Law study abroad

Different Accents in Law

The legal systems of Britain and the United States share a heritage in common law. Then why are they so different from each other?

Some years ago, professor A.E. Dick Howard was engaged in that particular pleasure of poking around in the old book store in London in this case not far from Gray's Inn when he happened upon an incredible treasure.

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"I managed to find a first edition of Blackstone's Commentaries from 1765," recall Howard, who teaches constitutional law at the university of Virginia in Charlottesville. "I couldn't believe my good fortune."

Blackstone's Commentaries was a sensation in Britain's 13 American colonies, which otherwise struggled without resources to apply an often unwritten common law inherited from the mother country on the other side of the Atlantic.

The publication of the Commentaries only a few years before those colonies gained their independence in many ways marked the pinnacle of British influence on American law. "On a different continent, American law began to develop its own face," Howard says.

As George Bernard shaw once noted, England and America are "two countries separated by the same language." And that notion holds true for jurisprudence, a well. The two nations share the history, language and values of the common law, but with distinct accents.

In some ways, current developments are bringing the British and U.S. legal professions closer than ever. Mergers and growing competition among law firms in both countries, along with the demands of an increasingly global economy are fostering more strategic alliances and transactional standardization. To some extent, each country's legal system is experimenting with elements drawn from its counterpart across the ocean.

If anything, U.S. lawyers are playing catch-up with their British counterparts in the global market place. "American firms are scrambling around the world," says Geoffrey C. Hazard Jr. of Philadelphia, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania and a director emeritus of the American Law Institute. British firms are rapidly internationalising, and they still have connections from the old empire days, and we don't."


Further splits possible
But there also are powerful forces that may drive legal systems further apart. "Going forward, because of the European union, the divergence may grow," says lawyer who is a member of the planning committee for the London sessions of the ABA Annual meeting that will be held July 15-20.

All other countries in the European Union, of which the United Kingdom is a system, Tang notes. As Britain draws closer to the Continent, its legal systems also may evolve to confirm with EU structures.

"To grasp the similarities between the U.S. and compare with a civil law country, Judge Patrick E. Higginbothham of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Dallas. "The civil law creates a court system that is quite different. When you take the worldview, England and the States are at least in the same pastures."

But within that pasture here still are many different strains. The British structure of law, for example, is based on acts of parliament, but there is no construction. In a critical departure from that structure, not only is American law government based squarely on the Constitution, but U.S. judge are empowered to rule on the constitutionality of legislation. In Britain, juries do not hear civil cases. In retaining the jury systems for civil as well as criminal cases, "Americans may be more British than the British," says professor Arthur Miller of Harvard Law School. Miller is an academic adviser for a book on the common legal heritage of the United States and Britain coming out this summer in conjunction with the ABA Annual Meeting.

There are other distinctions between the two systems, in terms of substantive law and procedure.

British rules limit discovery in litigation, and there are no class actions and no private enforcement of public laws. Meanwhile, U.S. courts and lawyers have to deal with a far more complicated government system "the most complicated in the world," says Higginbotham with a federal structure overlaying 50 state jurisdictions.

Seeking a sense of community
Where the British clearly still reign, at least in the minds of lawyers in their former American colonies, is in the realm of traditional professional values. "American lawyers are in search of regaining a sense of community with one another," says Roberta Cooper Ramo of Albuquerque, N.M., a past president of the ABA who chairs the London 2000 planning Committee. "Over there, the profession is small in number, and they still have that sense of community."

The reputation of British lawyers for collegiality and professionalism emantes largely from their courts and the tradition of trail lawyers to congregate their offices London's four Inns of Court, for instance, have been in existence since the 13th century.

In Britain, litigation duties are split between solicitors, who prepare cases, and barristers, who carry them forward in the courtroom, where respect and civility are the standard. Barristers still don their characteristic wigs and gowns, something American lawyers see only in the popular prints depicting British law that decorate their office walls.

But that distinctive image leaves an impression. Barristers are regarded worldwide as remarkably "articulate, quick and clever," says Benjamin R. Civiletti, a former U.S. attorney general now in private practice in Baltimore.

civiletti's assessment is widely shared by other members of the U.S. bar. "American lawyers entertain a mystique about the British bar," says Howard.

British trail lawyers are very impressive in their wigs and gowns. Barristers are uncommonly articulate and electrifying."

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Law school abroad

Studying Law and the Social Sciences

In my University, the University of Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire, an academic restructuring took place just about one year ago. One of the consequences of this restructuring was that what had previously been separate Schools of study became one single Faculty of Social Sciences.

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In this Faculty, we now have what were formerly the separate Schools of Economics, Law, Sociology, Social Policy, Management and Accounting. To a degree, these areas still retain autonomy within the Faculty structure, and the integrity of these programmes of study available within the Faculty has not been affected. Students still study Law, Economics, Business Studies and such subjects as independent single honours courses.

