The 2024 program will take place at Sidney Sussex College at Cambridge University, June 23-July 27, 2024.

An opening reception for students and faculty will include an orientation about the college and the Cambridge area. Classes will be conducted Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday of the first week. During the second and third week, there will be no classes on Fridays to provide three-day weekends for travel or study. Exams will be conducted July 25-26, and a closing dinner will be offered for students and faculty on July 24.

The 2024 Cambridge program is limited to a maximum of 30 students.

Admission Criteria

Program participation is limited to law students in good standing at an American Bar Association approved law school, graduates of approved law schools in their country of origin or residence, or members of the Bar.

All applications for admission must be accompanied by a $200 application fee which is non-refundable unless the application is rejected due to full enrollment, lack of sufficient student interest or domestic and/or international instability which is relevant to the program. The application fee will be applied to Housing and Administration Fees once the student is accepted.

The program director recognizes that financial aid for legal studies may not be available until 10 days prior to the start of the program; hence, a deferred timeframe for payment, other than the application deposit, is satisfactory if the student has preregistered and informed the program director of an acceptable payment schedule.

All applications are due March 1, 2024.

Apply Here

Financial Matters

Application Fee: $200

This non-refundable fee begins the registration process, initiates participation in the program, and submits the student to the Cancellation and Refund Policy. The application fee will be applied to Housing & Administration fees upon acceptance.

Tuition: $4,350

The maximum number of credit hours allowable pursuant to American Bar Association regulations for a program of this duration is five hours. The student will, therefore, be allowed to register for the one-hour course and two of the four two-hour courses offered. 

Housing & Administration: $5,500

Students will be housed in Sidney Sussex College. Double rooms are not available to students. Visiting family members will need to make a hotel reservation. Breakfast is included for registered students each day of the program. Lunch is also included for registered student each class day.

Lodging will be provided from June 23 and rooms at Sidney Sussex College must be vacated prior to 9:30 a.m. on July 27. Dinner may be purchased in one of the many local restaurants convenient to the lodging. Dinner, other than the closing dinner on July 24, will not be provided by the study abroad program.

Global Engagement Office Foreign Fee: $100

University Fee (Graduate): $219

Travel Insurance: $75.25

Total: $10, 244.25

All students take the one-credit first-week course, The English Legal System. Each student chooses two elective courses for the remainder of the program. Classes will be conducted Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday of the first week for the one-hour course treating the English Legal System and the European Union. The examination for this course will be conducted on the first Friday following the opening of class. Students are encouraged to visit the Municipal Court in Cambridge on one of these afternoons.

During the second and third week of classes there will be no classes on Fridays to provide three-day weekends for travel or study. The last day of classes will occur on July 24 and final examinations will be conducted on July 25 and July 26 for the elective courses. Students may anticipate examinations for each course to be comparable to law exams administered in American Bar Association approved law schools in the United States. Exam papers are handwritten by students. The professor responsible for each course will both write and grade the applicable examination.

LAW 753 (1) | The English Legal System

This course is intended to provide students with an overview of the English Legal System as one of the constituent legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom and how it is influenced by the European Union and how the United Kingdom functions without a written constitution. The development of European Union law and human rights law and recent reforms of the highest court of the land will be considered. The course will consider the effect of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union. Some topics will be considered on a comparative basis.

LAW 754 (2) | Law of the European Union

This course is designed to further students’ understanding of the European Union (EU) and its legal system. Topics include a review of the history of the EU and its institutions, the relationship between the law of the EU and the law of its member states, significant substantive initiatives such as the Lisbon Treaty, and the similarities (or not) of the EU to organizations such as NAFTA, MERCOSUR, The African Union, ASEAN and the WTO. In light of the Brexit referendum, students will have the opportunity to observe the changing political balances in Europe and in the United Kingdom as England finalizes its departure from the EU.

LAW 755 (2) | Shakespeare and Trial Advocacy

This course acquaints the student with the interdisciplinary field of Shakespearean and legal studies. An innovative methodology of trial work and close textual reading is employed. No dramatic or literary experience is required. The class will view trials in Shakespeare’s plays through live performances by the Cambridge Shakespeare Festival, the Globe and the Royal Shakespeare Company. This course is hands-on learning of persuasive advocacy skills through classical dramatic exposure. This is a unique opportunity to experience the drama of the law while in the land of Shakespeare.

LAW 798 (2) | Global Issues in Education, Equality and Human Rights

In this course, students will examine Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights along with portions of subsequent global human rights treaties. Students will develop an understanding of the origins and evolution of international human rights law and how this body of law addresses issues of gender, children of war, oppressed classes, race, and disability, with a particular focus on access to education and the promotion of equality. Students will examine how different nations use distinct judicial, legislative, administrative, or other measures to secure these internationally recognized rights in compliance (or not) with international law and assess what means are available to enforce international law to protect human rights.

