Beyond curricular design: why internationalisation matters in legal education

A few years ago, a New York Times editorial declared: »American legal education is in crisis«! It sounds dramatic and exceptional, but actually quite often, and almost everywhere, there is a feeling that legal education is not going well. When I was a law student at the University of São Paulo, in the early 1990s, legal education reform was on the agenda; as a law professor at the same university, almost 25 years later, I keep hearing similar anxieties about this issue. In this context, the document delivered by the German Council of Science and Humanities (hereafter, »the Council« or ... continue reading

21. Februar 2014

Residual Anxieties – A Reply to Ralf Michaels

Ralf Michaels describes me as having „taken offense“ to his claim about  eternal supremacy of Germany in doctrinal scholarship. I wish immediately to clarify that I was not offended at all by his claim; I merely found it to be highly implausible, and rooted in a kind of historical or cultural determinism that is, to say the least, questionable.  Now, however, Michaels in his response considerably revises his assertion, and says he rejects cultural determinism. The key proposition instead is that the average German legal scholar is likely to be a better doctrinalist than the average American scholar, and conversely ... continue reading

20. Februar 2014

Culture, Institutions, and Comparison of Legal Education and Scholarship—A Response to Rob Howse

In a post on verfassungsblog.de I compare two reports on legal education and scholarship: one concerning Germany from the German Council on Science and Humanities (Wissenschaftsrat), the other concering the United States from a task force of the American Bar Association. I find the Wissenschaftsrat’s decision to maintain an emphasis on doctrinal reasoning, while promoting interdisciplinarity and theory, to be prudent—especially for the German situation. By contrast, I find that the ABA report, in its emphasis on teaching skills and tools and implicit rejection of interdisciplinarity, to threaten what has always been a strength of law schools in the United ... continue reading

20. Februar 2014

A Comment on the Use of Foreign Professors in the German Council of Science and Humanities Report

The main issue I wish to focus on in this Comment relates to the German Council of Science and Humanities‹ recommendation that German law schools should aim to encourage more involvement of foreign professors in teaching at German law schools, as part of a sustained attempt to stimulate more engagement with comparative, international and transnational legal developments. Since I have seen attempts at first hand to do something similar in Michigan and Oxford (and more distantly at New York University), I thought it might be helpful to intervene on this aspect of the Report’s recommendations. As background to the points I make ... continue reading

20. Februar 2014

Will Germany always really best the US (and the world) in doctrinal legal scholarship?

Germany's Science Council (Wissenschaftsrat) has issued a report on the state of legal scholarship in the country. At first glance it is fairly interesting as an overview of the strengths and weaknesses of the discipline. The report has attracted, however, a rather unusual response at Verfassungsblog from a professor at Duke, Ralf Michaels, who seems to hold to theories of cultural determinism in legal education. According to Michaels, "German doctrinal scholarship will always be superior to that of other countries,.." Always? I am not sure what to make of this.Germany's Science Council (Wissenschaftsrat) has issued a report on the state of legal scholarship in the country. At first glance it is fairly interesting as an overview of the strengths and weaknesses of the discipline. The report has attracted, however, a rather unusual response at Verfassungsblog from a professor at Duke, Ralf Michaels, who seems to hold to theories of cultural determinism in legal education. According to Michaels, "German doctrinal scholarship will always be superior to that of other countries,.." Always? I am not sure what to make of this.

19. Februar 2014

»Law as the Study of Norms« – Foundational Subjects and Interdisciplinarity in Germany and the United States

The German Council of Science and Humanities‹ report on »Prospects of Legal Scholarship in Germany. Current Situation, Analyses, Recommendations« has sparked a lively debate amongst legal scholars in Germany on how to adapt legal education and legal scholarship to the challenges of increasing internationalization of the law. The first contribution to our symposium on Prospects of Legal Scholarship takes a look at the state of interdisciplinary studies at German and US-American law faculties and compares the Wissenschaft’s report to the recently issued report by the American Bar Association.   In my view, the Wissenschaftsrat’s report hits almost all the right notes. One ... continue reading

19. Februar 2014

Prospects of Legal Scholarship: a symposium

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this is Structural changes in the law present challenges to current legal research and the study of law in Germany – amongst them Europeanization, internationalization and transnationalization of the legal system. Thus, Germany ought to rethink the way in which it teaches law, how and under which conditions legal scholarship takes place in Germany, and how the system ought to be adapted to tackle the challenges ahead: this is, in a nutshell, the essence of the German Council of Science and Humanities‹ report on Prospects of Legal Scholarship in Germany. Current Situation, Analyses, Recommendations. But if internationalization of the law presents a challenge, ... continue reading

18. Februar 2014

Karlsruhe wagt den Schritt nach Luxemburg

Das Bundesverfassungsgericht (BVerfG) hat einen historischen Schritt getan: Die Abtrennung der Fragen zum Ankaufprogramm von Staatsanleihen (OMT) der Europäischen Zentralbank vom Verfahren zum Europäischen Stabilitätsmechanismus ESM und die Vorlage der Fragen zum OMT an den Gerichtshof der Europäischen Union (EuGH): Nie zuvor hat das Gericht eine Frage im Vorlageverfahren nach Art. 267 AEUV an den EuGH gerichtet. Schade allerdings wäre es, wenn der EuGH die Vorlage als unzulässig abweisen müsste, weil die Fragen hypothetischer Natur sind und das Vorlageverfahren nicht als Gutachtenverfahren oder sonst missbraucht werden darf. Während normalerweise die Gerichte dem EuGH die Frage nach der Gültigkeit von Rechtsakten der Unionsorgane vorgelegt wird, fragt das BVerfG hier, ob das Programm der EZB zum Ankauf von Staatsanleihen OMT unvereinbar mit den Unionsverträgen ist und macht sehr deutlich, dass es von der Ungültigkeit ausgeht.

10. Februar 2014

Eine Quelle in der Wüste

Die Medien waren sich schnell einig: eine Sensation, ein Paukenschlag, ein Wendepunkt. Mein Fazit ist nüchterner. Karlsruhe erkennt die eigenen Grenzen und versucht den EuGH als Verbündeten zu gewinnen.Among domestic commentators, the initial response was amazement: the reference by the German Constitutional Court was perceived as a sensation and turning point. My reaction is more moderate. Judges in Karlsruhe recognise their limits and try to push the ECJ in their direction.

8. Februar 2014

A Spring in the Desert

Among domestic commentators, the initial response was amazement: the reference by the German Constitutional Court was perceived as a sensation and turning point. My reaction is more moderate. Judges in Karlsruhe recognise their limits and try to push the ECJ in their direction.

8. Februar 2014