The Deadman Night Rider

A forum for evening students of the SMU Dedman School of Law and other outlaws..

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

SMU propagating American jurisprudence?

I’m slowly adding to the list of countries represented by my colleagues. Yesterday afternoon the Russian woman in my section from Lithuania introduced me to a 3L friend of hers from Estonia (she is Russian too, however, not Estonian). In Contracts, I sit next to a guy from Peru and a girl from Colombia. I wish my Spanish was as good as my Russian because I think it would really be interesting to talk to them—my understanding is that they already have law degrees from their home countries and are doing advanced work here. Their English doesn’t appear to be all that strong, so they must be pulling double-time to keep up.

Maybe it’s stupid and idealistic to think that any of this make a difference, but no one can deny that these are all places that could desperately benefit from the principles and values that we just take for granted in our legal system—Estonia and Lithuania are just starting out, and Peru and Colombia are almost hopelessly mired in corruption. Sure, exporting lawyers isn’t the first thing a person might think of to help build up developing nations (some would say it’s an act of war), but I’ve been around enough to see that ideas matter. Everything starts one person at a time.

To borrow (and mangle) a phrase from Steinbeck (Tortilla Flat), I am proud to have known such people.

CORRECTION: My esteemed colleague from Lithuania is indeed LITHUANIAN, not Russian. This was an assumption made on my part, it was wrong, and I offer my apologies.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

"[N]o one can deny that these are all places that could desperately benefit from the principles and values that we just take for granted in our legal system."

If we had a surplus of these values, I'd love to export them to the countries you name. The problem is the headlines of the day convince me that this country is beginning to operate in a value/principle trade deficit. You are 100 percent right. We have taken it for granted, perhaps for the last 50 years, and now the chickens have come home to roost. To "balance the budget," it may take the ideas of those coming from abroad to remind America what its legal system is about. Apparently, we are beginning to forget. Such values are second fiddle to "litmus tests" and the rancor of extreme partisan rhetoric.

The fellow form Peru getting his LL.M is likely doing so to practice law in the United States. The greatest work to be done is right before our eyes.

10:17 PM  

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