International Economic Law in U.S. Law Schools: Evaluating its Pedagogy and Identifying Future Challenges

Abstract

U.S. law schools share with each other and with legal educational institutions worldwide the challenge of preparing students for the increasingly globalized practice of law. International economic law (IEL) encompasses a wide spectrum of subjects including trade in goods and services, financial law, economic integration, development law, business regulation and intellectual property. The expansive scope of the fields of practice and study within the discipline presents challenges for identifying the key issues with which scholars should try to stay current and the relevant material that should be imparted to students. Because of the breadth and depth of developments in the various fields of international economic law, it is imperative that professionals who are engaged in teaching, practicing and writing about international economic law in U.S. law schools, and elsewhere, collaborate on a uniform understanding of essential components that constitute effective teaching of this evolving subject area. In preparation for a seminal conference of the American Society of International Law's Interest Group on International Economic Law held November 9 - 11, 2006 at the historic Mount Washington Resort in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, the conference chairs appointed Stephen T. Zamora (Houston Law Center), Craig L. Jackson (Thurgood Marshall School of Law) and Karen E. Bravo (Indiana University School of Law - Indianapolis) Co-Rapporteurs for the Workshop on the Future of Teaching International Economic Law. Charged with fleshing out some of the critical issues or ideas relevant to teaching international economic law that would provide catalysts for future action for developing the discipline of teaching IEL, the Co-Rapporteurs administered surveys to teachers of IEL in U.S. law schools as well as administrators who oversee curricular matters. The results of the survey are presented and discussed here, including the status of the discipline, the trends identified and some challenges and recommendations for the future.