Summer Abroad Student Testimonials
“Because international law is a vast, diverse, and complex field of law, Santa Clara Law’s summer study abroad program is valuable to any student who is interested in a career in international law or simply wants to improve his or her understanding of how the law is organized and enforced in the international context. Not to mention, it helps treat wanderlust!”
Maxwell Nelson, Geneva and The Hague 2019
“After studying abroad last summer in The Netherlands, I was so excited to have the opportunity to experience the Vienna program. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience, all the professors were so passionate and had such unique perspectives. With each new topic, came a new spark of interest for me. The program is put together in such a way that it immersed us completely in the law and culture of Vienna through site visits and wonderful speakers. This experience will stick with me not only throughout my career, but throughout my personal life as well.”
Taylor Stichauf, Vienna and Geneva 2019; The Hague 2018
“Those two months that I spent in Tokyo for SCU’s summer abroad program have been life-changing, and I completely fell in love with the people and culture of Japan. My firm welcomed me with open arms and treated me like one of their own. Needless to say, participating in the Tokyo summer abroad program had been a once in a lifetime experience and I have a feeling that I will be going back very soon.”
Vanessa Chang, Tokyo program and externship 2019
“My externship experience was transformative. I’m so grateful I had this opportunity to work with wise, knowledgeable, and compassionate people from all over the world. It was an honor to participate in UNHCR’s work, which involves helping millions of people in desperate need of protection through large-scale policy advocacy. Since I started law school, I had been struggling with whether I feel most fulfilled helping individuals or working on broader policy. While I have been inclined to want to work on systemic changes that have a wider impact, this experience confirmed that path for me. I gained a new perspective on the world and the U.S.’s role in it, and insight into the role I want to play in service and contribution to society.”
Alison Tabor, Costa Rica program and externship 2019
“The Santa Clara Law Summer Abroad Program provided me with the opportunity to do what motivated me to go to law school. I was able to provide assistance to a legal team working with asylum seekers in Malta. It was incredibly rewarding to learn from the team and provide direct services to those seeking asylum. My time in Malta also provided me with the opportunity to learn about another legal system and how it is implemented on the ground. I would highly recommend this experience to anyone interested in working in this field.”
Cherilee Barrett, Geneva program and Malta externship 2019
“The classroom portion was a wonderful opportunity to meet law students from other schools in the US who have a variety of professional interests. The Program Director fostered an environment where we engaged in meaningful conversation dealing with refugee law and policies in the United States. The externship gave me a wonderful experience to practice drafting Declaratory Statements and taking instruction from clients. The whole trip was a spectacular educational and personal adventure.”
Daniel Antoon, Sydney program and Melbourne externship 2019
“The three-week classroom portion of the China summer program was short but unexpectedly essential to the growth I had during the externship. The short duration of the classroom portion was not enough time to delve deeply into any aspect of Chinese law, but the professors (each a law professor at Chinese university) did a great job of laying a foundation for us to get the most from our externships. We covered a diverse set of broad topics including constitutional law, labor law, basic business structures, competition/antitrust law, foreign trade law, foreign investment law, and intellectual property law. Visits to local law firms and to the courts added further context to the theoretical law that we learned in the classroom. Overall, this three-week classroom portion made the externship truly rewarding. Without the classroom portion, I would not have had the background to address some of the questions that I did during the externship. The classroom work turned out to be a perfect overview of Chinese law that enriched the externship experience. For example, it enabled me to find sufficient information regarding Chinese medical device regulation to be able to present to an audience of roughly 20 attorneys at the firm a comparison of the medical device approval processes in the U.S. and China.”
Kehl Sink, Shanghai program and externship 2019
