Message from the Director:

When deciding about summer programs, there are many choices.  Our program is a little bit different:  We really learn about Latin America, work in its institutions, and experience its legal systems – both state-based and indigenous.  This is one part law school, one part activism boot camp, one part extreme sport and one part annual shareholders meeting.  You are coming to study, work in, and learn about the legal culture of Latin America at a really interesting time. 

Latin Americans keep moving to the U.S. and the U.S. keeps investing in Latin America.  Yet U.S. legal culture continues to lead globally.  New York City-styled mega-firms dominate the skyline of “Sanhattan”, as an eastern part of Santiago has been called.  Mediation and arbitration continues to grow, the adversarial model of criminal procedure is replacing the inquisitorial model, and U.S. drug courts and DNA evidence influences the administration of justice around the region.  U.S. styles of legal education and professional training have been instilled.  But Europe continues to make important contributions to legal reform, legal education and legal practice.  Moreover, the economic influence of Germany, Italy, and Spain throughout Latin America cannot be underestimated.  China, India and Russia have all made new deals with Latin American governments for security, investment and natural resources.

With the changing political landscape, legal reform projects still underway and the transition to democracy now in its second decade, Latin America faces the future in the midst of the global economic crisis.  This is place where the Cold War, free market economics, and economic nationalism are fought out.  Even the new James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, is about Bolivian water privatization and governance.  But then again the Bolivian scenes were actually filmed in northern Chile.  Those Bolivian police uniforms, however, are the real deal.  You should know that Bolivia and Chile do not have full diplomatic relations.  The Bolivians are still upset that Chile took their Pacific seacoast in a war in 1879.  Bolivia is land-locked as a result.  They still have a navy though. 

Welcome to Latin America and to the Chile Summer Program. Bring a sweater, your snowboard, and some aspirin.

It’s Your Hemisphere. Use it Wisely.

Professor James Cooper


About the Program

At the foot of the Andes mountains in Santiago, a bustling metropolis with six million people, the Chile Summer Program provides students with a first-hand look at how Latin America’s most dynamic economy is adjusting to a new era of democratic governance, human rights, and environmental challenges. With classes at the Heidelberg Center for Latin America, opportunities for real work experience in law offices and public institutions, and workshops throughout the region, students learn comparative and international law while enjoying the natural wonders and culture of the region.

Session One - May 24 – June 23, 2010 (classroom courses) - 6 units
Session Two - June 30 - July 30, 2010 (Practicum Component field placement) - 2 units

Session One is mandatory; Session Two is optional.

Following the classroom portion of Session One, there are a limited number of practical training opportunities available in Session Two. For example, the field placements of the Chile Summer Program may include public institutions, law enforcement agencies, think tanks, private law firms and non-governmental organizations.

The Chile Summer Program places students in the heart of Latin America’s quest for justice and the struggle over globalization. Whether it is human rights litigation, legal reforms, or economic development, Chile has long been a leader in Latin America. After emerging from the Pinochet dictatorship, the country consolidated its democracy with a new judicial system. In Santiago, a city of more than six million people, students will experience the reform process first-hand with leaders from the legal sector, including human rights advocates, senior police officials, and Supreme Court judges. Workshops and site visits will introduce students to new trends in social justice and the role that expanding free trade has played in Latin America. Courses in international and comparative law, taught by U.S. law professors and leading Chilean scholars and practitioners, will provide frameworks for understanding the globalization of law and legal practice – in the laboratory that Santiago and its environs provide. The Chile Summer Program will provide opportunities for extra-curricular visits to Argentina, Bolivia, and Perú. Excellent ski resorts, thermal baths, wineries, coastal getaways, and top-end hiking are within a ninety-minute drive from Santiago.

Since 1997, California Western School of Law has been the U.S. site for Proyecto ACCESO, a leading rule of law skills training and public education program for Latin America. Proyecto ACCESO has trained thousands of legal professionals in over fifteen countries around the region, placed students in internships in private law firms, law enforcement agencies and public institutions throughout Latin America, and produced legal and public education programs for the Bolivian, Chilean, Costa Rican, German, Peruvian, Paraguayan, and U.S. governments, among others.

The Chile Summer Program Session One is comprised of three short intensive courses that reflect the region’s legal culture and explore the challenges that come with globalization. If you stay on for Session Two, you can earn an additional two credits and experience real life Chilean legal sector workplaces. The faculty from the four members of the Consortium for Innovative Legal Education are involved as instructors, supplemented by local law professors, lawyers and judges who provide occasional lectures. There will also be several trips as well as extra-curricular activities that take advantage of Chile’s natural beauty and proximity to winter sport activities. Optional trips to bordering countries may also be offered.