International and Comparative Law Certificate

Students who desire to concentrate their elective and extracurricular courses of study in the general areas of international and comparative law can seek a Certificate in International and Comparative Law. The Certificate is an acknowledgment by the faculty that the student has successfully completed a focused course of study to expand his or her knowledge in international, foreign and comparative law.

Course of Study

Students must successfully complete 15 credit hours selected from the elective courses listed on the chart below. Courses that meet the requirement of "core courses" count toward the required 15 credit hours. A minimum of nine credit hours must be earned in courses taught by full-time Washburn Law faculty. Externship credits will not count towards the nine-credit minimum, and no more than three externship credits will count towards the fifteen-credit elective requirement for the Certificate.

Core Courses

Students must complete at least one core course in International Law and one core course in Comparative Law from the following lists of courses.

International Law

Comparative Law

Writing Requirement

Students must complete the upper level writing requirement (or equivalent writing project) on a pre-approved Comparative or International Law topic. Students may satisfy the Certificate writing requirement through Directed Research (LW763) or an alternative writing project approved in advance by the student's certificate advisor. The writing requirement may be satisfied by completion of a term paper in a Comparative or International Law course that is evaluated by paper, for instance Comparative Constitutional Law, Law and Human Rights, or Law of Indigenous Persons. A student must receive a grade of "B" or better on the paper submitted to satisfy the writing requirement.

General Requirements

Prior to completing 40 hours of study, students interested in pursuing an International and Comparative Law Certificate must first meet with a faculty member administering the program (Professor William Merkel or Professor Ali Khan) to declare their interest and plan their course of study. [NOTE: This requirement will be adjusted to accommodate students who have completed 40 hours but desire to pursue this new Certificate opportunity.] The faculty member and student will complete a "Meeting Summary" identifying the faculty member who will serve as the Student's Certificate Advisor.

The student must complete 90 hours of total law school credit and achieve a minimum grade point average of 3.0 in the 15 hours of courses selected by the student to meet the Certificate requirements. Students who obtain a minimum grade point average of 3.5 for courses used to satisfy their Certificate requirements will be awarded the Certificate in International and Comparative Law (with distinction).

Curriculum Courses

Approved by the faculty: December 2007
Effective: January 2008