As Director of Graduate Studies, I welcome you to Wayne Law School’s LL.M. Program! Our program provides advanced study in three specialized areas: corporate and finance law, labor and employment law, and taxation. We also offer a generalized program for graduates of foreign law schools who seek an overview of the United States legal system. All of these programs put students in touch directly with a superb faculty, one that includes international experts in some areas and faculty members whose teaching is informed by actual law practice experience. Outside the classroom, our students benefit from internship opportunities afforded by our dynamic urban location in the heart of Detroit.
In addition to directing the program, I teach courses in civil procedure, international law, and comparative law. These areas are the focus of my research and scholarly writing and my involvement in professional organizations such as the International Law Assocation, the American Society of Comparative Law, and the U.S. Secretary of State’s Advisory Group on Private International Law. From time to time, students assist me as I undertake projects for these organizations and seek to advance the law.
My current research focuses on the place of treaties within the U.S. legal system. Remarkably, after many years of consensus on key aspects of American treaty law (e.g., interpretation, formation), the impact of treaties within the United States legal system has become uncertain. Along with two of my colleagues here at Wayne, I am writing a book on this subject.
What I enjoy most about teaching international LL.M. students is their curiosity and sense of adventure. It brings me back to the time when I was a foreign graduate student in Belgium, and everything was just so interesting. My experience as an LL.M. student at the Catholic Univertsity of Leuven in the early 1990s was transformative. It was the first time that I totally immersed myself in another society and tried to imagine what it was like to view the world from that point of view. I made friendships that endure to this day.
When I am not teaching, writing, directing the program, or presenting at conferences, I can be found outside (biking or swimming) or inside, engrossed in a murder mystery or film.
Thank you for your interest in our program. I look forward to receiving your application materials, to learning about you, and hopefully to welcoming you to our program.
Paul R. Dubinsky
Professor of Law
Director of Grauate Studies