| | | Hungarian law students to sample law, life in Toledo | | By Kathleen Amerkhanian |
| | Jul 6, 2007, 06:23 |
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As part of The University of Toledo College of Law’s partnership with the University of Szeged Law Department in Hungary, seven Szeged law students will come to Toledo in July to experience U.S. law and life.
The students will stay on UT’s Main Campus at the International House and will complete internships in four legal settings, shadowing attorneys in both the government sector and private practice. Their first week will be spent at the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio; the second week will be at the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas; the third week will be at the Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office; and the fourth week will be spent in local law offices.
Some activities the College of Law will help facilitate for after work hours include visits to a Mud Hens game, the Toledo Museum of Art, and other area attractions. The College of Law also will help set up visits with area politicians, including State Rep. Peter Ujvagi, who is of Hungarian heritage.
“Hungary has the same population and number of law schools as Ohio,” said Daniel Steinbock, UT associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Law and professor. “To operate in an integrated Europe and a newly globalized world, by necessity, Hungarian lawyers need to understand foreign law.”
The students are fluent in English and are financing their travels, Steinbock said. They’re looking forward to supplementing the knowledge about American law that they’ve gained in the classroom with observations about practicing law in the United States.
The College of Law launched this program in conjunction with the University of Szeged in 2005. Over the course of the first two years of the program, eight College of Law professors have traveled to Hungary to teach short courses on American law, giving Szeged students a taste of the more interactive American style of legal education.
The professors each taught in their respective areas of expertise — constitutional law, evidence, intellectual property law, contracts, property law, civil procedure and criminal law — and came back with warm memories of the welcome they experienced in Szeged and of the classroom interaction with Szeged students. The program was designed to expose Szeged students to typical U.S. law classes, complete with case analysis and the Socratic method, but the Szeged students aren’t the only ones who benefit. The program offers UT faculty an opportunity to gain international teaching experience and gather different perspectives on their particular areas of expertise.
The UT law faculty members who have taught in Hungary are Steinbock Beth Eisler, Bruce Kennedy, David Harris, James Tierney, Llew Gibbons, Jim Klein, and former Professor and Dean Phil Closius. |
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