Hello From Argentina!

Thanks to the Commentator for setting up this blog and inviting me to participate!

I'll give the readers a quick introduction and some information on the exciting activities we're carrying out....

This year, 44 students are attending SW's Summer Law Program in Argentina. Students are from law schools throughout Canada and the U.S., including SW, Chapman, Florida State, Georgetown, Lewis and Clark, Loyola (Los Angeles), McGill, Southern Methodist, UC Hastings, Denver, Miami, Missouri, New Mexico, San Diego, Victoria, Valparaiso, Washington and Lee, Willamette. Six courses are offered, including: (1) Comparative Constitutional Law; (2) Corruption and White Collar Crime; (3) Globalization and the Transformation of Roles of Lawyers and Law in Latin America; (4) International Business Transactions, (5) International Protection of Human Rights; and (6) Latin American Laws and Institutions. Ten of the students enrolled in the externship program and started to work at their placements on Monday, last week; three of them with the Argentina Supreme Court, three with Criminal Courts of Appeals, two with the Office of the Public Defender before the Argentina Supreme Court, one with the Court of Appeals for Economic Crimes, one with the Court of Appeals for Commercial Matters. The externs are taking a course on Argentine Legal Institutions that started with 20 intensive hours during the first week of the program and continues on Tuesday evening through the last day of the externship. In all, ten professors are teaching in the program, eight of them from Argentina and two from the U.S.

The Program began on Sunday, May 25, with a four hour city tour, followed by a welcome lunch where the US and Canadian students met the Argentine students that are participating in the program, and the Argentine and US faculty. The program activities so far have included:

An orientation pizza lunch to provide students with helpful hints for a great experience in Buenos Aires (Mon. 05/26)
A visit to the Supreme Court building and meeting with Vice-Chief Justice Elena Highton de Nolasco (Mon. 05/26)
A visit to the law firm of Negri & Teijeiro for a talk with young Argentine partners and associates, and a US lawyer who has been working here for the last 12 years (Fri. 05/30)
A trip to a ranch in the province of Buenos Aires (Sun. 06/01)
An orientation dinner for the externs (Mon. 06/02)
A tango lesson followed by a tango show (Thur. 06/05)
A visit to a federal prison (Fri. 06/06)

More extracurricular and fun activities will follow and I'll keep posting them on the blog.

As you can imagine, students are not relying on the program only to organize activities for them, and I would expect you'll learn more on what they've been doing on their own by reading their blog posts.

Have a great week!