The program is organized around two School of Law courses:

• Comparative Constitutional Law is a 2-1/2 credit hour course that will be taught by Dr. Farrah Raza of Pembroke College, Oxford.
• Comparative Legal Institutions is a 1-1/2 credit hour course that will also be taught by Dr. Raza.

These are serious, accredited law school courses worth a total of four credit hours, with a commensurate amount of class preparation required. The grades in each course will be based on a combination of formative and summative assessments, a presentation, and class participation. The courses satisfy the graduation requirement of completion of at least one “perspective” course.

An informational meeting will be held in Columbia during the fall semester and a mandatory pre-departure meeting will be held in the spring for students participating in the program. Classes will be held on MTWTh morning beginning at 9:00 a.m. for one week at Town Hall Oxford. Class will then be held for six hours in total at the Advocates Library in Edinburgh, Scotland. Finally, class will be held on MTWTh morning beginning at 9 a.m. for two weeks at Gray’s Inn in London. Some optional and mandatory activities will be scheduled in the afternoons.

The principal faculty member is Dr. Farrah Raza of Pembroke College in Oxford. Guest speakers will be drawn from the English and European Bar, courts, and universities.

Courses will be taught at Town Hall Oxford in Oxford and on the premises of The Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn, located near the Law Courts in the Bloomsbury neighborhood of central London. A web site called Central London Apartments has a map showing Gray’s Inn on the border between the upper right and left quadrants. The Holborn and Russell Square Tube stops are nearby. Gray’s Inn permits our students to participate in their Easter Dining Term, a series of dinners in Gray’s Guest Hall for Gray’s Inn student barristers, benchers, and judges. The Comparative Legal Institutions course will also be held at the Advocates Library, which is located in Parliament House in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Travel arrangements are on your own. This is for two reasons. First, not everyone will want to go and return on the same dates. Second, experience shows that you can find cheaper flights on the web than can be obtained through block booking.

For cheap student fares check out StudentUniverse.com. There’s also Orbitz, Sidestep, and so on. Try putting “discount air fares” into your Google search window. Extremely low fares are available from New York at times, for those able to get themselves to New York.

Book air tickets early unless you’re willing to take a chance on deeply discounted last minute fares. As to exact travel dates, be flexible, although you’ll want to match up your travel dates as closely as possible with lodging dates and the course schedule.

To enter Britian and to return to the US students will need a passport that will be valid for at least six months after arrival in Europe or the UK. Students planning on participating in the Maymester program should obtain a passport as soon as possible or make sure their existing passport will not expire within six months. Passport application services are offered at two locations on the University of South Carolina campus: Postal Services at 1600 Hampton Street and the Student Mail Center in the basement of the Russell House at 1400 Greene Street.

The State Department issues travel advisories from time to time. The USC Joseph F. Rice School of Law will keep an eye on these and pass along any that affect the Maymester program.

Course tuition and fees for the four-hour courses will be $3,955. This rate applies to both in- and out-of-state students. Other costs associated with the Maymester program will be discussed at an informational meeting during the fall semester.

To be eligible for federal aid a student must be “full time,” which, for the summer, means six hours. Some private lenders require only four hours. Additional details on financial aid will be provided at the fall informational meeting and Director Romona Keith, the Law Registrar, can answer any questions related to financial aid.

Health insurance is required and is provided through the University for $35.00 per person. Students will sign up for the mandatory insurance through the University’s Education Abroad office during the spring semester.