January 2012

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan. 30, 2012 — Santa Clara University School of Law has begun offering students of Korea’s premier university, Seoul National University, a joint master’s degree in law. Under the joint degree, selected Korean students come to Silicon Valley to take an intensive eight weeks of intellectual-property law classes toward an LL.M. degree, which is awarded by both schools.

The students, many of whom are practicing attorneys in Korea, attend classes at SCU’s Silicon Valley campus over one summer, then return to Seoul to finish their required courses and complete a master’s thesis.

“This program is an extension of a longstanding relationship of respect and admiration we have with legal institutions in South Korea especially Seoul National University,” said Santa Clara University School of Law Dean Donald Polden. “We are very pleased with the caliber of students who are pursuing this joint LL.M. program with Seoul National.” 

So far, two classes of eight to 14 students each have come through the summer program. The program offers an opportunity for Korea's next generation of leading lawyers to learn American intellectual-property law and understand how it is applied in global markets for technology.

Many students say they hope to return and take other graduate law courses, in preparation for the California bar exam and for the sophisticated intellectual property issues facing Korean firms, said Matthew Cox, director of graduate legal programs for SCU Law. 

“A lot of the students who come to us from Seoul are highly placed in their own companies,” said Cox. “Getting an IP-focused law degree from Santa Clara’s top-ranked program is a distinct advantage for them.”

SCU also benefits from its association with Seoul National, as well as with other top-tier Korean schools, said Polden. The spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship in Korea mirrors that of Silicon Valley, an area where many of Korea's leading firms also do business.

SCU Law has a joint LL.M. program with another international school, the University of Vienna, said Cox. Last year three students from that school spent the fall semester at the law school.

For more on SCU’s relationship with South Korea, see SCU Today.

About Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California’s Silicon Valley, offers its more than 8,800 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, theology, and engineering, plus master’s and law degrees and engineering Ph.D.s. Distinguished nationally by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master’s universities, California’s oldest operating higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. For more information, see www.scu.edu.

Media Contact
Deborah Lohse | SCU Media Relations | dlohse@scu.edu | 408-554-5121