for administrative law cases), and leaders of several European civil rights organizations.

Our special guests have addressed such interesting issues as sex equality and globalization, comparative racial justice, US/EU views of liberty and security after 9/11, and comparative secularism and religious expression. The presentations are open to the public, and attract French and US attendees from the Nanterre campus and elsewhere, including employees of the United States Embassy in Paris. A limited number of internships will be available from June 29 - July 10 for students who wish to extend their stay. One unit of credit will be awarded for these internships.

In order to help orient our US students to Paris, and to French law and culture, we sponsor several orientation events. In 2009 we will take a cruise on the Seine, host a dinner in the Latin Quarter, and sponsor a night out on the town with English-speaking French law students (this was the most popular orientation event in past years).

For US, Canadian and other common law students, the 2009 program begins on Sunday, May 31 with mandatory orientation. Check in is on Saturday, May 30. Classes begin on Tuesday, June 2. The final day of the program is Saturday, June 27. Students should not plan on leaving before Sunday, June 28, and must check out of their rooms on or before the morning of Tuesday, June 30. We recommend that students plan on arriving in Europe no later than Thursday, May 28 in order to adjust to the time difference before classes begin on June 2.

For French and other civil law students, the program begins on Monday, June 15 and continues through Saturday, June 27. Classes will be held at the University of Paris X (Nanterre) (UPX) Law School campus, located near the La Defense neighborhood. The campus has its own Metro stop and has a law library and computer labs for student use.

Students will have full access to the main UPX law library, which has an extensive collection. The library director is fluent in English and will give a tour of the library and a lecture on sources of French and EU law early in the program.

GGU and UPX have a longstanding partnership, with student exchanges, faculty exchanges, and joint efforts to promote comparative law scholarship and a better understanding of our respective legal systems. The summer program is co-directed by a UPX professor and former dean, will be partially housed at UPX, and will rely substantially on UPX faculty as team members with GGU (or other US) faculty in team-teaching classes. UPX will handle administrative support and will recruit and enroll EU and other non-US/Canadian law students to participate for UPX academic credit.

Visit the UPX website.(Note: The website is in French.) The program will include the following trips to legal institutions:

• Visits to two of the three French Supreme Courts, the Cour de Cassation (the highest civil court in France), the Conseil d'État (the highest administrative court in France), and/or the Conseil Constitutional, including meetings with judges and/or lawyers from these courts.
• Visit to CRFPA at Versailles, a training school for French lawyers. A presentation will be made explaining the requirements to practice law in Europe, the French bar exam (CFPA), and the impact of European federalism and its requirement of free circulation on the legal profession.

Special Visit to Brussels An over-night field trip to Brussels, the EU capital, with meetings with commissioners and staff on enlargement, the status of the new EU constitution, EU standards, free circulation of goods, and/or tax harmonization. Students will be housed in dorm-style single rooms at the Cite International Universitaire de Paris (CIUP), located in the 14th arrondissement near the heart of Paris. CIUP has its own Metro stop. Learn more about CIUP. Golden Gate University welcomes US applicants who have successfully completed at least one year at an accredited law school and Canadian applicants after one year at an accredited Canadian law school.

The nonrefundable application fee of $250 will be credited toward the program tuition. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling admissions basis.

Golden Gate University anticipates that most European students participating in the program will be French nationals but that several other European countries will also be represented. The program will be limited to 60 US/Canadian students and 40 EU students.

View the Requirements for Admission.

Download the GGU/UPX Paris Summer application Note: This is a pdf file. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view it.
Tuition & Fees:
US and Canadian students pay $6,400 (US), which includes:
Tuition for 4 semester units of credit at $1,150/unit (total = $4,600)
Room at CIUP and two nights (May 30 & 31) at the IBIS Hotel. (Students finding their own housing may reduce payment by $1,300.)
Field trip to Brussels ($250)
Books and readers ($250)
The optional internship is for one unit of credit at a charge of $1,150.
Receptions with French lawyers, judges and government officials (included)
Welcome dinners, receptions, and cruise on the Seine (included)
A Paris transit pass (included)
French liability insurance (included)

Refund Policy
The $250 application fee (due with the application) is not refundable (unless the application is rejected), but it will be applied to the program fee.

Except in the case of cancellation of the program, or academic disqualification from GGU (see below), students who cancel after April 21 will still be required to pay $2,000 to cover our housing and administrative costs.

Golden Gate University students who are academically disqualified after arriving in Paris may opt to remain in the program or withdraw. Students who withdraw will receive no refund on their housing charge, and must vacate the CIUP campus; however, will receive a refund of tuition minus a $700 charge.

EU students should contact Professor Anne Deysine of University of Paris X for tuition and costs.

Students are responsible for:

Their own transportation to and from Paris. Nearly all meals. (Subsidized student meals are available at CIUP and UPX for under $6.00) The GGU/UPX Summer Program in Paris is fully accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA). Read other details for information about: Requirements for Admission, Credit and Enrollment, Tuition and Costs, Schedule of Payments, Access for People with Disabilities, Refund Policy, and Cancellation Policy. US and Canadian students should contact:
David B. Oppenheimer
Professor of Law
Paris Summer Program Co-Director
Golden Gate University School of Law
536 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94105-2968 USA

dbo@ggu.edu
415-442-6655

EU students should contact:
Professor Anne Deysine
University of Paris X (Nanterre)
Co-Director GGU/UPX Summer Law Program
anne.deysine@u-paris10.fr