September 24, 2007

YSU Law Professors and ABA ROLI Program Officer for Russia and Armenia Diane Scott in front of William and Mary School of Law

The Rule of Law Initiative along with Yerevan State University (YSU) Law School created a curriculum reform project which focused on the introduction of two new courses in the YSU curriculum: Legal Writing and Analysis, and Intellectual Property.

From August 18 to September 4, 2007, three YSU professors underwent an intensive training program at William and Marry Law School in the U.S. state of Virginia. The goal of the study tour was to develop well-trained faculty members who would be able to teach the courses effectively back in Armenia. While at William and Mary, they attended trainings on interactive teaching methodology and on topics such as course design, lesson-planning, and legal research and writing.  They also met the main foreign expert on the project whose role is helping to design a course that heavily utilizes traditional legal analysis. 

To complement the project, the Dean of YSU Law School and the Deputy Dean visited law schools in the Washington, D.C. and New York City metropolitan areas, including Columbia University, New York Law School, Brooklyn Law School, Georgetown University, George Washington University, and American University. There, they met with law school administrators in order to study their management methods.  They also discussed issues such as admissions, attracting valuable students, the functions of the office of the registrar, disciplinary procedures, student interest groups, and faculty tenure. 

After returning to Armenia they have sought ways to incorporate the best examples of administrative practices, in addition to the two new courses, into YSU Law School

For more information, contact Gohar Hovsepyan, <gohar@abaceeli.am> ABA ROLI's Armenia Outreach Coordinator.