This spring I had the pleasure of visiting Istanbul, Turkey as one of
fifteen members of the Comparative Law Course. Each year, Professor
Diane Geraghty takes a group of students to a different country.
Working in teams of two or three, students are provided with the
option and flexibility to study a legal subject of interest. While
some students researched LGBTQ Rights, Honor Killings, Patent Law and
Religion, my partner and I chose to focus on juvenile justice. Our
professor and the international law librarian helped us narrow down
this topic further, come up with a thesis statement, and showed us how
to get started on our research. After giving a presentation on our
preliminary findings to the class…we were ready for the real
adventure: Istanbul!
My class spent a little over a week in Istanbul during spring break.
In hindsight, the trip was nothing short of incredible.
After an extended “stopover” in Israel with several of my classmates
(for some relaxation and sightseeing), I met the group and my partner,
Lauren, in Istanbul. Lauren and I had contacted a number of
organizations, academics, journalists and experts in the field before
leaving Chicago, requesting interviews. We were lucky to get
responses from very helpful sources and found that our interviews
often led to even more recommendations or connections. I guess you
should not underestimate the power of networking and “face time”
anywhere 🙂
I had a lot of plans when I came to law school, but studying abroad
was not one of them. After traveling, studying or working in over
fifty countries, I knew I wanted to do internationally-related work.
I thought going on a school trip would be expensive and potentially
restrictive (in the sense that we would not get to explore). After
attending the international panel at a national legal job fair in the
fall, however, where several candid attorneys from places like the
Department of State, US AID and the UN said study abroad *during* law
school was something they specifically look for on resumes… I
reconsidered.
And I am glad I did. There was no study abroad fee and I found cheap
plane tickets, so the trip ended up being relatively inexpensive. I
got to know other law students through the class. I have been
learning a *lot* about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
(CRC), juvenile justice system in Turkey, as well as in the European
Union in general. And on another practical note, the ultimate goal of
the course is to write a legal paper of publishable quality. At least
one paper has been been chosen for publication from each year that
Professor Geraghty has led the trip — so fingers crossed Lauren and I
are successful and are able to produce a good enough paper.
For those of you interested in study abroad, Loyola also has abroad
programs in London (winter), Chile (spring break), China (summer) and
Rome (summer); all for law school credit and all of which students
love. The Comparative Law Course I participated in has taken law
students to Tanzania, India, Thailand, Vietnam, South Africa and now
Turkey.
While I don’t know where the Comparative Law trip will go next year
(Professor Geraghty said she will announce it after the semester,
applications are due in October)… one thing I do know is that Lauren
and I are likely to be throwing our hats in to do this again!
* For questions about this class, study abroad or law school in
general, feel free to email Brenda, a rising 3L, at bmckinney@luc.edu