Hi everyone,
I'm currently studying law in Paris "Sorbonne". I've just finished my first year (undergraduate) . I'm looking for a summer school in a british or american university to improve the language (english -mine isn't bad but i'd rather improve it studying it) and the english law language (+ some kind of introduction to the country's law). Do you know where I can find such courses (in 2009) knowing that i will only be a undergraduated student?
Thank you

English Legal Method Summer School at Cambridge University
or
Oxford Summer School in Human Rights
or
Harvard Summer School.

BUT: (I think) very expensive! Cambridge is around 2500 Pounds (=2000 Euros) for 4 weeks! Oxford I think around 5000 Pounds!
That's why I decided to wait and to do an LLM after my First State Examination in Germany. It's more impressive anyway, as it is a degree. Summer Schools are nice, however there are no entry requirements and no exams. If you only want to improve your English, why not taking a Summer internship at an International Law Firm in England (most of them are of course in London)? You may have greater benefit from that and it impresses more than a Summer School.

Well, first of all thanks for the informations. Then, i agree that it's certainly more impressive to do an LL.M and that's what I'd like to do in the future (once i graduate), but, in order to be taken in LLMs, isn't it a good point to have a summer school experience ?
Of course, internships can be very interesting for me, but, the problem is that I don't really know where to look at, I mean, I don't have any contacts in London... it seems a bit difficult in my position you know, young student etc. no ? If not, I really should look for contacts in London.
Anyway, i still can do both...
I'm quite interested to the Cambridge summer school, are you sure there isn't entry requirements, i mean, you only have to pay for it and then you are like "automatically" taken ?
Thanks

Yes, I am sure there are no entry requirements in terms of academic qualification. The only thing is that you should not have any experiences or knowledge of the English Common Law system as it is an introduction into the system. However, for this year the deadline is already over. Was 28th of May I think. I know this because I thought of doing the course and ask, if they still have places. They replied that generally I could take part, but they would strongly advise me not to do it as I will already have an LLM more or less in the summer and they think thats quite pointless then. Thus, I decided to do a language course in Spain in September.

Applying for an internship in London should not be too difficult. The law firms are always looking for young talented students. Just write an email and ask if they offer internships for the summer. I am pretty sure they will (in Germany they do...all of them!). Then you can send your CV etc.

Where are you from actually?

I'm French/Italian but I live in Paris.
I'll try then to do an internship in London it seems like it's a good solution. Concerning the summer school, it still can be a plus if I want to do Erasmus in England and later, an LLM right ?

Of course, it is a plus to do a summer school. However, if you are going to do Erasmus in England anyway, I would spend my money on something else than a summer school as the actual benefit and prestige is infact quite low in relation to the price. Or maybe you do a summer school, but not in the standard countries like UK or US, but in an exotic area, like Africa, Asia or the Baltic states. I heard that for example Tallin has a very interesting summer school programme. This would definetely be something that stands out in your CV and you can talk about in an interview.