This program leads to the degree of “J.D. with Honors in International Legal Affairs”, henceforth referred to as the JD-ILA Program.
Admission to the Program
You may apply for the program any time after the completion of your first year of law school and prior to your thirds year of law school, by completing a request for admission to the JD-ILA program. To apply, you need only complete the short form linked below. Provided you are able to satisfy the requirements, admission is automatic for students who have attained a grade point average of 2.7. The Committee will find it helpful, however, if you will also state your language qualifications (if any) and briefly mention any foreign travel, work, military, or study experiences you have had, and any courses of study you have taken that were “international” in nature. To apply, please complete the application form lined below. Please note you will need to provide a copy of your CV and transcript.
Program Requirements
Students in the program must complete 89 credit hours (rather than the traditional 84 required of J.D. students).1 The 89 required credit hours must include:
- Two specifically designated “Group 1” courses.
- One specifically designated comparative law course that is general in scope and includes instruction in civil law systems. The course may have a regional focus. Students may satisfy this requirement by taking Comparative Law: Civil Legal Traditions or one of the other “Group 2” courses listed below.
- At least three additional international or comparative law electives totaling a minimum of 7 credit hours, from the list provided under “Group 3” below.
With the approval from the International Programs Office, a course in the Law School’s Semester Abroad Program may be taken as a substitute for one of the required Group 1 or Group 2 courses. The course must be at least two credits. In the case of a proposed substitute for Public International Law or Conflict of Laws, the course must be substantially similar to the course that would have been taken at Cornell. In the case of a Comparative Law course, it must meet the criteria for such courses set out above.
Please note that in deciding whether you can complete the program requirements, JD/ILA program students will be allowed to take a maximum of 18 credits per semester during the second and third years. No exceptions can be made to the 18-credit maximum.
With the approval of the Assistant Dean for External Education, a student may receive 2 credit hours towards the 89 credits by making a substantial contribution (as defined below) to the Cornell International Law Journal.
With the approval of the Assistant Dean for External Education, a student may receive up to 2 credit hours toward the required 89 credits by serving as a teaching assistant for an international or comparative law class taught at Cornell Law School. The student must demonstrate that the teaching assistant position will involve substantial academic work related to international law.”
Also, with the approval of the International Programs Office, a student may receive 1 credit hour toward the required 89 credits by participating as a member of the Cornell team in one of the international moot court competitions. Such a student must make a substantial contribution to the team brief and to oral argument in the competition. All requests seeking approval must be emailed to the International Programs Office at international.law@cornell.edu.
Courses
Students interested in the J.D. with Specialization in International Legal Affairs will have the following courses to choose from during the 2022-23 academic year. The Director for International Programs, in consultation with the Chair of the International Committee and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, will update the courses in Groups 2 and 3 annually, in advance of the fall pre-registration period. Students are encouraged to speak with the Director for International Programs, to discuss course selection before doing their pre-registration.
Review these courses in the Course Catalog.
Group 1
- 6192 Conflict of Laws
- 6561 International Human Rights
- 6791 Public International Law
Group 2 (one of the following courses is required)
- 6161 Comparative Law: Civil Law Traditions*
- 7440 Law and Social Change: Comparative Law in Africa
*The Comparative Law requirement also may be satisfied by taking 6177 at the Cornell-Paris 1 Summer Institute, together with a supervised writing on a comparative law topic during the following Fall semester.
