ALLEI students enter U.S. law schools

ALLEI participants meet with Delaware Superior Court Judge Jan Jurden (third from right)

What do Temple, Northwestern, Wake Forest, and Southern Methodist University have in common?

They all have law schools with new law students who graduated from the ELI’s American Law and Legal English Institute (ALLEI). Why did these students choose to attend the ALLEI program before continuing their studies in an American law school?

“American law schools assume that all students in the LL.M. [master’s of law] program already have a strong understanding of American law and the U.S. legal system, which most international students do not have,” said ChrisWolfe, ELI’s legal studies coordinator.

“This is why ELI’s ALLEI program is so important. It provides an intensive four-week introduction to legal English and the U.S. legal system, which is essential for success in law school. In fact, some U.S. law schools require their foreign students to attend the ALLEI program first.”

Most foreign law students in U.S. law schools choose the one-year LL.M. degree rather than the three-year J.D. degree, Wolfe said. Unlike in most countries, where students study law at the undergraduate level and receive a bachelor’s degree in law, in the U.S., American students study law for three years at the graduate level and receive a doctoral degree in law (J.D.). International students who already have a bachelor’s degree in law from their own country are eligible to enter a U.S. law school and receive a master’s degree in law (LL.M.) after one year of study, he explained.

ELI has offered this unique law and legal English program since 1993, and this summer nine legal professionals from Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan and Vietnam participated.

ALLEI combines classes in U.S. law and legal English with professional visits to law firms, courts and government agencies in Delaware, New York City and Washington, D.C. While studying in the 2007 ALLEI program, participants attended a criminal trial in Delaware Superior Court, an oral appellate argument in Delaware Supreme Court, visited with colleagues in several law offices, attended a program of the Delaware Division of Corporations, and toured the U.S. Capitol and U.S. Supreme Court.

After graduating from ALLEI, most participants returned home to use their new knowledge and skills in their professional work. Four, however, are continuing their studies in American law schools in LL.M. programs. As one student told Chris after beginning to study at Temple Law School, “I cannot imagine going to law school in the U.S. without attending ALLEI first. It has been a huge help to me in my studies!”   • CW