Center for International and Comparative Law
What We Do
St. John’s Center for International and Comparative Law promotes the study of international and foreign legal systems as a means for addressing pressing global problems.
About the Center
The Center for International and Comparative Law is a place where students, scholars, and practicing lawyers come together to address how globalization affects the practice of law, and how the law can be deployed to address emerging global challenges. Through a broad range of curricular offerings, study abroad programs, experiential learning opportunities, and scholarly work, the Center helps prepare students for practice in a globalizing legal profession, using litigation, transactional, and regulatory advisory skills.
Our Curriculum
Spurred by globalization, the scope of international law has expanded with the proliferation of international tribunals, bilateral investment treaties, international environmental rules, as well as the increasing vitalization of human rights law. This internationalization of law in turn has led to a similar internationalization of the legal profession. Lawyers assist clients who come from, work in, and engage in activities in jurisdictions throughout the globe. Clients purchase goods from foreign suppliers, execute cross-border mergers, litigate before foreign and international courts and arbitral tribunals, and pursue international human rights and environmental claims before domestic, foreign and international courts and agencies.
Studying international and comparative law is a way to prepare for practice in a world in which national borders have become far less significant than in an earlier era and in which knowledge of U.S. law alone will no longer suffice. Any legal specialty becomes an international practice when multiple national jurisdictions apply to a problem. Any legal counselor becomes an international legal counselor when the organization they represent engages in international activities.
Criminal law, civil litigation, corporate transactions, real estate financing, labor and employment law, and family law are some examples of practice areas where knowledge and experience of international and foreign law are helpful tools in a lawyer’s repertoire. New lawyers with interest in international law and issues of globalization can also embark on a career path with the government, such as the U.S. military Judge Advocate General (JAG) program, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), or clerkships on the U.S. Court of International Trade.
In addition to working as a lawyer, legal training can be useful preparation for work as a policy analyst in a state or federal agency such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), or U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). Further, the United Nations and its affiliated agencies offer opportunities for legal and policy work on issues of peace, security, international development and human rights.
Students interested in international legal practice at St. John's Law can choose classes in four pathways: Cross-Border Transactions and International Business Counseling, International Dispute Resolution and Litigation, National Security and International Law Enforcement, and Public International Law and Human Rights.
Center Leadership
Christopher J. Borgen
Co-Director, St. John’s Center for International and Comparative Law
Professor of Law
St. John’s School of Law
8000 Utopia Parkway
Queens, NY 11439
718-990-1982
[email protected]
Margaret E. (Peggy) McGuinness
Co-Director, St. John’s Center for International and Comparative Law
Director, LLM in Transnational Legal Practice
Professor of Law
St. John’s School of Law
8000 Utopia Parkway
Queens, NY 11439
718-990-8018
[email protected]
Support the Center
To support the Center and its initiatives, please visit the Law School's online giving page or contact the Office of Alumni Relations and Development at [email protected] or 718-990-5792.
Learn More
St. John’s Center for International and Comparative Law sponsors a variety of programs and events throughout the academic year.
Programs for St. John's Law Students
Human Rights Advocacy Program
The Human Rights Advocacy Program is an experiential educational program for 2L and 3L St. John's Law students designed to develop their knowledge of the international human rights system and hone advocacy skills in practice before international, regional, and domestic human rights institutions. Human rights advocacy projects are undertaken on behalf of and in partnership with grassroots organizations around the world and focus on the most pressing issues confronting our global community, including racial and economic justice, protections for immigrants and refugees, ending human trafficking and gender-based violence, and advancing climate justice. The Program offers experiential educational training through its semester-long International Human Rights Advocacy & Practice course, as well as through awareness-raising events and thought leadership in the field of human rights. The Program's mission is to forge justice-oriented practitioners and promote an end to human rights abuses around the globe.
Student Fellows Program
Rising 2L and 3L students who have a demonstrated interest in international and comparative law are eligible for the Center's student fellows program. Student fellows work closely with professors on research projects and have the opportunity to be published. They lead teams of students on Pro Bono for International Justice projects. They also assist in preparing Center events, such as the Global Issues Series and the annual symposia.
Pathways Program
The Center's Pathways Program, an invitation-only group, provides 1L students with a clear path for a career in international legal practice. Students prepare for a career in international legal practice, while at the same time focusing on their 1L coursework.
Academic Journal
The Center oversees the publication of the New York International Law Review(NYILR). The NYILR is the publication of the International Law Section of the New York State Bar Association.
International Internships
The Center takes a hands-on approach to assisting students with securing summer internships in the field of international law. Rising 2L and 3L students have secured internships at the International Criminal Court, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, UNICEF-Somalia, and the Court of International Trade.
Student Groups & Advocacy Competitions
The International Law Students Association (ILSA) and the Multilingual Legal Advocates (MLA) are among the student groups who coordinate their activities with the Center to introduce students to opportunities in international practice. Our successful Vis International Arbitration Moot and Jessup Moot Court teams give students the opportunity to practice international law skills and advocacy in global competitions with other law students.
Center Events
Academic Symposia
The Center hosts symposia where scholars and practitioners from around the world gather to discuss emerging global issues. The proceedings are published in the New York International Law Review. Past symposia include: Challenges to International Law, Challenges from International Law; Drones and Transnational Armed Conflict; Cyberconflict: Threats, Responses and the Role of Law; The Challenges of International Human Trafficking: Domestic Counter Trafficking Programs; and International Religious Freedom and the Global Clash of Values.
Global Issues Series
The Global Issues Series brings international and comparative law scholars, practitioners, and others to the St. John’s campus to present their work and engage in discussion with faculty and students. Recent speakers include Andrew Davis, the head of the delegation of the government of Catalonia to the United States, to discuss Catalonia, Self-Determination, and the Future of the European Union; and Hassan Jallow, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, to discuss contemporary issues of international criminal law and the search for international justice.
Caroline A. Pizano
Adjunct Professor of Law
B.A. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
MSW Washington University in St. Louis|
J.D. St. John's University School of Law
Caroline Pizano teaches various international and comparative law courses, including Human Trafficking Law, Transnational Legal Practice Skills: Public International Law and Institutions, International & Foreign Legal Research, and International Scholarly Research & Writing. She also co-teaches International Human Rights Advocacy and Practice, which gives students the advocacy and litigation skills required to advance international human rights issues and claims before international, regional, national, and local institutions, and coordinates the Human Rights Advocacy Program.
Professor Pizano is a dually-trained litigator and social worker with over a decade of experience representing and working with survivors of trafficking, violence, torture, and abuse, and researching, writing, and advocating on human rights issues. She serves as an advocate for trafficking and gender-based violence survivors and agencies in New York state family and criminal courts and in immigration court and previously served as an Associate at Latham & Watkins LLP and DLA Piper LLP and as a Judicial Law Clerk in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
In law school, Professor Pizano worked in the International Criminal Court on war crimes and crimes against humanity and at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri on child trafficking and exploitation. She also has extensive experience working with bar associations, nonprofit institutions, government organizations, and educational institutions on topics related to international human rights, and her scholarship on legal issues related to international law and human trafficking has been published in the New York International Law Review, St. John’s Law Review, National Law Review, and Opinio Juris. She is admitted to the bars of New York and Washington, D.C., and registered to practice before the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Executive Office for Immigration Review.