In an era of globalization, Penn Law School students will now have more international opportunities than ever before.
The Penn Law Global Initiative will expand an already established range of international opportunities for students interested in global law. The initiative has three primary components: International Summer Human Rights Fellows Program, Penn Law International Internship Program and a Global Research Seminar.
“Penn Law is responding [to the globalized world] by prioritizing international legal studies as a subject of academic inquiry and an important area for practical training,” Penn Law Dean Michael Fitts wrote in a statement.
Since lawyers play such critical roles in many of the current international challenges, Penn Law decided to create a new office for international affairs last year.
Associate Dean for International Affairs Amy Gadsden wrote in an e-mail that many law students “will leave us to have careers that will in all likelihood take them around the world.”
Through the International Summer Human Rights Fellows Program second-year Law student Kaylan Lasky traveled to Namibia last summer to complete a project on cohabitation.
“I’m not definitely interested in an international job, but it was interesting to compare,” Lasky said. She will be able to contrast her experience in Africa with an internship she has with a New York firm this summer.
The fellowship program did not originate with the new initiative, but the number of fellowships grew from six to 10. Another change to the fellowship program includes a policy paper component in which students examine a certain human rights issue.
These changes were made in order to help students understand issues and express strategies with more confidence, according to Gadsden.
The International Internship Program was created this year in order to give students a new perspective on actual jobs in the international field. Penn Law offered 10 internship positions, and five students currently plan to intern at firms in China, Japan, Greece, Italy and the United Kingdom in the coming year.
The Global Research Seminar — the third of the initiative’s components — was developed to give students global exposure in the classroom and in international settings. The seminar this year focuses on the globalization of public governance in Italy and the European Union, and the students went to Italy over spring break to complete field research and interviews.
“The most impressive part of the trip was who we met with,” second-year Law student David Payne said. The students interacted with members of the Milan Stock Exchange and the Bank of Italy, among many others.
“I have always hoped for a chance to practice law somewhere in Europe, but always thought it was a foolish daydream,” Payne said. “Now I can actually imagine it.”
