Program Description

Since 2003, Cornell Law School has offered a dual degree that annually permits students to spend their third year studying in Paris, in the "Master in Global Business Law" graduate law program* jointly sponsored by the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris ("Sciences Po"), one of the French "grandes écoles," and the Université de Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne.

The Master offers a multi-disciplinary European perspective on international law and business issues. Upon successfully completing the program, students receive the Juris Doctor degree from Cornell Law School and the Master from the Université de Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne.

*The French title for the degree program is "Master--Droit et globalisation économique."

Admission to the Program

• Applicants must be fluent in French. Cornell Law School students may apply during the Spring semester of the first year, in response to an invitation circulated to the first year class.
  See the First-Year Application Form.
  The annual application deadline is February 24, 2010.

First and Second Year Curriculum at Cornell Law School

• Students must complete 62 credits of study.
• The first year of study is identical to that of regular J.D. students at Cornell Law School, totaling 32 credits.
• In the second year of study, students must complete at least 30 credit hours of study, including a professional responsibility course, a skills course and a course satisfying the Law School’s writing requirement.
• The program includes restrictions to avoid course offerings counting toward the J.D. credit requirements that:
  (1) would be better taken as part of the curriculum of the Master or
  (2) are outside of the regular Law School curriculum (regular J.D. candidates are allowed to take one course in each upperclass semester in other divisions of the university in areas related to their legal studies).

Third Year Curriculum in Paris

• In Paris, classroom instruction is in both English and French.
• Cornell students will join a class of approximately 30 people: 10 from Sciences Po; 10 from Paris I; and, 10 from a consortium of U.S. law schools, which include Columbia, Duke, and Northwestern.
• For a description of the program at Sciences Po, please click here.

Following the award to the students of the Master, Cornell Law School will evaluate their performance and grant an additional 24 credits in advanced standing toward the Juris Doctor degree.

Tuition and Financial Aid

Cornell Law School students pay full Cornell tuition and fees during the first two years of study at Cornell, as well as during the third year in Paris, but do not pay tuition to the French institutions. Students continue to be eligible for U.S. student loans during the year in Paris.

Bar Examinations/Admission

Program graduates have the necessary legal training to qualify for the bar examination in the United States. Although the Master degree technically provides the academic qualifications necessary to take the French bar examination, the academic program does not realistically prepare one for the examination. The focus is on the international, rather than the French, legal system. For those interested in becoming licensed to practice law in France, the four-year J.D./Master en Droit program should be pursued.

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Program Administration

For information and inquiries, contact Larry Bush

CornellProfessor John J. Barceló III
William Nelson Cromwell Professor of International and Comparative Law and Elizabeth and Arthur Reich Director
Leo and Arvilla Berger International Legal Studies Program

Laura Spitz
Associate Dean for International Affairs and
Executive Director, Clarke Center for International and Comparative Legal Studies

Sciences PoEdith Chabre
Academic Advisor

Hélène Menguy
Assistant

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