Globalisation and Regulation: (Where) do they Meet?

Abstract

Globalisation is the new buzz word in legal education, but nobody really seems to know what ‘global law’ entails and to what extent legal practice is waiting for global lawyers. What is needed is a better understanding of how globalisation affects the market for legal practitioners. Does the current law school curriculum meet the demands of legal practice in the 21st century? The argument in this contribution is that this is not the case. The law school curriculum is still dominated by the role model of the judge and the advocate, whereas the rise of the regulatory state has hardly led to serious curriculum changes. One of the changes that is necessary is the introduction of courses in legislation and regulation, at the bachelor level, to teach students what it means to translate policy goals into legal rules. This would not only serve the demands of legal practice, but also open up the law school programme to new theories and methodologies of legal research.

Keywords

• legislation
• regulation
• legal practice
• regulatory state