Legal Study Trip
Since 1993, The John Marshall Law School has conducted a trip each fall to the Czech and Slovak Republics. The trip is open to lawyers and judges and others who are interested in the development of the rule of law in these formerly communist countries. Since 1993, group participants have been able to observe the transformation of the legal system as well as the economical and social structures of the two countries.
During the early trips, the American participants attended lectures on the Czech and Slovak legal systems by professors at the Faculty of Law at Masaryk University in Brno. More recently, the American participants have provided lectures to law students about American law and the American system of government.
The American participants also present lectures in Prague to law students and lawyers on American legal subjects. These lectures are done in cooperation with the Czech Bar Association.
While on these trips, participants have had the opportunity to visit the Czech Supreme Court, the Czech Constitutional Court, the Office of the Ombudsman, and other government offices and ministries. Participants have also been invited as special guests to the Czech Bar Convention.
Each year several days are scheduled in Prague so that the participants can tour that historical and architecturally significant city. The group also visits Brno, the judicial capital of the Czech Republic, where the group visits Masaryk University and renews friendships developed during the various exchange programs between Masaryk and John Marshall. Each year participants visit other regions of the Czech and Slovak Republics. Some of the sites visited in the past have included the towns and regions around Olomouc, Cesky Krumlov, Jindrichuv Hradec, Znojmo, the Bohemian Highlands, Zlin, and Ostrava.
For more information, please contact:
Professor Michael P. Seng or RoseMarie Knight
The John Marshall Law School
315 S. Plymouth Court, Chicago, IL 60604
or phone 312-987-2397
Summary of the 17th Annual John Marshall Law School Study Trip to the Czech Republic October 14 - 25, 2009.
Fifteen alumni and friends of The John Marshall Law School, including Dean and Mrs. John Corkery, took part in the 17th Annual Study Trip to the Czech Republic. The group spent a day sightseeing in Prague and enjoyed a group dinner at the Jama Restaurant, which is owned by Max Munson, son of JMLS Adjunct Professors Judith and Lester Munson. They then proceeded to Hradec Kralove and Policka for a weekend trip, visiting among other things a gothic castle, a traditional Czech Brewery, and the birthplace of Czech composer Borislav Martinu. They also had the priviledge of enjouing their first snow of the season.
The Bursar and Vice-Rector of Masaryk University gave the group a tour of the new campus and medical facilities of the University located in the Brno suburbs. After the tour, they visited the monastery where Gregor Mendel, the founder of modern genetics, conducted his experiments with sweet peas. On Tuesday, October 20th, members of the froup made presentations to the law students at Masaryk University for the annual Day of US Law. A very large number of students attended the lectures, which covered such diverse topics as regulating executive compensation and hedge funds, American legal education, and criminally prosecuting US executive officials for torture.
The group also visited the Czech Constitutional and had an interesting conversation on the work of the Court with Justice Pavel Hollander. The Court had recently held that the early scheduling of parliamentary elections violated the Czech Constitution and is currently considering a challenge to the Czech Republic signing the Lisbon treaty.
The group returned to Prague where they had another reception for alunmi and friends of the law school. They then spent a final day in Zurich, Switzerland, prior to returning to Chicago.
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