June 10, 2009

Mitchell in London Dispatch #1

Forty-four William Mitchell students are getting an in-depth study of current issues in counterterrorism and corporate governance from international experts at the Mitchell in London program this month.

The Mitchell in London program provides an unprecedented opportunity for students to learn about critical global issues from leading practitioners and academics in one of the world’s leading centers of business, trade, government, and research. Courses are held at BPP Law School, London’s leading provider of legal education. The program is open to alumni as well as current students.

This year, William Mitchell Professor Afsheen John Radsan, along with faculty from the BPP Law School and other British and American experts, is leading a course on Comparative Counterterrorism: Due Process in the Age of Terror June 2-11.  Professor Thuy-Nga T. Vo, along with other experts, is teaching a course on Comparative Corporate Governance: Abuse of Power in a Global Economy June 15-25. Professor John Sonsteng is coordinating the Mitchell in London program.

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Mitchell in London is offered through the Consortium for Innovative Legal Education (CILE)-a partnership between William Mitchell, California Western School of Law, New England School of Law, and South Texas College of Law.

Courtney Sebo is a Mitchell student studying in London. Here’s how she describes the experience:

How she spends her days

"The Mitchell in London program has been fantastic! Class is from 10 am until 3:30 pm, with an hour break for lunch. Most days the group walks five minutes to get to the Thames and eat lunch along the river.

"The day is split into two sessions, and each session is split into a 45-minute briefing, a 45-minute small group discussion, and a 45-minute reporting session. The briefings consist of Professor Radsan, a former federal prosecutor and former CIA assistant general counsel, briefing the class on the American and British models of fighting terrorism. We then break into small groups to discuss issues presented in the lecture. Each group includes 10 American students and one British student. We then reconvene and present our small-group discussions."

Learning in London

"After our second class last Wednesday (June 3), we were treated to a legal walking tour of London. We walked across the Thames to Lincoln’s Inn, one of the four Inns of Court. Established as a hostel for those studying law in the 14th century, it operated over the centuries as a provider of all that was needed for professional lawyers-chambers in which to live and work, a hall for eating, a chapel in which to worship, and a library in which to research and consult legal texts.

"Its most famous members include Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher, and Sir Thomas More, an English lawyer, author, and statesman. Lincoln’s inn houses the oldest chapel in all of England, the chapel featured in the novel "Angels and Demons.

"We also had the opportunity to tour the Tower of London. We visited the place where Anne Boleyn and Sir Thomas More were beheaded under the brutal rule of King Henry VIII."

Guest speakers

"Last Thursday (June 4), the class was very lucky to hear Rob Spencer and Mark Bullock speak. Rob Spencer prosecuted Zacharias Moussaoui, the absent 20th hijacker in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He discussed the benefits of prosecuting terrorists in the American criminal justice system, as opposed to a special national security court.

"Mark Bullock is the FBI’s legal attache to London who works for Lockheed Martin. He’s a former federal prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. 

>He discussed the methods and processes of gathering intelligence information on suspected terrorists in the U.S. and the U.K.

"Steve Hewitt, the author of our textbook "The British War on Terror," visited. A professor at the University of Birmingham, Mr. Hewitt has studied the U.K.’s reaction to terrorism, including the tragic terrorist attack on London on July 7, 2005 as well as terrorism committed by groups like the Irish Republican Army. He also spoke about the radicalization of extremists and what may provoke them to commit acts of terrorism."

Weekends

Many people stay in London and enjoy life at the pubs. A small group of students traveled to Dublin.