Cambridge Study Abroad Program Courses and Schedule

 

Course Class Instructor Instructor Institution
International Law 8:45 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Federica Paddeu Cambridge
Comparative Health Law 8:45 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Zack Buck Tennessee
International Climate Justice 10:15 a.m.  – 11:30 a.m. Antonia Eliason Mississippi
Money for Nothing and Checks for Free: A Comparative Look at Anti-Poverty Tax Programs in the U.S. and U.K. 10:15 a.m. – 11:30 p.m. Adam Thimmesch Nebraska
The Comparative Law of Death and Taxes 11:45 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Will Foster Arkansas
International Advocacy & Dispute Resolution 11:45 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Brendan Plant Cambridge

 

Courses and Textbooks

International Law (2 credits), Prof. Federica Paddeu

The basic introductory course in the field–the nature, scope, sources and jurisdiction of international law, the law of treaties, the doctrine of state responsibility, international dispute resolution and other topics.

Text: TBA (purchase in Cambridge)

 

Comparative Health Law and Policy (2 credits), Prof. Zack Buck

Comparative Health Law and Policy will introduce students to the various foundational principles and organizational structures of health law and policy in both the United States and in Europe. While focused on introductory level concepts, the course will specifically examine financial and reimbursement policy (the cost of health care and how it is regulated), insurance status and access (various models of health care delivery), and quality regulation (including medical malpractice, privacy, and the regulation of the patient-physician relationship). The course will examine various structures and uncover both commonalities and differences to understand the various values at stake in a country’s health care system. Students’ grades will be based on class participation and a paper.

Text: The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Health Law, Jun. 2020, https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/42622.

International Climate Justice (2 credits), Prof. Antonia Eliason

The course examines pressing issues of climate justice, starting with a top-down look at international rules and their shortcomings, and moving into an examination of social movements, impact litigation and grassroots efforts to combat climate change across the globe. This class looks closely at issues relating to climate colonialism, including racial, environmental and food justice. Globally, the exploitation of the Global South by the Global North through colonial and post-colonial channels provides the environmental framing that unifies race, class and gender across time and space. This class focuses on addressing, understanding, and working to rectify and come up with solutions to climate justice problems.

Text: Instructor will provide materials.

Money for Nothing and Checks for Free: A Comparative Look at Anti-Poverty Tax Programs in the U.S and U.K. (2 credits), Prof. Adam Thimmesch

This course introduces the relationship between anti-poverty measures and U.S. and selected international tax laws and procedures. Significant emphasis is placed on the substantive anti-poverty measures provided through the U.S. federal tax code, including the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit, but attention will also be given to other nation’s anti-poverty programs, state tax credits, and structural issues under state and federal law that promote or prevent anti-poverty spending. The class will introduce students to the current design of those programs and to the existing literature evaluating their efficacy and potential reform options. Students need not have taken any previous tax course to enroll or succeed in this course.

Text: Instructor will provide materials.

The Comparative Law of Death & Taxes (2 credits), Prof. Will Foster

In this course, we will explore the law applicable to the only certainties in this world, death and taxes. In our time together, we will directly confront two topics people are most likely to avoid for as long as humanly possible. More specifically, the course will survey the law of estates, wills, and trusts in the United States and England.  Among other issues, we will discuss how property is conveyed at death (via will, intestacy, or otherwise), the tax regimes applicable to transfers at (or in anticipation of) death, the requirements to execute a valid will, inheritance rights (and the lack thereof), the creation of testamentary trusts, approaches to incapacity (including guardianships and conservatorships), and methods for contesting a will.

Text: Instructor will provide materials.

International Advocacy and Dispute Resolution (2 credits), Prof. Brendan Plant

The last two decades have witnessed an explosion of activity in the area of international dispute settlement. As public international law has broadened in scope and deepened in content – providing today a more detailed system for the regulation of issues like international trade and investment, human rights, environmental protection, territorial sovereignty and maritime activity – so too have new institutions and procedures emerged for the litigation of international disputes. This course aims to survey several of the most important methods available for settling international disputes today and to identify commonalities and differences in their procedures, substance, emphasis and effectiveness. The course will look at the demands facing advocates appearing before a number of prominent international institutions, including the International Court of Justice, investment arbitral tribunals, the World Trade Organisation, international human rights courts, both regional and global, and litigation under the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea.

Text: TBA (purchase in Cambridge)