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Hey everyone,

I'm currently a 2L at a T14, with a SA locked down at a firm that generally is 100% offer. I am considering taking advantage of my school's exchange program with Bucerius Law School in Hamburg next fall. It's an international business law-focused program, and I am hoping to join my SA firm's corporate practice.

Does anyone have any experience with this program, or know somebody who does? Are there any potential negative impacts on my career? Feedback about the program in general?

Anon because I haven't told anyone that I am thinking about going abroad. Thank you!

Honestly if you want to go abroad part of 3L don't worry as much about the quality of the education, worry about where you want to have the most fun and want to explore the most. If you have a SA gig lined up, this won't effect your career at all.

Think of it as your last opportunity to spend a significant amount of time outside the US before you work biglaw hours for the next few years. Albeit this was in undergrad, but in my study abroad experience the school work was there, but it was nowhere as challenging as school work back in the US. I didn't go to an "easy" mostly American program either. This left tons of time to travel and explore, which was most of what I was doing.

My advice would be... Stop being a pussy

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It won't have any negative impact on your career, but unless you really want to live in northern germany, there are probably other more appealing and academically worthwhile programs. In general, law schools at the graduate level in Europe are essentially M.A. programs in political economy and IR theory, so it's a very different experience from a U.S. JD. One tip might be to look where the politics/international programs are strongest, since "law" is deceptive (law is studied at the undergraduate level). Or in your case, where the finance and business programs are strongest. But that's just a proxy and really it doesn't matter, go where you would have fun.

I will say that people have mixed thoughts on law school study abroad after actually having done it: some love it and have a great time traveling, studying with a different pedagogy, ect. Others find they would have rather spent their 3L year with their friends and profs at their law school. The one very sad reality about studying abroad is that you are paying US tuition fees ($50K+ per year) but receiving European service (which usually is valued at a few thousand dollars at most).

From someone who attended Bucerius on a study abroad:

- Most of your classmates will be from non-US law schools. Plus is that you meet lots of interesting people. Minus is that most are undergrad law students, so they are really young (like 20 years old) and it can feel like you're back in undergrad (although, maybe that's a plus for some people). German students are sometimes in your classes as well and many are freshman undergrads.

- Classes are taught by a mix of tenure profs and adjunct practitioners. I found the tenure profs to be well below the standard of US law schools, but the adjuncts were equal if not better than those in the US. In general, the classes are a bit of a joke but if you stick to mostly adjuncts you'll probably learn a few things.

- You will be able to travel A LOT. Schedule is extremely flexible so you could essentially take 3 weeks off (or more) in the middle of the semester to travel, and then another 3 weeks (or more) after the semester. You can't really skip classes as they take attendance (you get docked a letter grade after missing two classes), but some people just have their friends sign in for them (very risky, as people get caught somewhat frequently and it's an automatic fail if caught). In the end, you just don't want to fail (at least at my school) as the grades only transfer as credit/no credit. I don't even remember what my grades were there; probably looked at the transcript once.

- Hamburg is a beautiful city with lots of parks and such. Easy to travel to other European cities for weekend trips. I think most people went somewhere almost every weekend.

Bottom line, you'll be able to travel a ton and meet some new people. Probably learn a thing or two. Highly recommend if you have no real reason to be back at your US law school for 3rd year. I thought the last semester of law school (US) was a complete waste of time so I couldn't imagine having to do my whole 3rd year in the US (after having gone to Europe).

Happy to answer more general questions.

edit: Also, cannot imagine it ever having a negative effect. Never been asked about it and several people at my firm did the same thing and/or said it was a great idea. You probably won't have this much time to travel again until you retire.

Anonymous User wrote:From someone who attended Bucerius on a study abroad:

- Most of your classmates will be from non-US law schools. Plus is that you meet lots of interesting people. Minus is that most are undergrad law students, so they are really young (like 20 years old) and it can feel like you're back in undergrad (although, maybe that's a plus for some people). German students are sometimes in your classes as well and many are freshman undergrads.

- Classes are taught by a mix of tenure profs and adjunct practitioners. I found the tenure profs to be well below the standard of US law schools, but the adjuncts were equal if not better than those in the US. In general, the classes are a bit of a joke but if you stick to mostly adjuncts you'll probably learn a few things.

- You will be able to travel A LOT. Schedule is extremely flexible so you could essentially take 3 weeks off (or more) in the middle of the semester to travel, and then another 3 weeks (or more) after the semester. You can't really skip classes as they take attendance (you get docked a letter grade after missing two classes), but some people just have their friends sign in for them (very risky, as people get caught somewhat frequently and it's an automatic fail if caught). In the end, you just don't want to fail (at least at my school) as the grades only transfer as credit/no credit. I don't even remember what my grades were there; probably looked at the transcript once.

- Hamburg is a beautiful city with lots of parks and such. Easy to travel to other European cities for weekend trips. I think most people went somewhere almost every weekend.

Bottom line, you'll be able to travel a ton and meet some new people. Probably learn a thing or two. Highly recommend if you have no real reason to be back at your US law school for 3rd year. I thought the last semester of law school (US) was a complete waste of time so I couldn't imagine having to do my whole 3rd year in the US (after having gone to Europe).

Happy to answer more general questions.

edit: Also, cannot imagine it ever having a negative effect. Never been asked about it and several people at my firm did the same thing and/or said it was a great idea. You probably won't have this much time to travel again until you retire.

Planning to do this in the fall. Any further information, especially relating to travel (schedule flexibility, where you went, what you would recommend, etc.) would be much appreciated! Feel free to PM if that's easier

blink wrote:
Planning to do this in the fall. Any further information, especially relating to travel (schedule flexibility, where you went, what you would recommend, etc.) would be much appreciated! Feel free to PM if that's easier

I'm the OP. I decided against Bucerius because of an externship opportunity for 3L fall, but after meeting with a 3L at my school who just got back I learned more about the program. It turns out that they are more strict with scheduling than I expected. Classes meet much less frequently and with fewer sessions than they do here, which means that attendance is taken more seriously than it is in most American law schools. It didn't sound like a huge issue, it's just different from law schools here where nobody really cares if you show or not.

would anyone recommend a particular study abroad program in europe?