Academics in Florence

Standards for Academic Credit

• Grades ranging from “A” – “F” will be assigned for these courses.
• Students from law schools other than Gonzaga must determine the transferability of grades and credits earned in the program to their home institutions.
• Students should make inquiries at their home institutions concerning transferability before applying for admission to the program.

Academic Scheduling

The Florence Summer Law program is a four week long program. Classes are held three days a week, Monday through Thursday. Each class meets during the day for two hours each.

Accreditation Information

• The Florence Summer Law Program is open to law students in academic good standing at law schools accredited by the American Bar Association, by a state of the United States, or Canada.
• Gonzaga is fully accredited by the American Bar Association and the Association of American Law Schools.
• The Florence Summer Law Program is considered part of the Gonzaga University School of Law’s regular course offerings.

Academic Standards

• In order to be accepted to the Florence Summer Law Program students must be in good academic standing with a 2.400+ GPA.
• Many law schools, including Gonzaga, will not allow students who have been academically dismissed to continue in the program.
• The academic content of the program meets the same standards as courses offered on-campus.
• Student performance is measured by the same standards used to evaluate student performance in on-campus courses.
• Students who register in summer law programs before their grades for the prior semester or quarter have been finalized do so at their own risk.
• It is the student’s responsibility to be aware of the policy regarding academic dismissal at the student’s law school.
• When all grades have been submitted to the registrar for the prior semester, a Gonzaga student participating in the program must meet the requirements of Academic Rule 2-3.I.2.d, or his or her registration in the program will be canceled and any paid tuition will be fully refunded.

This course will be taught by Professor Samuel Newton.

Comparative Criminal Law investigates how various nations across the globe address the universal challenges of crime and punishment. Guided by the principle that "one who knows only one country knows none," this course examines the distinct criminal justice philosophies and legal approaches of diverse international jurisdictions. Students will analyze how different countries structure their policing, sentencing, and governance, gaining a critical perspective on the American system by comparing it to a wide array of global models.

While the course maintains a broad international scope, it also focuses on the Italian criminal justice system to see how its legal approaches have shifted from the dark era of the Inquisition to the modern day. The course navigates a journey from the dark history of medieval punishment to the birth of modern criminology, an era when Italian thinkers famously scrutinized the human brain and psyche for the origins of deviancy. We also investigate how legal systems reacted to the political chaos of the anarchist era, a time when targeted assassinations of kings and presidents threatened to topple global stability. By deconstructing the international complexities of the high-profile Amanda Knox murder trial and the hunt for the elusive serial killer known as the "Monster of Florence," students will build a sophisticated understanding of how diverse nations pursue the elusive ideal of criminal justice.

This course will be taught by Professor Michael Cecil.

Comparative Constitutional Law explores how constitutional systems across different legal traditions structure political power, protect fundamental rights, and engage with international and transnational norms. The course focuses on three core dimensions of comparative constitutionalism: (1) substantive rights adjudication (including equality, dignity, speech, religion, and socio-economic rights); (2) constitutional structure and institutional design (judicial review, separation of powers, federalism, and democratic accountability); and (3) the interaction between domestic constitutional law and international human rights regimes. Drawing on case law and constitutional texts from jurisdictions such as South Africa, Germany, China, India, Canada, and select European systems, the course explores how constitutional courts reason across borders, adapt shared principles to local contexts, and confront common challenges of legitimacy, pluralism, and constitutional change. Specific attention is paid to post-authoritarian and transformative constitutions, offering students a comparative framework for understanding constitutional law beyond the United States and for evaluating the role of courts in shaping constitutional meaning in a globalized legal order.

This course will be taught by Professor Archarya. Course description coming soon. 

This course will be taught by Dean Jacob Rooksby.

Law and Leadership will explore how lawyers are frequently called upon to exercise leadership in professional, civic, and institutional settings, often early in their careers. Yet leadership development has traditionally occupied a marginal place in legal education. This course examines leadership as a learned and context-dependent practice, drawing on interdisciplinary leadership studies and comparative perspectives.

The course explores core questions such as: What distinguishes leadership from authority? How do lawyers exercise influence ethically across institutional and cultural contexts? What leadership challenges arise in an increasingly globalized legal profession? Topics include the nature of leadership, leadership skills, ethics and responsibility, and common leadership dilemmas faced by lawyers in public, private, and nonprofit roles. The course invites students to reflect on leadership beyond domestic legal frameworks and to situate their own professional identities within a global context.

This course will be taught by Professor Inga Laurent.

Transitional Justice (TJ) is emerging as the prevailing global method for addressing large-scale societal conflict – be it post-bellum, post authoritarianism, or entrenched structural injustice. Now considered an essential part of peace-building praxis, TJ is increasingly commonplace. This course will explore the various phases and evolving mechanisms of TJ, with a special emphasis on Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (TRCs). We will explore the global use of TJ mechanisms over a variety of conflicts. On a more philosophical level, this course will explore questions, such as: how do fractured societies effectively create and refine TJ mechanisms capable of ushering in mass reconciliation? Because these processes within it have largely been associated with countries facing “moments of rupture” typically in the form of a civil war, military dictatorship, or genocide, are they effectual for responding to “Steady-State” (SS) violence, wherein “contemporary conditions of persistent conflict…have a normalized law of violence,” such as in Northern Ireland, Canada, Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, and the United States? If so, how do we create processes for individual and collective accountability capable of recognizing and responding to wider issues, such as varied “modalities of violence” and “forms of structured dispossession”? Can we successfully widen the web of accountability – for individuals, communities, states, institutions – and iterative accountability for the processes themselves that will allow for democratization, productive dialogic exchanges, norm clarification, and rule of law building, enabling more peaceable societies?