International and Comparative Law Certificate

The International & Comparative Law Certificate program is intended to provide a foundation for careers and further study in the application of legal regimes to transnational and international relationships.

To receive the International & Comparative Law Certificate upon graduation, students must complete the following courses:

  1. International Law (3 credits);
  2. International Business Transactions (3 credits);
  3. Satisfaction of the Upper Level Writing Requirement (ULW) with a paper focused on international or comparative law content;
  4. Twelve credits of elective courses (below); and
  5. Attendance at two designated CILE programs in each of the candidate’s 2L and 3L years at the School of Law.

Registration

To register for the International & Comparative Law certificate program, complete the Registrar's online form at any time during the school year.

Course Requirements

For a list of courses that satisfy the Certificate Program requirements, please stop by the CILE office in Barco 317A.

Elective Courses

The courses that qualify as international and comparative law electives for purposes of the Certificate requirements are determined annually. In general, a course will satisfy the elective requirement if at least 25 percent of its content is in the areas of international or comparative law. You should consult the schedule of courses for any given term to determine what courses are being offered and the credits awarded. For new course offerings, you should contact CILE to determine if a given course will satisfy the elective requirement. Courses in the School of Law that do not have a predominantly international or comparative law subject matter may be approved for elective purposes on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of the CILE Director if, in practice, the student’s work in the class included that element in a particularly substantial manner; for example, the student satisfies the written requirement of a “W” course with a paper using a comparative law approach. (Note this would not be permitted if the given paper was also being used to satisfy the ULW requirement.)

Coursework outside the School of Law may also be eligible to satisfy up to 3 elective credits if the CILE Director determines that at least 25 precent of its content is in international topics, that it otherwise is an appropriate course for these purposes, and the use of these credits has been approved by the Associate Dean of the School of Law as qualifying under School policy for the six credits of non-School of Law coursework permitted to be credited towards the JD degree. Proposed elective courses outside the School of Law must be approved in advance by the CILE Director as well as in accordance with general School of Law policies.

Expected Learning Outcomes

In completing their coursework for the Certificate, students will:

  • Learn and understand the substantive and procedural law in the area of international and comparative law;
     
  • Produce substantial written work in the area of international and comparative law, generally in the form of a seminar paper supervised by a professor in the discipline; and
     
  • Acquire the ability to apply subject matter expertise in international and comparative law in experiential settings such as clinics and externships or through classroom simulations.