European Union

“London had fallen”: Brexit reflections from a Georgia Law Global Extern

It’s our pleasure today to publish this post by Shirley Kathryn Griffis (below right), a member of the Georgia Law Class of 2017. Katie, as she’s known, spent Spring 2016 as  in our study abroad at Oxford University, and then began her second summer as a Global Externship Overseas in the London law firm Maples Teesdale. Reflecting on last week’s “Brexit” vote, Katie writes:

KatieThe first thing I thought on Friday morning was, “this can’t have happened.” It was a sentiment shared by almost all of my colleagues at Maples Teesdale’s London office, where I am spending my summer Global Externship Overseas. Together, we spent Friday morning pulling up articles, dusting off our United Kingdom constitutional law practice guides, and sharing legal theories on how the Brexit vote might be undone. It seemed that through the 51.9% to 48.1% vote to leave the European Union, London had fallen.

And we were in denial:

“The referendum is not legally binding.”

“Parliament can override.”

“Scotland won’t accept this. They can block it.”

“Cameron didn’t invoke Article 50, there’s still a chance.”

“Did you see the petition for the second referendum? Three million signatures! This won’t stand.”

The mood in London quickly turned from denial to anger when Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the results of the referendum must be respected, and the members of Parliament largely agreed. I chimed in with other voices from London on social media, asking how this could have happened. The feeling in London is that there is so much to be angry about that it is hard to know where to start, and whom to blame. Londoners started circulating a secessionist petition, there was a rally in Trafalgar Square to show solidarity with Europe, and everyone is talking about immigrating to Ireland.

London has a long way to go before accepting the reality of Brexit. The financial markets are reeling. The pound has plummeted, hitting a 31-year low in just four hours, and four major companies—Prudential Insurance, HSBC, BT and Royal Bank of Scotland—announced they were considering major staffing changes to include relocation or mass downsizing. As the financial capital of the United Kingdom, most major businesses in London have structured themselves to operate in accordance with European Union law and procedure. It is for this reason that London’s “stay” vote was 70% in favor—the European Union is vital to the survival of London’s economy.

FlagsThis is my second summer working for Maples Teesdale in London. I have always envisioned myself returning to London to practice after I graduate from the University of Georgia School of Law, but I worry now about whether that will be a possibility. It’s still uncertain what jobs, even industries, are safe, and how long the current financial crash will continue. I stand by my colleagues here in London, hoping that no matter how far London falls, it won’t take long at all to get back up and carry on.

Today in Brussels, from an alum & member of our Dean Rusk Council

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David Hull, a member of our Dean Rusk International Law Council, today published his thoughts about this morning‘s terrorist attacks in the city with which he 1st became acquainted as a Georgia Law summer study abroad student in the early 1980s: Brussels, Belgium.

A partner and specialist in European Union law at the firm of Van Bael & Bellis, David wrote in the Atlanta legal paper, Daily Report, that he tends to be “sanguine” about bad news, but added that these attacks hit very “close to home,” even in “their sheer randomness.”

He expressed concern about “a tendency to conflate the refugee crisis with the terrorist threat,” and “hope that a settlement can be reached in Syria in the near future and a more stable situation achieved in the Middle East generally.” Both, he concluded, require “leaders with courage and vision to find workable and lasting solutions to unprecedented challenges.”

Our thoughts are with David, his family, and the many other members of the Georgia Law community in and around Belgium, a country with which we’ve partnered since the early 1970s.

Learning law on both sides of Atlantic: Join Georgia Law at Oxford Spring 2017

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Learning in London: Georgia Law at Oxford Spring 2016 students with Professor-in-Residence James Smith and Kit Traub (JD 1988), Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs (acting), U.S. Embassy

Over the last decade, more than a hundred U.S. students have enriched their legal studies through Georgia Law’s offering of a semester-long experience the University of Oxford, one of England’s most venerable institutions. Providing 12 credits over the course of about 15 weeks, Georgia Law at Oxford is one of the few such semester-long opportunities among U.S. law schools.

According to Georgia Law Professor Joseph Miller, Director of Georgia Law at Oxford:

“The Oxford program is deeply engaging and rewarding. I remember my time there in Spring 2013 so fondly, and I continue to hear from alums of the program about how much they grew and learned in Oxford, one of the world’s ultimate university towns. It’s filled with life and living history, side by side.”

Applications are welcome for Spring 2017. Interested Georgia Law students are encouraged to attend one of 2 information sessions next week, to be held on Monday, March 14, and Wednesday, March 17; interested students from other law schools should contact Professor Miller, getmejoe[at]uga[dot]com, for information about attending as a University of Georgia visiting student.

The exciting Spring 2017 curriculum will be led by professors from both sides of the Atlantic:

Chapman_head► Georgia Law Professor Nathan Chapman (right) will be the Georgia Law professor in residence in Spring 2017. He’ll teach 2 courses, for a total of 7 units:

►► Comparative Constitutional Law: The course will survey the historical and philosophical origins of constitutionalism, with a special emphasis on the development of the liberal constitutional tradition associated with Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights, the U.S. Constitution, and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man. The bulk of the course will explore the different structures, procedures, and rights provisions in a variety of contemporary constitutional systems (including treaty-based systems such as the European Union). A special concern will be legitimacy and methods of constitutional change.

►► The History of the Common Law: Using the excellent textbook by Langbein, Lettow Lerner, and Smith, this course will survey the development of the common law, courts, and legal profession in England and the United States, giving special emphasis to the ways that the common law and legal practice have diverged in England and American in the past 200 years. The course will conclude by comparing how the practice of law is structured and regulated in both countries today.

enchelmaierTN► Joining Professor Chapman will be Oxford Law’s Stefan Enchelmaier (left), Professor of European and Comparative Law. His 2-unit course, EU Economic Law, will examine the economic components of European Union law.

► Rounding out the curriculum will be a 3-unit Supervised Research Tutorial, modeled on the format of the renowned Oxford tutorial and taught by an array of Oxford Law faculty. Small-group meetings will be devoted to planning or revising the research paper that each student will complete during the semester, on a topic of comparative or international law.

Details and application here.