Group 3: Elective Courses
Semester | Course Number | Title | Credits | Professor |
Fall | 6193 | The Practice of International Arbitration | 3 | Hay/Ziyaeva |
Fall | 6632 | Transnational Corruption and the Law | 3 | Alonso |
Fall | 6344 | International Labor Law | 3 | LeClercq |
Fall | 6451 | Federal Indian Law | 3 | Porter |
Spring | 6465 | Global M&A Practice | 1 | Kihira |
Fall | 6514 | Foreign, Comparative, and International Legal Research | 2 | Shea |
Fall | 6584 | International Trade Law – Short Course | 1 | Lee |
Spring | 6625 | Law and Society in North Korea | 1 | Hong |
Spring | 6661 | Constitutional Law of the European Union | 3 | Lasser |
Spring | 6681 | International Law and Foreign Direct Investment | 3 | Ndulo |
Fall | 6745 | Middle East Business Law and Practice | 3 | Elsaman |
Fall | 7018 | Advanced Topics in Transnational Labor Law | 3 | Blackett |
Fall | 7267 | Comparative Contract Law | 1 | Cerchia |
Spring | 7282 | Gender and International Human Rights | 3 | Babcock/ Greenfield |
Spring | 7295 | Global Labor and Employment Law | 3 | Sander |
Fall | 7311 | Immigration and Refugee Law | 2 | Yale-Loehr |
Spring | 7321 | International Criminal Law | 3 | Ndulo |
Spring | 7358 | International Environmental Law | 3 | Chatrchyan |
Fall | 7360 | International Financial Regulation | 2 | Emmenegger/ Zulauf |
Fall | 7440 | Law and Social Change: Comparative Law in Africa | 4 | Ndulo/Hackett |
Fall | 7589 | Seminar in National Security Issues & Policy | 3 | Pepper |
Fall | 7785 | Law of Genocide and War Crimes Trials | 3 | Rosensaft |
Spring | 7801 | Asylum and Convention Against Torture Appellate Clinic | 4 | McKee/Yale-Loehr |
Fall/Spring | 7805 | Advanced Labor Law Clinic | 3 | Cornell |
Fall/Spring | 7814 | Advanced Transnational Disputes Clinic | 6 | Kysel |
Fall | 7832 | Externship – Full Time* | 12 | Azemi |
Fall | 7834 | Externship – Part Time* | 4 | Azemi |
Fall/Spring | 7842 | Immigration Law and Advocacy Clinic II | 2 | Kelley-Widmer |
Fall/Spring | 7843 | Immigration Law and Advocacy Clinic III | 4 | Kelley-Widmer |
Fall | 7855 | International Human Rights: Litigation and Advocacy Clinic I | 4 | Babcock |
Fall/Spring | 7857 | Farmworker Legal Assistance Clinic I | 4 | Lyon |
Fall/Spring | 7858 | Farmworker Legal Assistance Clinic II | 2 | Lyon |
Fall/Spring | 7859 | Farmworker Legal Assistance Clinic III | 2 | Lyon |
Spring | 7860 | International Human Rights: Litigation and Advocacy Clinic II | 4 | Babcock |
Fall/Spring | 7864 | Farmworker Legal Assistance Clinic IV | 2 | Lyon |
Fall | 7871 | Labor Law Clinic | 4 | Cornell |
Fall/ Spring | 7878 | International Human Rights: Litigation and Advocacy Clinic III | 4 | Babcock |
Fall | 7914 | Gender Justice Clinic I | 4 | Brundige/Lee |
Fall/Spring | 7915 | Gender Justice Clinic II | 4 | Brundige/Lee |
Fall/Spring | 7916 | Gender Justice Clinic III | 4 | Brundige/Lee |
Fall/Spring | 7917 | Gender Justice Clinic IV | 4 | Brundige/Lee |
Fall/Spring | 7959 | Transnational Disputes Clinic | 6 | Kysel |
*If externship is outside the U.S. or with an international organization in the U.S. or a domestic organization in the U.S. practicing international law.
With the approval of the Assistant Dean for External Education, a student may satisfy an elective requirement by:
- taking a similar course in other divisions of the University;
- taking an approved course in the law school’s Semester Abroad Program;
- taking a course offered by the Paris Summer Institute;
- completing a supervised writing project in international or comparative Law (provided the student is able to make arrangements with a supervising professor for such a project);
- taking Professor Lasser’s Research Colloquium (provided the student is admitted to the class);
- receiving up to 2 credit hours toward the required 89 credits by serving as a teaching assistant for an international or comparative law class taught at Cornell Law School. The student must demonstrate that the teaching assistant position will involve substantial academic work related to international law” or
- making a substantial contribution to the Cornell International Law Journal. Work on the Journal can alternatively be applied to the program total hours requirement, as explained above, but these are alternative options – if a student elects to have Journal work counted towards his or her credits hours, he or she cannot use the work in substitution for an elective from Group 3. Similarly, if a student elects to use Journal participation as one of his or her Group 3 electives, he or she must complete an additional 89 credit hours. In either case, for Journal work to be used as credit hours or a Group 3 elective, the student must make a substantial contribution to the work of the Journal, under the following ground rules (worked out between Journal editors and the faculty of the International Committee). Generally, a student will be deemed to have done sufficient work if he or she does a fair share of prelims, cite checking, proof-reading and the like, and, in addition, (1) serves a year’s term as one of the principal officers of the Journal, or (2) completes the Journal’s writing requirements, or (3) performs the substantial equivalent of such work over the student’s second and third years in law school.
Degree Credit Review, Program Change, or Withdraw Form
Please complete this form to start the process to receive a degree credit review, change your program, or withdraw from a program.
If you have any questions, please contact us at international.law@cornell.edu.