Curriculum Guide · Courses

Professor Sutter

J.D. Seminar 420 | 1 credit hours

The course is recommended for students who are planning to study law and/or work in France or any other French-speaking country. It is also recommended for students interested in working in international law firms or organizations where interactions with French speaking clients are likely to occur. More generally, the class is interesting to any student who would like to learn about a foreign legal system, particularly the civil law system. Since France is a civil law country and many other countries' legal systems are based on French civil law, students who will practice international law will benefit from learning about the differences between the civil and common law systems. In this respect, the class is a good complement to a comparative law class and fits well within an international law curriculum.

The course is worth 1 credit and is mandatory pass/fail. Students will be required to submit a paper on a topic of French law or a topic of comparison between French Law and U.S. Law. The paper should be 12-15 pages long and should be written in French. Only the actual legal content of the paper will be taken into account for the pass/fail requirement; French misspellings and/or grammatical mistakes will not be taken into account. The paper is due on Monday, February 7, 2011 and must be submitted to the Registrar’s Office. Students are also required to e-mail a copy of their paper to Professor Sutter (sutter.florence@gmail.com).

Students may not receive credit for this course and French for Lawyers: A Case Law Approach to Understanding a Civil Law System.

Note: WEEK ONE COURSE. This seminar will meet for one week only on the following days: Monday, January 10, 2011, through Friday, January 14, 2011, 1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. This course is mandatory pass/fail and will count toward the 7 credit pass/fail limit for J.D. students. Note: Attendance at all class sessions is mandatory and all enrolled and waitlisted students must attend the first class in order to be enrolled. Enrolled students will have until Tuesday, January 11, 2011, at 9:00 a.m. to drop this course. This course requires Professor Permission to enroll. Because this course will be taught in French, students should have a good command of French to benefit from the course. Interested students should email Professor Sutter (sutter.florence@gmail.com) by 5:00 p.m. on 12/15/10 with a one-page statement, in French, explaining their knowledge of French and their interest in the course.