COURSES: SUMMER LEGAL & POLICY STUDY IN RIO DE JANEIRO

MODULE ONE: May 19-May 31, 2008

Students can choose from among a wide range of offerings in areas that are substantively distinct but complementary. Each course is co-taught by a U.S. faculty member in conjunction with one or more Brazilian faculty affiliates. Students may choose one three-credit course during each module as follows:

Comparative Concepts of Criminal Justice. This course will examine how Brazil and the United States conceive of criminal justice.  The course will explore questions like: What does it mean to have equal rights under the law?  What is justice?  Does the law protect some and favor prosecution of others?  What do fair criminal justice systems look like?  The course will also ask students to consider, on a comparative basis, how crime can be reduced, whether, for example, the solution is tougher policing or sentencing measures or increased educational or other social and economic opportunities.  Throughout the course, students will consider how the answers to all of the above questions change depending on whether one looks at it from the perspective of Brazil or the United States.  This course will be taught by Professor James Forman, Jr.

Comparative Approaches to Race, Ethnicity and the Law Seminar. The seminar will focus on the comparative value of importing the U.S. affirmative-active framework to Brazil, which, like the U.S., boasts a distinct - although different -- history of race and color based economic, social and political subordination.  It will examine the extent to which the applicability of legislative and jurisprudential responses to historical and continuing racial discrimination in the U.S. is circumscribed by organic and constituted conceptions of race, color and ethnicity that inform those responses.  In particular it will evaluate the efficacy of the affirmative action project in both countries and will consider alternative regulatory and jurisprudential frameworks for redressing and mitigating the effects of historical and continuing racial disparities that are tailored to the unique experience and relevance of race, color and ethnicity in the U.S. and Brazilian contexts.  This course will be taught by Professor Tanya Washington.

International Environmental Law introduces some of the legal and policy responses to global environmental degradation.  The course begins with an introduction to the international law framework within which international environmental law has developed and provides an overview of the major environmental problems confronting the international community. The course then shifts approach, focusing on the analysis of several specific environmental problems and the legal regimes that have developed to address these problems.  Some of the problems will be discussed and analyzed in class. Others will be the subject of in-class role-playing exercises. The emphasis throughout the course is on the relationship between environmental protection and economic development and on the conflicting perspectives and priorities of industrialized countries and developing countries.  The course will highlight international environmental issues of particular relevance to Brazil, including protection of biodiversity, implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, and trade and the environment.  This course will be taught by Professor Carmen G. Gonzalez.

International Trade Law examines the legal framework for the international regulation of trade. The course focuses primarily on the international trade regime represented by the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the agreements it administers, in particular the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).  The course also examines some regional trade agreements such as Mercosur and to some extent, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). It also covers certain aspects of U.S. trade law, such as antidumping and "escape clause" proceedings. The course places particular emphasis on the relationship between developing and developed countries on international trade policy. Brazil's leadership among developing countries will be highlighted on questions relating to agriculture, intellectual property and others. This course will be jointly taught by Professor Mark Chinen and Professor Florian Hoffmann.

MODULE TWO: June 2-June 15, 2008

Comparative Corporate Law: Governance, Transactions, and Practice compares and contrasts the systems for regulating internal governance and corporate finance in various countries, with a primary emphasis on the United States and Brazil.  The course will illustrate relevant theory and themes by focusing on the law and practice of domestic and cross-border business combinations—mergers, stock purchases (including tender offers), asset transfers, and other available transactions.  Students will examine corporate governance and corporate finance laws and regulations, stock exchange rules, decisional law, and related scholarly works.  Emphasis will be placed on underlying theory and policies and the ramifications of those theories and policies on corporate constituencies in and outside the core corporate governance structure (i.e., “other constituencies” as well as directors, officers, and shareholders).  In this vein, the course will address managerialism and the market for corporate control, as well as evidence of board primacy or shareholder primacy in merger and acquisition regulation in various countries, and identify implications of these themes for corporate governance in particular countries and in the global marketplace.  In addition, the course will involve discussions and analysis of: common and civil law traditions; the convergence/path dependence debate; overall social, political, and economic forces that determine acquisition and takeover regulation; whether law matters; and the differing roles of regulatory organizations.  Whenever possible, the course also will illustrate and allow for the practice of related legal drafting skills.  Recommended course(s) prior to enrollment: Business Associations or Corporations. This course will be taught by Professor Joan Heminway.

Family Law Seminar: Comparative Perspectives on Domestic Violence and the Law.  This seminar will compare U.S. and Brazilian legal, cultural, social, economic and political constructs to explore jurisprudential and theoretical responses to violence within domestic relationships in both countries.  The seminar will provide students with a comparative overview of the theoretical and jurisprudential paradigms that examine the definitions and causes of, and the responses to domestic violence. While the course will emphasize comparative legal analysis, the examination of domestic violence as crime and social norm will draw from various disciplines including sociology, women studies, psychiatry, psychology, anthropology and social work. Course work will also consider how culture, gender, race and socio-economic status inform the efficacy of interventions for domestic violence victims in the U.S. and Brazil.  This course will be taught by Professor Tanya Washington.

Human Rights Law Seminar The right to a nationality, as well as the ability to maintain one's ethnic, religious, or cultural identity, is recognized as a fundamental human right in international law.  In practice, however, the protection of these rights often depends upon a state's domestic laws concerning citizenship and the treatment of those perceived as internal minorities, based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, or language.  Sometimes citizenship is not recognized; in other cases it is imposed at the expense of peoples' right to self-determination.  This seminar will compare the legal history and contemporary practices of the United States and Brazil with respect to how each country has defined citizenship in the context of selected topics such as the treatment of indigenous peoples, the role of slavery and peonage, racial and ethnic classifications, immigration policies, voting rights and civil rights.  This course will be taught by Professor Berta Hernández-Truyol.  [Note that Professor Kathleen Cleaver, who was originally scheduled to teach this course, had to withdraw for personal reasons.  It is anticipated she will return in 2009.}

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 Sustainable Development Law. The law of sustainable development, which aims to better integrate international environmental law and international economic law relating to development, human rights and labor law, was first enunciated at the highest level in the Rio Declaration, an official call to action coming from the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. This course surveys the field of sustainable development law as it has grown in importance for more than fifteen years, using materials related to difficulties in conducting good governance of selected biodiverse areas as varied as the Atlantic and Amazonian rain forests, as well as fisheries on the high seas.  Reading materials used in the course will include case law from the International Court of Justice and the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization, as well as policy papers, legislation and judicial opinions from national governments.  The course will aim to use the location of the course itself to explore its important themes.  This course will be taught by Professor Charles Marvin.