Brussels Seminar for non-U.S. law students and law school graduates

An introduction to the Brussels Seminar is given in the Overview of the Brussels Programs.

Program of Study - Brussels Seminar

The Brussels Seminar is not presently open to students and graduates who are eligible to receive academic credit toward their J.D. degree. It is open to non-U.S. law students, to recent graduates of law schools and to law practitioners in the first several years of practice.

The core elements of the Brussels Programs are lectures and discussion, all given in English. Lectures and seminars are planned for the three-week Programs. These will address, inter alia, the completion of an integrated internal market, the remarkable expansion of the scope of the European Union as evidenced by the Treaty on European Union, which envisages an economic and monetary union and a political union, the accession of the new members of the EU, and the further expansion of the Union. European Union integration through the Maastricht, Amsterdam, Nice Treaties, and beyond will be analyzed and discussed. The Programs will also includes discussions by faculty members and other experts on developments in EU/US cooperation.

The Topics of the Brussels Seminar

• The Structure and Institutions of the European Union (EU)
• The Economic and Monetary Union
• Legal Nature of the EU, particularly the European Political Union
• The External Relations of the European Community (EC)
• Judicial System of the European Communities
• Relations of the EU with Eastern Europe
• Completion of the Internal Market
• Economic Relations between the EU and the United States
• Community Law on Competition and State Aid
• Right of Establishment of Individuals and Legal Persons in the EU
• Commercial and Trade Policies and Laws of the EC
• Harmonization of Legislation in the EC
• Social Law of the EC
• Tax Law of the EC
• Development Policies of the EC
• Agricultural Policies of the EC
• Environmental Policies of the EC
• Workshop on Legal Practice in the EC
• Human Rights in Europe
• Cooperation in the EU in the Field of Penal Law
• Telecommunications Law in the EC
• Intellectual Property Law in the EC

Faculty of Brussels Seminar

Mr. Peter Alexiadis
Attorney, Brussels

Mr. Jean-François Bellis
Avocat, Professor, Institut d'Etudes Européennes

Mr. Julian Curral
Member of the Legal Service, European Commission

Mr. Yvan Desmedt
Advocat, Brussels

Mr. Youri Devuyst
European Commission

Mr. Porter Elliot
Attorney, Brussels

Mr. Jonathan Faull
Director-General, Justice and Home Affairs, European Commission

Ms. Inge Govaere
Professor of Law, Ghent University

Mr. E.P. Latham
Directorate-General, Consumer Protection (ret.), European Commission

Mr. Xavier Lewis
Member of the Legal Service, European Commission

Mr. Tony Joris
Professor of Law, Jean Monnet Chair and Director, Center for European Law, VUB

Mr. D. Grant Lawrence
Directorate-General, Environment, European Commission

Mr. Koen Lenaerts
Judge, Court of Justice of the European Communities

Mr. Paul Magnette
Professor of Political Science
Director, Institute of European Studies (ULB)

Mr. Marc Maresceau
Professor of European Law, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Ghent University
Director, Europa Instituut, Ghent University

Mr. Johan Meeusen
Professor and Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Antwerp

Mr. Peter Praet
Professor of Economics, Institut d'Etudes Européennes (ULB)
Chief Adviser, National Bank of Belgium

Mr. Eric Remacle
Professor, Institut d'Etudes Européennes (ULB)

Mr. Bernhard Schloh
Legal Adviser (ret.), Council of the EU

Ms. Claudia Schmidt
Member of the Legal Service, European Commission

Mr. Stephen Spinks
Attorney, Brussels

Mr. H. Taschner
Director in Directorate-General Internal Market (ret.), European Commission

Ms. Anne Troye
DG INFSO, European Commission

Mr. Servaas van Thiel
Member of the Legal Service, Council of the EU

Mr. Denis Waelbroeck
Professor of Law, Institut d'Etudes Européennes (ULB)
Avocat

Mr. Michel Waelbroeck
Professor of Law (Emeritus), Institut d'Etudes Européennes (ULB)

Ms. Diana Wallis
Vice President, European Union

Mr. Gabriel M. Wilner
Director, Brussels Seminar/Georgia Program Professor of International Law, University of Georgia

Application and Costs

Important Date
Your letter of application should be sent by June 2, 2009.

Selection Criteria
A small number of qualified participants will be selected from among non- U.S. law students who have completed most of the requirements for their law degree. Recent law graduates, persons engaged in graduate law studies, and law practitioners with less than five years practice may also be admitted.

To Apply to the Seminar
Your letter of application should include:

1. Your name
2. University and year of study
3. Courses taken in the areas of international law and regional economic integration
4. Other relevant experience or study
5. Name(s) of your Professor(s) in the field as reference
6. Address(es) at which you may be reached from the time of application to the beginning of the Seminar

Your signed letter of application should be mailed or faxed by June 2, 2009. You may send your application by email, but it will become official only when you have sent it by post or by fax. Send your application to:

Professor Gabriel M. Wilner
Director of the Brussels Seminar
The University of Georgia
Athens, Georgia 30602
Fax: (706) 542-4145
wilner@uga.edu

Costs of Participating in the Brussels Seminar

Each student participant* must pay a fee of 1,000 EUROS upon arrival at the Seminar. Accommodations are available at the same flat hotel as the U.S. students. The cost for a double occupancy flat for 26 nights is 810 EUROS ($1,300). Participants wishing single accommodations and participants accompanied by a spouse or other person will pay a supplement of 810 EUROS for spouses or others accompanying participants.

Lodgings will consist of double occupancy modern studio apartments within walking distance of the Institut d'Etudes Européennes (ULB). The participants will be guests of the Seminar for the excursions to Luxembourg and Bruges, visits in Brussels, and at receptions, luncheons, and the Annual Dinner organized for the Seminar. Facilities for instruction, study materials, lodging and meals will be available at the ULB and VUB at a greatly reduced price.

Practicing lawyer participants will be asked and will be asked to pay a supplement of $500 or 400 EUROS to defray more of the cost of their participation.

*Belgian students who live in Brussels and its environs will benefit from a reduction in the cost of the Brussels Seminar.

Certificate of European Union Law Studies

The Certificate is awarded to student participants who, by their constant attendance, active participation, and performance in an examination given by the Brussels Seminar under the auspices of the Faculty of Law, VUB, and the Institut d'Etudes Européennes (ULB), have demonstrated their understanding of the fundamentals and of sectoral areas of EU Law and Institutions. The President and the Director of the Institut d'Etudes Européennes, the Dean of the VUB Faculty of Law, the Director of the Centre for European Law of the VUB, the Brussels Seminar Director, and Seminar faculty members who have given the examination, sign the Certificate.

No academic credit at any U.S. law school is awarded for passing the Certificate Examination.