Next fall, the Fletcher School will become the first non-law school in the United States to offer a Master of Laws program (LL.M.). The initiative was unveiled last week.
The full-time, post-graduate program will present legal professionals with an opportunity to obtain specialized education in a particular area of international law.
"We have one of America's best international law faculties," Fletcher Academic Dean Peter Uvin said. "[This] was something we could credibly do with our existing reputation."
According to Uvin, international law professionals have only recently begun to acknowledge the importance of viewing their jobs within a broader social context.
"It doesn't suffice anymore to be just a technician, so to speak," he said. "One has to understand where they belong in the larger context that makes up law."
As such, the program will feature a flexible curriculum that will allow students to mix and match.
"Each LL.M. student [will be able to] take international law courses suited to that student's career objectives and interests," Fletcher Professor Michael Glennon, who will direct the program, said in an e-mail.
There will be optional tracks in public international law, international business law and international economic law. The program's sponsors also plan on holding a symposium each year in Talloires, France.
"The idea is to hold a 'capstone' colloquium there at the end of the academic year where we will try to tie up loose ends under the guidance of Fletcher law faculty and also of international law experts from Europe," he said.
Also contributing to the flexibility is the decision to let Fletcher students enroll in LL.M. courses and vice-versa.
"Almost every challenge that the international community faces - global warming, human rights, development - has a legal dimension," Glennon said. "So it will be extremely useful for faculty and students to have LL.M. students in the building who are looking at the legal aspects of these problems."
Uvin believes that the LL.M. program will attract students to Fletcher who might not have previously considered studying there. He said that the new program should also open doors for students currently enrolled in the school's Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy (MALD) degree program.
"By heading this program, we also hope that our regular MALD degree program will become stronger, because new courses will be added to the curriculum," he said.
According to Glennon, the admissions process will be extremely selective.
The early application deadline is Nov. 15, and the entire Fletcher law faculty will look at submissions once they have passed through an initial admissions committee. Applicants must be fluent in English and demonstrate job experience.
"But here again," Glennon said, "we recognize the need for flexibility and will be open-minded about non-traditional career paths. We'll look at everything relevant to an applicant's potential."
President Lawrence Bacow is confident that the program will succeed.
"The new LL.M. program reflects the reality that Fletcher is home to some of the nation's most outstanding international legal scholars," he said in an e-mail. "Based on requests for information from prospective students, the program appears as if it will be very popular."
Glennon is also hopeful. "It occurred to Fletcher's faculty that we already have the pieces in place to run a first-rate LL.M. program, and the real question was why we hadn't done it sooner," he said. "And it was obvious that an infusion of superb lawyers as LL.M. students would add a lot to Fletcher's intellectual environment."
