Global law in action

What draws great students and star legal scholars to study and teach at SUNY Buffalo Law School? Many say it’s a culture of openness to new ideas and the insights of professors who bring diverse academic disciplines to the study of law. Now the Law School is more fully claiming its status as an ideal place to study international and comparative legal systems – and the New York law that undergirds so much international legal work.

Nowhere is this renewed emphasis on international law more apparent than in the Law School’s course offerings. Long-established professors and rising scholars are challenging their students to look beyond national borders and discover the richness of global law, and in the process develop practice-ready skills.

A sampling of what’s filling the classrooms in O’Brian Hall includes:

Comparative Criminal Law (Professor Luis E. Chiesa) -- A focus on the elements of criminal conduct, criminal responsibility, justification and excuse, criminal combinations, and the application of general principles to specific crimes from a transnational perspective. This comparative perspective is used as a tool for helping students understand the strengths and weaknesses of American criminal law.

International Comparative Labor Law (Associate Professor Matthew Dimick) – An exploration of the important similarities and substantial differences in the labor and employment laws of the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, China, Japan and India – all major players in the global economy - as well as how international labor institutions and agreements shape and influence national level laws.

International Legal Research: Sources & Strategies (International Law Librarian Nina Cascio) – An examination of print and electronic sources for international legal research including judicial decisions, documents of intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations, and selected foreign law sources.

International Trade Law (Associate Professor Meredith Kolsky Lewis) – The theory and practice of international trade law including relevant U.S. laws, free trade agreements and the World Trade Organization regime, with special attention on the interplay and tension between international trade commitments and regulatory autonomy to enact policies domestically.

Immigration and Human Rights Clinic (Associate Professor Anjana Malhotra) – Supervised students are engaged in practical legal thinking and ethical practice through client representation, policy development and effective problem-solving work addressing civil immigration and human rights issues.

Women’s International Human Rights (Professor Isabel Marcus) – The complexities of relationships among cultures, national laws and their implementation, international rights, norms and instruments, and the work of non-governmental organizations internationally are interrogated. Students evaluate moves to develop state accountability for violations of women’s human rights.

Public International Law (Associate Professor Tara J. Melish) – An introductory international law course that explores the elementary and foundational sources, norms and institutions in contemporary international law, critically examining the creation, evolution and enforcement of international law.

International Environmental Law (Professor Errol E. Meidinger) – This course is a selective examination of certain areas of international environmental law with the goal of enabling students to understand the main ways in which transnational environmental problems are addressed.

International Law Colloquium (Dean Makau W. Mutua) – Part of the International Law Concentration, students read and discuss recent scholarship on the changing structure and function of the international legal system in the era of globalization and democratization

Economic and Social Justice (Professor Athena Mutua) – A discussion of important social issues within critical, interdisciplinary and globalized frameworks in order to study how law promotes and impedes social justice in diverse communities across the United States and internationally.

Refugee and Asylum Law (Associate Professor Rick Su) – Focus on the legal regulations that govern the migration and status of refugees, asylum seekers and other victims of forced migration in the United States, with special attention to how these regulations intersect with international law and institutions.