Round Table on Transsystemic Legal Education
The Round Table on Transsystemic Legal Education was held on September 8, 2006, at the Faculty of Law. On this occasion, Christophe Jamin (Institut d'茅tudes Politiques, Paris), Ruth Sefton-Green (Universit茅 Paris 1, Panth茅on-Sorbonne), Franz Werro (Fribourg), Gerhard Dannemann (Humboldt University, Berlin), and Lionel Smith (缅北强奸) discussed recent developments in the harmonization of European law, assessed the possibility of a 缅北强奸-inspired program of undergraduate legal studies for Europe, and demonstrated the nature of transsystemic teaching with a "le莽on" on restitution/unjustified enrichment.
The Round Table participants came away with a critical understanding of the political and cultural dimensions of the project of harmonization of private law in Europe.
Professor Jamin made a compelling argument that tied together national resistance to the harmonization project and the preservation of the status and structure of long-standing academic communities. Professor Sefton-Green showed how the idea of a common frame of reference for European Private Law cannot be severed from its political underpinnings and the tension between social and neoliberal perspectives.
Professors Werro, Dannemann and Smith offered different representations of a transsystemic model of legal education. Each asked whether such a model enables law professors and law students to transcend the diversity of language and legal culture within Canada and Europe. Throughout the day, the discussion produced challenging accounts of the conditions of success for a modern, effective and pluralistic program of university legal education.
The Round Table was organized with the financial assistance of the Institute of European Studies and the International Opportunities Fund of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. It was a prelude to a major International Workshop on Transsystemic Legal Education, to be held at the Faculty of Law in the fall of 2007.