What I Think I Have Learned from 50 Years of Teaching American Law to Foreigners and Foreign Law to Americans
What I Think I Have Learned from 50 Years of Teaching American Law to Foreigners and Foreign Law to Americans

Summary/Abstract: The author reflects on the lessons he believes he has learned from 50 years of teaching foreign law to Americans and American law to foreigners. He first considers why students of any country should study foreign law and suggests the following reasons: 1. Learning for learning’s sake, 2. To understand your own legal system and laws better, 3. To improve your laws and legal systems, and 4. To be able to advise clients about the relevant laws and regulations of two or more countries. The author next considers how we should teach foreign law to American law students and considers several models: 1. Comparative law courses taught by domestic and/or foreign professors, 2. Domestic law courses with an element of foreign law added, 3. Foreign enrichment courses, 4. Summer Programs and “short sessions” abroad, 5. LL. M Programs, 6. Centers of Foreign Law – the University of Warsaw approach. In the final section of the paper the author considers how American law professors should teach American law to foreign law students and offers several basic suggestions: 1. Consider the Language ability of the students and adjust your language accordingly, 2. Use visual aids, 3. Don’t go too deep or try to cover too much, 4. Try to incorporate legal concepts from the student’s own system, 5. Have a local professor attend class. The author concludes there is an increasing need for students from all nations to learn about the laws and legal systems of other nations. Secondly, no one approach is adequate. Legal academicians must constantly seek more effective and more innovative ways to globalize law teaching.

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