May 26 – Orientation (mandatory)
Classes May 29 – June 21, 2023
(Choose two courses for four (4) credits)
Religious Freedom: International and Comparative Constitutional Law Perspectives
9:00 – 10:50 a.m.
Professor John J. Worley,
South Texas College of Law Houston
These days, it is almost impossible to read the news without learning of some new conflict between law and religion. Should women be allowed to testify in court wearing the hijab? Should public school students be exempted from studying material their parents find offensive to their religious beliefs? Should Scientologists get tax exemptions? Should Jehovah’s Witness parents be allowed to refuse certain life-saving medical treatments for their children? Are merchants entitled to refuse services to gay customers because their religious convictions condemn homosexuality?
This course examines the relationship between law and religion from an international and comparative law perspective. We will study a series of religious controversies where rights claimed by individuals, religious groups, and the state conflict. In doing so, we will consider how governments have weighed individual rights against collective rights and have sought to balance religious freedom against other social and legal values, rights, and needs. We will explore how and why states intervene in religious conflicts and see how the legal struggles over religion might be resolved under international human rights norms as well as under various nations’ constitutional provisions.
International Arbitration in the Real World
11:00 a.m. – 12:50 p.m.
Associate Dean and Professor Cherie O. Taylor,
South Texas College of Law Houston
This course examines how international arbitration agreements are negotiated and drafted, how the arbitral process operates, and how arbitral awards are enforced under the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards. International arbitration is the form of dispute resolution used for deciding international business transactions (sale of goods, licensing of intellectual property rights, foreign direct investment), protecting of investor rights under Bilateral Investment Treaties, and resolving controversies in international organizations (World Trade Organization, Court of Arbitration for Sports).
Global Lawyering
1:00 – 2:50 p.m.
Professor Katerina Lewinbuk,
South Texas College of Law Houston
This course is intended to expose students to the various types of regulation of lawyers in different parts of the world. It will comparatively examine the structure and ethical framework of the legal profession in the United States, European Union and in a few selected countries. More specifically, it is a collaborative research seminar that is designed to foster in-depth study of legal issues related to comparative global lawyering. In the course, students will engage in open dialogues about the global and comparative issues in legal ethics and profession, and the role, image and regulation of lawyers in different countries and legal systems. Additionally, the course will provide each student with the opportunity to learn how to design and implement their own research project, which will culminate in a paper of publishable quality. Students will assess the present state of a substantial legal issue in either comparative lawyering or lawyering in a specific foreign country and argue for a novel, normative recommendation on the issue that is relevant to policy and practice by timely generation of a research paper of publishable quality with supporting analysis and appropriate citation. The assigned course book will be “Global Issues in the Legal Profession” by James Moliterno and Katerina Lewinbuk (West 2022) (available to STCL students via our online library collection FREE OF CHARGE).
