Cornell Law Student Gaining Real-World International Law Experience

Summary

Cornell Law Student Experiencing International Law Firsthand


Cornell Law Student and recent graduate, Delphia Simms, is experiencing international law firsthand through her recent internship at the United Nations (UN). Simms is a May 2019 Cornell Law graduate and is currently interning and exploring the legal aspects of development and peace at the UN, following her passion for international law.

At Cornell, Simms was an editor of the Cornell International Law Journal, worked as a research assistant, and served as vice president of the International Law Society. That's why, when the chance arose, she wanted to experience international law firsthand in the real world. Simms is currently interning for the Chief of the Rule of Law Unit in the UN's Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, where she has been exposed to the legal aspects of peacebuilding, financing, and development.

Through her work, Simms is learning about the various conflicts between countries that face all levels of UN involvement. By bringing diverse parties together, her role is to foster dialogue and develop an understanding of the different values and interests of these countries. Simms also assists in the drafting of reports and international documents that are used by Member States.

By exploring international law firsthand, Simms hopes to gain a better understanding of how international law works in real-world scenarios and how to resolve the legal issues of international relations. She is an inspiring example of how the use of international law can have lasting effects on the international community. Her experience shows that by gaining a knowledge of international law, individuals can become more effective negotiators and more successful in their legal careers.

Cornell Law student, Delphia Simms, is experiencing international law firsthand in her role as an intern for the United Nations' Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs. Simms is having the opportunity to utilize her knowledge of international law and help bring different parties together to foster dialogue and collaborate on the legal aspects of peacebuilding, financing, and development. Simms is drafting reports and documents that are used by Member States in their dealings with each other, allowing her to gain a better understanding of how international law works and how to resolve the legal issues involved. This experience serves as an example of how international law can have lasting effects on the international community, and how having a knowledge of international law can help individuals become more successful in their legal careers.
 

A Journey to International Law

Cornell Law School has a long tradition of providing its students with a broad understanding of international law and the global legal field. With one of the most interesting and comprehensive international law programs, Cornell Law offers its students the opportunity to gain invaluable experience in international legal matters. Currently, Cornell Law student and rising second-year student, Mary Elizabeth, is living that experience.
 

Experience Working In International Law

Mary Elizabeth is currently spending her summer in Washington, D.C. working for the U.S. Department of State on projects relating to international law. She states that she is “learning a ton about international law, U.S. foreign policy, and the legal profession” as she works on her projects. Mary Elizabeth also mentions that she has been able to observe first-hand the implementation of laws to protect national security, human rights, and the environment.
 

Diverse International Legal Experience

The summer has presented Mary Elizabeth with a diverse international legal experience in the form of her current job and the globally focused courses she took at Cornell Law School. She cites her course in Comparative Law, which focused on researching and comparing Europe's legal structure to the U.S. legal system, as a major source for her understanding of international legal matters. Her experience in the course sparked her interest in researching international legal issues, furthering her commitment to understanding the global legal field.
 

Passion For International Law

Mary Elizabeth claims that the courses and her current job have ignited her passion for international law and she looks forward to continuing to explore the legal landscape of international law more deeply. She has found a newfound appreciation for the complexity and uniqueness of the different legal systems and the global connections between them. She hopes that her current experience and the knowledge she has gained will help further her career in the future.

Christopher Ahn, a third-year Cornell Law student, is just finishing up the fall semester studying law at Waseda University in Tokyo as part of Cornell's Clarke Program of East Asian Law and Culture. The exchange between Waseda and Cornell is one of two programs that allow students from the United States to study law in Japanese classrooms alongside Japanese students. As part of the exchange, a law student from Waseda can come to Cornell to study in its LL.M. program.

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Ahn is studying in the regular law curriculum at Waseda, taking classes in Japanese Legal History and Finance Law…in Japanese. Overall, "the semester has been incredibly rewarding," Ahn says via email from Japan.

"Waseda has treated the exchange students very well," Ahn says. "We've been exposed to a variety of experiences, in addition to coursework. For example, my advisor and I spent about four hours every Thursday afternoon in one-on-one sessions discussing Japanese law and politics. This past week another professor and I observed the oral arguments in a case presented to the Grand Bench of the Supreme Court of Japan.

"The dual task of learning about law and learning about it in Japanese has been both a gift and an affliction. A gift because I can't think of a better way to study Japanese, and an affliction because I rarely went to bed before 4 a.m.! My only regret is that I can't stay for the whole year," Ahn says.

Prior to coming to Cornell, Ahn received a master's degree in philosophy, and also worked as a web developer and network administrator. When at Cornell, Ahn became involved with the Clarke program from the start.

In the summer of 2003, Ahn was a research assistant to Professor Annalise Riles, head of the program at Cornell. He did legal research and also "helped to develop informational materials for the newly established (program)," he says. Ahn has maintained his involvement, taking the core course in the program and attending the speakers' series and program conferences.

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The Clarke program seeks to integrate Cornell's top East Asian Studies Program with the law school to bring fresh ideas into the study of international law.

"One of the program's greatest strengths is its strongly interdisciplinary perspective," says Ahn. The chance to learn about a country's law and also its legal culture—which touches on issues such as the place of law in a society, its value in the society, and what might be considered "law" in that country—is emphasized in the Clarke program. Ahn says that "the Clarke Program's approach gives Cornell law students a more sophisticated understanding of this area of the world."

"Asia is so dynamic and complex and different enough from the U.S. that studying it constantly challenges me to articulate and rethink my assumptions about the world," Ahn says.

Ahn's study of Asia and involvement in law will continue well past law school. He is currently applying to Ph.D. programs in Asian studies and will also take the New York State Bar Exam this summer. In his future studies, Ahn says he hopes to "critically examine current legal and political frameworks for globalization, with an emphasis on how they affect subordinated groups in U.S. and Asian contexts."

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Overall, the Clarke program has served as the framework for Ahn's future pursuits. The program, Ahn says, "reinforced my view that interdisciplinary study of Asia is necessary for making progress on some of the more difficult legal questions facing the region today; for example, in areas such as immigrant and refugee rights, human rights, and international humanitarian law."