Yale Summer Session in Paris: Private Law and Contract Enforcement in the United States and France

Description

[NOTE: Program details (overall status, dates, costs, syllabus, etc.) are subject to change each summer, and the information on this page will be updated as such details are finalized.]

What happens when commerce crosses borders? What are the economic impacts of differing standards of enforcement and proof? How is legal harmony achieved? This joint summer program brings together faculty and students from Yale University, Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II), and ESSEC Business School for case study and on-site modules at the International Court of Commercial Arbitration. If international trade is in your future, this program provides a breadth of understanding no internship can match.

Professor Richard Brooks will teach Legal and Economic Analysis of Contracts and Exchange. This course will examine how parties engaging in economic exchange often organize their relationships through written and oral contracts. Students will study, with particular emphasis on economic efficiency, the design of these contracts and the body of law that governs them. The curriculum develops through a substantive theoretical component and a practical component, with on-site modules at the International Court of Commercial Arbitration in Paris. This program takes the existing institutions of trade and contract law seriously - students will, for instance, develop familiarity with everyday trading practices and basic legal rules of exchange - and then asks whether and how they facilitate efficient trade. A principal topic of the program will be contractual solutions to the hold-up problem. Starting from seminal articles in the bilateral trade literature and the literature on breach remedies, the program will introduce students to the most recent developments of the field.

Classes will meet Monday - Thursday from 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., with social and cultural events, such as visits to museums or institutions, every Friday. 

The program outline below is from a previous summer and contains dates that differ from those of the upcoming summer.

The schedule below is from a previous summer and contains dates that differ from those of the upcoming summer.

The syllabus below is from a previous summer and contains information that may differ from the upcoming summer.

Budget

Yale Summer Session Programs Abroad updates program budgets in late January. Please note the year listed on the button below.

Summer 2023 Budget

Trips and Activities

During the first four weeks students will visit the ICC International Court of Arbitration, the Senate, and other relevant state institutions, as well as a trip to the Lourve Museum for lectures on its contracts related archival holdings.

Housing

[NOTE: Students are required to stay in program-provided housing.  There is no option for individually-arranged housing.]

Students will live in an international dorm at St. John's University - Paris Campus, in double-occupancy rooms. A continental breakfast is included daily at St. John's; students will be on their own for lunch and dinner each day. A student cafeteria with discount prices is located only two metro stops from the dorm.

Notes

Participants are responsible for making their own travel arrangements and are expected to arrive in Paris on the first day of the program, and depart no earlier than the last day of the program (see 'Dates' above); additional information will be provided upon admission.

Questions

For course content questions contact instructor Richard Brooks. For general program questions contact the Study Abroad staff.

Learn More

Review eligibility requirements, the application process, and deadlines:

How to Apply