New Program Brings Australian Faculty And Students To UA School Of Law

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ­ Ten students and two faculty members from Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, Australia, are spending five weeks at The University of Alabama School of Law this semester under a new partnership that will enhance international education at both universities. The group arrived in Tuscaloosa on Jan. 6 and will be on campus until Feb. 13.

Michael Coper, dean of the ANU School of Law, and Judy Jones, ANU lecturer in law, are teaching intensive courses during the visit while the students are taking classes. This summer, 10 UA law students and William Andreen, Edgar Clarkson Professor of Law, will visit ANU under a similar teaching/studying arrangement.

Jones and Andreen are team-teaching a comparative course on American and Australian environmental law for the ANU students and a number of UA students. They will teach the same course at ANU this summer. In addition, the Australian students are taking a survey course on American law with lectures by UA law professors, each discussing their own areas of expertise. UA students who travel to Australia this summer will take a similar course on Australian law at ANU. Coper is teaching a seminar on comparative constitutional law for UA law students during the five-week visit.

“This is a marvelous opportunity for students from both institutions,” said Andreen, who directs the new program. “Some of the Australian students have already said that this has been the most meaningful experience of their legal education, and I think our students will feel the same way. In fact, many of our students are already benefiting from interaction with the Australian students at the Law School.

“It is a real privilege to have two faculty members from a major university overseas spending more than a month teaching on our campus,” Andreen said.

In addition to on-campus classes, the Australian students have seen the American legal system and government in action with visits to Washington, D.C., where Andreen arranged tours of the U.S. Supreme Court, various offices on Capitol Hill and the Environmental Protection Agency, and Montgomery.

“Exploring the legal system of another culture is truly an eye-opening experience,” said Jones. “I think the comparative nature of the course causes both students and faculty to reflect more closely on things that we might otherwise take for granted.”

The program is the second international opportunity offered at the UA Law School. A similar exchange with the University of Fribourg in Switzerland has been in place for a number of years, with UA students studying in Fribourg in the summer and Swiss students visiting UA in the fall.