Admission Requirements
ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS
The Guatemala summer program is open to graduates and students of ABA-approved programs or state accredited law schools and fully accredited foreign law schools who are in good standing at their respective schools. Prior study in the areas covered by each course may be helpful, but is not required. To enroll in either of the two substantive law courses taught in Spanish, students must have intermediate proficiency in the Spanish language, such as having grown up in a Spanish-speaking environment or having completed the equivalent of 3 or more years of formal Spanish language instruction.
Students without only basic proficiency in the Spanish language, but who have taken at least two years of college-level Spanish instruction, may take the substantive law course taught in English as well as the Legal Spanish for Lawyers course. Both courses will count for law school credit.
This type of summer program requires serious preparation by students who enroll in it. Students who wish to participate in an optional externship with a non-governmental organization in Guatemala following the end of the classroom portion of the program must possess an even higher level of proficiency in Spanish and are encouraged to have previously taken a course in Legal Spanish, either on the Pacific McGeorge campus or at another law school, in order to gain familiarity with Spanish legal terminology.
While the application form asks for a self-assessment of level of competence in Spanish, students wishing to enroll in one or more of the courses taught in Spanish may be asked to have a personal assessment of their level of Spanish ability made by Professor Raquel Aldana, the program’s Director. Students wishing to enroll in one of the optional externships will be interviewed in Spanish by Professor Aldana and will be asked to submit a brief essay of interest and a resume, both written in Spanish.
Law School Credit: The University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law Graduate and International Programs have been inspected by representatives of the American Bar Association and are on the approved list of programs authorized by the ABA for overseas education. Students enrolled in law schools other than Pacific McGeorge should check with their appropriate school official regarding procedures to follow for transfer of credit earned from participation in either classroom courses or externships toward fulfilling degree requirements. Acceptance of any credit or grade for any course taken in teh program, is subject to determination by teh student's home law school.
Participation in a foreign summer program may not meet requirements to accelerate graduation. Students should consult their home institutions for advice about residency requirements under relevant ABA standards if they are interested in acceleration.