“It rained today, it rained alot, it rained in drippy drops…”
- a nursery rhyme taught to young children in Vancouver.

Yes, the weather has been terrible. And cold! This morning I heard on the news that it’s been the coldest/wettest June on record. Usually, May and June in Vancouver are spectacular, with sunny skies and temperatures in the high 70s and 80s. But not this year. Of course, there is nothing more Canadian than talking about the weather. And while easterners natter on about the white stuff, it’s the wet stuff that gets tongues flapping on British Columbia’s wet - I mean west - coast. Well we’ve had lots to talk about this past week, as it has been wet, wet, wet. But no worries. While perhaps a little soggy, everyone is doing well. The Los Angelenos have fully adjusted. I think I even saw one student scoff at a tourist who had bothered opening an umbrella after a few measly drops of water fell.

And despite the weather, the Program is going quite well. The Program has hit its midpoint. Yesterday, a new flight of professors joined us and started teaching the second half of the program. Leaving were Professors Williams (SW) and Paterson (UBC). Joining us were Professor Kristen Boon from Seton Hall Law School, Professor Karin Mickelson from the University of British Columbia Faculty of Law, and Professor Trevor Morrison from Columbia Law School. All three are nationally-recognized scholars in their fields. In the classes, students are discussing cutting edge issues in criminal, constitutional, and environmental law.

Since my last post, the Program has had a few more activities. On Friday, Professor Wil Burns from Santa Clara Law School came to speak to the program participants. Prof. Burns is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Law & Policy at the Santa Clara University School of Law in Santa Clara. He also serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy and Co-Chair of the International Environmental Law Interest Group of the American Society of International Law. His expertise is on climate change. On Friday, he talked to the students about possible international litigation through the UN Fish Stocks Agreement to spur action on climate change initiatives. The talk was well-attended, and started off nicely our mid-day lecture series.

This week, small groups of students will be visiting local Vancouver law firms. Yesterday, we went to the Farris firm, a well-known Vancouver law firm, and spoke with Ludmila Herbst, a partner there. Ms. Herbst spoke to the students about her experiences at law school, her professional background, and what it’s like to practice law in Vancouver. Today, we will visit the law firm Lawson & Lundell, and speak with one of their partners, Gordon Weatherill. It promises to be an interesting visit. This weekend many of the students are planning to head to Whistler to do some white-river rafting, zip-treking, and mountain biking. Hopefully some pics will be posted.

Well that’s all for me now. I’m looking forward to Lesley’s post, which will get you real scoop on the ground. Until next week…

Thanks to the Commentator for setting up this blog and inviting me to participate!

I’ll give the readers a quick introduction and some information on the exciting activities we’re carrying out….

This year, 44 students are attending SW’s Summer Law Program in Argentina. Students are from law schools throughout Canada and the U.S., including SW, Chapman, Florida State, Georgetown, Lewis and Clark, Loyola (Los Angeles), McGill, Southern Methodist, UC Hastings, Denver, Miami, Missouri, New Mexico, San Diego, Victoria, Valparaiso, Washington and Lee, Willamette. Six courses are offered, including: (1) Comparative Constitutional Law; (2) Corruption and White Collar Crime; (3) Globalization and the Transformation of Roles of Lawyers and Law in Latin America; (4) International Business Transactions, (5) International Protection of Human Rights; and (6) Latin American Laws and Institutions. Ten of the students enrolled in the externship program and started to work at their placements on Monday, last week; three of them with the Argentina Supreme Court, three with Criminal Courts of Appeals, two with the Office of the Public Defender before the Argentina Supreme Court, one with the Court of Appeals for Economic Crimes, one with the Court of Appeals for Commercial Matters. The externs are taking a course on Argentine Legal Institutions that started with 20 intensive hours during the first week of the program and continues on Tuesday evening through the last day of the externship. In all, ten professors are teaching in the program, eight of them from Argentina and two from the U.S.

The Program began on Sunday, May 25, with a four hour city tour, followed by a welcome lunch where the US and Canadian students met the Argentine students that are participating in the program, and the Argentine and US faculty. The program activities so far have included:

An orientation pizza lunch to provide students with helpful hints for a great experience in Buenos Aires (Mon. 05/26)
A visit to the Supreme Court building and meeting with Vice-Chief Justice Elena Highton de Nolasco (Mon. 05/26)
A visit to the law firm of Negri & Teijeiro for a talk with young Argentine partners and associates, and a US lawyer who has been working here for the last 12 years (Fri. 05/30)
A trip to a ranch in the province of Buenos Aires (Sun. 06/01)
An orientation dinner for the externs (Mon. 06/02)
A tango lesson followed by a tango show (Thur. 06/05)
A visit to a federal prison (Fri. 06/06)

More extracurricular and fun activities will follow and I’ll keep posting them on the blog.

As you can imagine, students are not relying on the program only to organize activities for them, and I would expect you’ll learn more on what they’ve been doing on their own by reading their blog posts.

Have a great week!

Thanks to the Commentator for setting up this blog. This first post, is to provide a quick introduction for readers….

This year, 31 students are attending SW’s Summer Law Program in Vancouver. Students are from law schools throughout Canada and the U.S., including SW, Univ. of British Columbia, Queens, Indiana, Univ. of Saskatchewan, Brigham Young, McGill, Osgoode, Univ. of Alberta, Loyola (Chicago), and Colorado. Five courses are offered, including: (1) International Criminal Law; (2) International Environmental Law; (3) Comparative Constitutional Law; (4) Comparative Cultural Property Law; and (5) Comparative Sentencing Law and Policy. Seven professors are teaching in the program. Two professors are from Southwestern (Profs. Parrish and Williams), two are from the Univ. of British Columbia Faculty of Law (Profs. Mickelson and Paterson), while three are guest professors from Cornell, Florida State Univ, and Seton Hall (Profs. Morrison, Markel, and Boon).

The program got off to a nice start. The Program began on Sunday, May 25th, with an orientation and dinner at a local Irish pub (Mahony & Sons). Since then, in addition to course-work, the students have done a variety of things. The program activities so far have included:

• A guided tour of Vancouver and dinner at Granville Island (Mon. 05/26)
• Drinks with faculty at Koerner’s Graduate Pub (Thurs. 05/28)
• A tour of the Vancouver Law Courts and discussion with Judge Williamson of the B.C. Supreme Court (Wed. 06/04)
• A lunch with Chief Justice D. Brenner of the B.C. Supreme Court (Wed. 06/04)
• A lunch hosted by St. Andrews Hall (Thurs. 06/05)

Tomorrow, we’ll have our first guest speaker — Prof. Wil Burns, who is a senior fellow at Santa Clara Law School. And Saturday morning is the program’s first set of exams.

Outside of class, students have been exploring Vancouver — from trips to Whistler, to hikes up Grouse Mountain, to death-defying Vespa-riding in Stanley Park, to walks down to Vancouver’s famous clothing-optional Wreck beach, to visits to the famous Museum of Anthropology, and more…. For the real scoop, you’ll have to check out student blog posts!

I’ll write more later….

Welcome to SW Abroad, The Commentator’s blog about Southwestern Law School’s summer abroad programs. From London and Canada to Mexico and Argentina this is the spot to find out what’s happening up across the world, as it happens.

Written by students and professors, SW Abroad offers both the serious and lighter sides of globetrotting. Check back early and often to get the latest updates. And don’t hesitate to leave comments and ask questions.

Happy Reading,

Derek Turner
Editor-in-Chief
The Commentator