Advanced European Union Legal Practice

This advanced course is about the practice of European Union Law. Participants receive hands-on insider analysis of the functioning of the European Union. The program is designed to combine seminars on different topics as well as workshops supporting the issues addressed in these seminars or some aspects thereof. The Total Law™ method constitutes the backbone of the program and gives it its exceptional flavor. Developed by the Jean Monnet Center at the New York University School of Law, it relies on contextualization: situating a legal controversy, a court decision, a Treaty provision, a Directive, or a Regulation in the broader context. 

The course will improve the participants' skills by showing how economic, social, and political contexts shape the particular legal problem addressed and impact the thinking about possible solutions. It will also highlight the constraints and opportunities that legal frameworks offer for policy change and how they impact governance modes. The focus is Law. But the premise is that Law cannot be understood, nor practiced professionally and competently, without understanding its broader contexts; moreover, the effective resolution of policy problems requires an understanding of how law impacts policy development.
 
The summer course was designed and put together by the Total Law™team, led by Joseph Weiler, Joseph Straus Professor of Law and Jean Monnet Chair at New York University School of Law, and offers a unique blend of well-known academics and senior officials working in the European Union institutions. The team’s composition gives the seminars and workshops both the advanced knowledge and the insider’s view that is so valuable for the participants.
 
The course is organized around five clusters, which provide the context for detailed case studies and serve to focus the analysis. These are The Political, The Law, The Community, The Market, and The World. Inside these clusters, certain themes will be developed further, depending on the participants’ profile, the expertise of the Total Law Team members delivering the relevant sessions, and current developments in EU affairs.
 
Participants have two enrollment options. Either they opt for the Diploma option, which requires them to register for and pass an examination at the end of the course, and entitles them to receive a course Diploma and CEU academic credits. Or they opt for the Certificate option, which entitles them to receive a Certificate of Participation, provided that they meet the course requirements.