Inter-American Program
The Inter-American Program is an innovative law school educational initiative designed to graduate bilingual and intercultural lawyers who are competent to work with Latino clients in the United States or on Latin American matters.
The Inter-American program is an outgrowth of the University of the Pacific's historic commitment to international education and cross cultural understanding. During the 1960s through the early 1980s a unique bilingual program called Elbert Covell College was based at University of the Pacific. Students came from Latin America and the United States and all classes were taught in Spanish. The pioneering approach of Covell forms the basis for our own and the University's Inter-American program.
The Pacific McGeorge Inter-American Program offers students the option to pursue a domestic or a transnational track.
The domestic track exposes students to the Latino experience in the U.S. and emphasizes skills to assist lawyers in the representation of Latino clients and issues before U.S. legal institutions.
The transnational track emphasizes principally U.S.-Latin American relations and issues, including issues of trade and its implications on labor, environment, development and other human rights.
The program introduces students to Latino and Latin American issues through substantive legal instruction in both English and Spanish as part of a Latin-American or Latino-focused curriculum. In addition, students can participate in bilingual and intercultural experiential placements in the U.S. or internationally and co-enroll with Guatemalan and other Latin American students in Pacific McGeorge's uniquely bilingual and intercultural summer program in Antigua, Guatemala in partnership with the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. Gonzaga University School of Law is an affiliate law school. Also, students will provide needed legal services in Spanish to the Latino community in the greater Sacramento area though a series of community service projects.
Finally, students may take substantive law courses taught in Spanish through participation in a a Pacific McGeorge semester-abroad exchange program at Universidad Francisco de Vitoria in Madrid, Spain.
Spend a semester-abroad at this top-rated private university located on its own American-style campus in the capital city of Spain. Although some business courses are offered in English, reasonable fluency in Spanish is a must in order to take substantive law courses for credit in this exchange program. Applications for the fall semester must be submitted by the previous May 31 and for the spring semester by the previous October 31. Applications can be made through the Graduate and International Programs office on the ground floor of Northwest Hall.
Who should Participate?
The Inter-American Summer Program in Guatemala is available to any J.D. or LL.M. student at Pacific McGeorge.
The Guatemala Summer Program is open to students from any University.
Some components of the program may require Spanish proficiency. Opportunities to learn Spanish are also available through the program.
After only two years, more than 100 students from Pacific McGeorge and other law schools have participated in the different aspects of the program.
Explore the Inter-American Program
- Inter-American Curriculum
- Inter-American Experiential Learning
- Inter-American Faculty
- Inter-American Faculty Scholarship
- Student Profiles
- Summer in Guatemala Program
Questions?
Contact Raquel Aldana, Professor
Email | 916.733.2802