But we are also trying to ensure that modular structures allow us to exploit cognate areas within the overall framework of the social sciences.


The social sciences more generally are at the heart of the most vibrant part of the British University system. British academics in areas such as Economics, Law, and Political Science have had a very significant influence in shaping public policy, including the policies of the present and last governments. Students coming to British universities to study these subjects will often have an opportunity to experience at first hand the principles and thought processors which are informing these areas. In these programmes, students will be able to benefit both from a coherent intellectual framework and from a direct vocational application. As a result, employment for graduates is very high.

With the growth of modularisation within the British University system, we can probably expect to see greater levels of integration within related subject to see greater levels of integration within the subject areas such as the social sciences. That is very much to be welcomed, while at the same time we should ensure that the specific expertise available in the subject areas themselves continues to be developed and protected.

I am certain that in my institution, as in many other British universities, students coming to Britain to study subjects such as Law, Economics, Business Studies, Management, Accounting, and Political Science still get some of the best teaching and learning available in the world. Taken together with the particular practice of British universities in giving close attention and care to students in their individual needs, this means that we can continue to be confident excellence in higher education is available in our disciplines.

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Law summer abroad

The Law
Legal Education

You can study law in Australia at any of its 28 law schools, many with over 100 years of history whilst others are brand new, being perhaps only a few years old. All of them welcome students from outside Australia - subject, of course, to the school's academic standards being met.

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The legal education you would receive in these law schools is varied. Some, for example, place particular emphasis on developing practical skills as well as knowledge and understanding of the law. Others ensure that their students develop a critical perspective on the law, setting it in economic, political, historical or philosophical contexts. Others, still, have a more 'black letter law' approach.

In Australia, many law graduates go on from law school to seek admission to practice as a lawyer.

To be able to do this, they have to show the admitting authorities in the various States and Territories that they have studied at least 11 areas of legal knowledge. These areas are criminal law and procedure, torts, contracts, property, equity, company law, administrative law, federal and state constitutional law, civil procedure, and evidence. As a result, whichever law school you attend, you will find that it offers these 11 areas of legal study.

But all law courses have other optional subjects, with a wide range to choose from, other than the 'core' subjects listed above. When choosing a law school, you might wish to explore the subjects that they offer; for example, if your interests are in the commercial area, you might want to choose a law school with a good range of subjects in commercial law. A description of the main undergraduate degrees in all of the law schools can be found in the Lawasia Directory of Law Courses in the Asia and Pacific Regions. To obtain a copy, contact the Centre for Legal Education in Sydney, Australia (fax: +61 2 9221 6280; email: cle@fl.asn.au).


A strong emphasis in Australian legal education is on developing your intellectual skills - to think critically, to write clearly, and to be able to develop and support an argument. It is not about learning things by heart. So although you must be ready to read widely, you would also need to think deeply, and with a critical outlook. If you have already graduated in another discipline, your law degree would be of three years in length. If you have recently finished your secondary schooling, your degree would probably be four years duration.

However, a feature of legal education in Australia is that most school leavers go on to what we call a 'double degree': that is, in a five year period a student undertakes two degrees in parallel - one of them law and the other might be Arts, Commerce or Science. You may wish to undertake such a double degree - in fact the law school of your choice may not admit you unless you did so. In that case, you would finish your tertiary education in Australia with two degrees.

You would have to pay a tuition fee of at least ,000 for each year, maybe up to about ,000. Of course, as well as this there would be living expenses. All of Australia's universities provide assistance to foreign students, including help with accommodation, study skills and so on.

There is no central body with which to enrol to study law. If there is an Australian Education Centre near to you (perhaps at the Australian Embassy or High Commission), you can seek their assistance. There is also a booklet, called Studying Law in Australia. It contains a great deal of information on all of Australia's law schools, living in Australia, and the Australian legal system. You should be able to get a copy at an Australian Education Centre. You can also access it on the Web at http://uniserve.edu.au/law/pub/edinst/cald/stdlaw/StudyingLawInAustralia1997.html. If these courses are not successful, contact the Centre for Legal Education.

In Australia, you cannot be admitted and practice as a lawyer unless you have a law degree and have undertaken legal training. This takes the form of a practical training course of up to about six months, during which time you undergo a form of work experience called articles of clerkship.

You will need to find out about this further phase of legal training if your plan is to be admitted as an Australian lawyer. If your interest is in undertaking postgraduate studies at an Australian law school, you can find out more about the wide-ranging programs of postgraduate studies in Studying Law in Australia. You can undertake a certificate, diploma, masters or doctorate, depending on the law school you choose and your area of interest. Fees for these courses are also in Studying Law in Australia.

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