LAW 799 (2) | Art of Persuasion

No matter the stage—courtroom, board room, or living room—an advocate must persuade. Drawing from theater, journalism, public speaking, and social science, students acquire time-honored techniques to turn their next presentation into a command performance. Students will rehearse and perform monologues and courtroom scenes from theatrical classics such as To Kill a Mockingbird and Twelve Angry Men and in doing so learn the impact of story, body language, body placement and voice on the message they strive to convey. The class is not contemplated to overlap with or substitute for Basic or Advanced Trial Advocacy courses, and the class does not use legal case studies. The objective of the course is to enhance the students’ presence through increased awareness and command of their bodies and voices as the instruments of advocacy. Skills learned in this class will be transferable to other environments such as new business presentations, client meetings, and negotiations, however the primary focus will be as a tool for trial advocacy.

Jill E. Evans

Jill E. Evans received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California-Irvine, a Master of Management from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a Juris Doctor from Northwestern University School of Law. Her legal experience includes working as a clerk for United States District Judge James E. Doyle in Madison, Wisconsin, practicing as an associate for the law firm Lawler Felix & Hall in Los Angeles, and was a partner with Keck Mahin & Cate in the firm’s Chicago and Los Angeles offices until joining the Cumberland School of Law faculty in 1994.

Lisa Lukasik

Lisa Lukasik is a nationally recognized authority in education law and policy. She has experience as a public school teacher in the United States and Europe, as a lawyer on behalf of American public schools, and as a State Hearing Review Officer twice appointed by the North Carolina Board of Education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and state law to resolve appeals of special education due-process complaints. She now serves as an assistant professor of law at Campbell University where she teaches a variety of courses in civil rights litigation, public school law, special education law, and torts. Lukasik is an honors graduate of both Washington University in St. Louis, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and the University of North Carolina School of Law, where she was a member of the Order of the Coif.

Kerry P. McInerney

Kerry P. McInerney is a graduate of Birmingham-Southern College (B.A.), Wayne State University (M.A.), and Samford University Cumberland School of Law (J.D.). McInerney practiced law for more than 20 years, serving as a partner at McCalla Raymer Leibert Pierce LLC and Sirote & Permutt, P.C. (now Dentons Sirote). Law is the second act of McInerney’s career, having obtained degrees in musical theater and acting prior to law school. He spent two years with the Hilberry Repertory Theatre Company and appeared in industrial films, television and radio commercials, and dozens of theatrical productions including The Grapes of Wrath, As You Like It, Much Ado About Nothing, Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, Cyrano de Bergerac, Hamlet, MacBeth, The Heidi Chronicles (nominated for a Detroit Free Press Theatre Excellence Award), March of the Falsettos (nominated for a Birmingham Obelisk Award), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and The Glass Menagerie. In his community, McInerney has served on many civic and charitable boards, and he is a graduate of Project Corporate Leadership and Leadership Birmingham. He was named recipient of the Birmingham Vulcan Award (“Hero” category), the Karen Nomberg Sprit Award (Susan G. Komen Foundation), and the Tiffany Spirit Award (MS Society). McInerney now serves as the director of Cumberland School of Law’s graduate and international programs.

Loreta Raulinaityte

Loreta Raulinaityte is an honors graduate of Vilnius University, Lithuania (Bachelor in Philology), a graduate of Samford University Cumberland School of Law (Juris Doctor), and of Mykolas Romeris University in Vilnius, Lithuania (Master in Law, with a specialization in the European Union Law). Her legal experience includes working in the Lithuanian Ministry of Justice and the Administration of the Lithuanian Parliament. She was the Permanent Representative of the Lithuanian Parliament in the European Union (based in Brussels, Belgium). For several years, she has been a guest speaker on the European Union issues at the Study Abroad in Cambridge Program.

Brian Rose-Smith

Brian Rose-Smith is a graduate of the University of East Anglia (B. A. Hons.) and the College of Law, London and was admitted as a solicitor in 1975 having passed the Solicitors’ Exams with a distinction in commercial law. He practiced as a criminal lawyer for 40 years until 2015 and conducted cases at all levels from the magistrates’ courts to the House of Lords as it then was, now the Supreme Court. As a defense attorney he specialized in asset forfeiture, confiscation and serious fraud and carried out investigations and inquiries in many foreign jurisdictions including the Arab Emirates, the Caribbean and countries of the European Union. He also lectured on the law of confiscation at the practice where he worked as part of a program of continuing education. Since 2015 he has been involved in the study of medieval history at Cambridge University and the University of East Anglia where he is currently undertaking a master’s degree.

Kimberly R. West

Kimberly R. West attended the University of Alabama, where she received her Juris Doctor in 1983. After graduation, West served as a law clerk to the Hon. Frank M. Johnson Jr., United States Circuit Court Judge for the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. She is a partner in the law firm of Wallace Jordan Ratliff & Brandt in Birmingham, Alabama. West practices in the area of pharmaceutical and mass tort litigation. In 2011, she was awarded a master’s degree in English Literature from the Sewanee School of Letters. West is a member of the Shakespeare Association of America, the Shakespeare Theatre Association and the International Shakespeare Association. West teaches Shakespeare and Trial Advocacy at Cumberland School of Law.

Under a cooperative arrangement between Cumberland School of Law and The Norwich Law School at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, British law students have the opportunity to study in the U.S., and Cumberland School of Law graduates have the opportunity to study in the U.K. Participating Norwich LL.B. students spend a year at Cumberland School of Law after their second year of legal studies at Norwich. Two Cumberland J.D. graduates each year are awarded full-tuition scholarships for studies toward an LL.M. degree at Norwich.