The Forum

By:  Bradley Turflinger

Valparaiso University School of Law offers great opportunities to study abroad in either South America or Cambridge.  Certainly, both of these opportunities are nothing less than a fantastic way to grow as a lawyer and as a person.  What many students may not know is that there are countless other ABA approved study-abroad programs put on by law schools all over the country in which law students from any school can participate.  Israel, France, Italy, Mexico, Poland, China, and Russia are just a few of the possible locations where students can earn credits towards their law degrees (check out http://www.abanet.org/legaled/studyabroad/foreign.html for a full list of programs).  Last July, I studied in Madrid, Spain through one such program offered by William and Mary Law School.

The potential reasons for choosing to use another school’s study-abroad program are numerous.  Maybe you have family in Germany, or you want to practice your Chinese, or you want to see Venice while it is still around.  From a more professional angle, maybe the program you are interested in offers classes for the area in which you want to practice.  Scheduling conflicts with Valparaiso’s South America program led me to William and Mary.  For ILs who want to be on law review, Valparaiso’s South America trip takes place at the same time as the case-comment competition.  While you can still write your comment in South America, the ability to write a quality comment may be diminished.

Obviously, many classes offered in these programs deal with international law.  The classes I took in Madrid—The E.U. Legal System, European Human Rights Law, and Comparative Civil and Constitutional Law—exemplify the international flavor of classes taken abroad.  The professors in many programs are also exceptional and may be another reason to take a specific program.  My experience offered an advisor to the drafting of the E.U. Constitution, another who advises the Spanish Parliament, and yet another advisor for the Spanish Prime Minister.  In the same vein, programs often offer trips to government institutions.  My program took me to the Spanish Senate and the Spanish Constitutional Court.

Then, of course, there are the food and spirits, music, smells, sights, history, cathedrals-temples-mosques, and proximity to other cities and countries that all coalesce into a unique and life-affirming encounter with the world.  For one month, I regularly had siesta by the pool.  I ate caramelized goat-cheese, onion, and tomato tapas.  I experienced world-class jazz, dive-bar flamenco, and roof-top club music.  On weekends, I went to Retiro Park (Madid’s Central Park) and watched people row boats in front of a gigantic columned monument to a former monarch.  I saw Goya’s “Saturn Eating His Children” and Bosch’s “Garden of Earthly Delights” (along with works by Raphael, Rembrandt, etc.) at the Prado museum, and Picasso’s “Guernica” at the Reina Sophia.  I took a day trip to see Roman Aqueducts and eat roasted suckling pig in Segovia.  Other adventures took me to Toledo (home of “El Greco”) and the century old walled city of Avila (home to St. Teresa).

And what is left after a study-abroad; what is the take-away?  I earned six credits, took hundreds of beautiful pictures and made many friends from law schools all over the country.  I now have a Spanish flag I wore like a cape in an endless sea of red (250,000 people) as I watched Spain win the Word Cup.  I bridged the divide between the intangible and tangible by walking in the formerly abstract (to me) palace from where Isabella and Ferdinand ruled; I have a familiarity (as concrete as a memory can be) with the Royal Palace that fills my mind when I think about Columbus seeking financing for his venture/crusade.  I know in detail just how fascinating the European Union is – it rivals the United States in its idealism, lack of historical precedent, and provocative nature (what is sovereignty?).  More than anything, I am inspired to make certain that this in not a “once in a lifetime” experience; the world is big, people are beautiful and creative in ways that cannot simply be read about, and I will not be content to coast through the rest of my life on the fumes of this past summer.  But, studying abroad is a start – a start this writer encourages all law students to consider.

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