About-Testimonials

What Students Say about NACLE:

Alexandre Mireault 
McGill University:
“Professor Zamora,
I'm just writing to thank you once again for the amazing adventure last weekend. Quite honestly, it was an experience of a lifetime and I will never forget the people I met, the places I saw and the trip as a whole. It was a  non-stop learning experience and I gained so much from spending time with my fellow students in particular, and with everyone generally. I know you are looking for ways to improve the conference, but I can't think of anything that would need changing, short of adding a few more schools (and therefore students) to the roster.

I will be returning to McGill in January, and you can trust that I will be spreading the good word about my time spent with NACLE.”

Raymundo Arenas 
University of Arizona (Mexican lawyer, Arizona LLM):
“It was my honor to present my paper in the NACLE workshop. Living an experience like this was very positive for me.  I met a lot of interesting people from abroad and from my own country, and enjoyed the discussions on comparative legal education and international issues. It was also very positive meeting NACLE and U of A faculty and alumni who are working in the international field. The experience of living a NACLE workshop gives me a bittersweet feeling. On one hand, I am very happy to have participated in the workshop and have the opportunity to present my paper and meet wonderful people; on the other hand, I am a little sad knowing that was my first and last participation since I am done with school.  I hope to keep in touch with all of you and will try to do my best to attend further workshops, because they are so worthwhile. The workshop was fabulous. Congratulations on an excellent work to all of the participants.”

John Siwiec
University of Ottawa:
"The NACLE Workshop provided a unique opportunity to learn about the law of all three NAFTA countries though its greatest reward would have to be the friendships forged with fellow students and professors from across the continent. As a NACLE student paper competition winner, I gained invaluable experience not only presenting my work but engaging in lively discussions with other participants. The NACLE community was extremely welcoming and I highly encourage those interested in comparative and international law to become involved."

Scott Childs
University of Houston:
"I became friends with fellow law students and professors from all over North America.  We built these relationships through scholarly discussion and, more importantly, experiencing the local culture together.  I hope to be invited to NACLE events in the future!"

Lee Seshagiri
Dalhousie Law School:
"As a student from Dalhousie Law School in Halifax, I felt very fortunate to have been selected to attend the NACLE conference in Monterrey. The trip did not disappoint. From the moment of arrival until the end of the conference, I was surrounded by welcoming faculty, students and staff, as well as friendly Monterrey locals. The conference was intellectually stimulating, covering a broad range of research topics. To top it all off, we were blessed with great food, drink and cultural entertainment. Thanks NACLE!"

Bruce Godzina
University of Houston:
“Looking back on my experience as a participant in the NACLE exchange program, I feel a sense of great accomplishment and satisfaction. The accomplishment comes from the culmination of all the planning and effort that I undertook to be a part of the program. The satisfaction comes from the memories that I took away from my stay in Montreal.

Last fall, I packed up my belongings and drove off to the Great White North in my modest pickup truck, not knowing what the semester had in store for me. A latent sense of anticipation and a touch of anxiety were my only companions as the miles clicked by toward my final destination. However, upon arrival in Montreal, I knew that I had made a wise choice in coming. What a spectacular opportunity to be able to spend the semester in one of the most vibrant, dynamic, and international locations in North America.

When I first sit eyes upon the campus of McGill University, I was immediately struck by its strange mixture of urban and collegiate atmospheres. It was physically located in the middle of downtown Montreal, next to both the financial district and world-famous St. Catherine Street, yet it retained the elements of a traditional college campus. Indeed, the university was composed of stately buildings interspersed with green areas and many old trees. My first priority was to find housing, and I was lucky enough to locate a reasonably priced room in a boarding house. The house was located in the suburbs, so I took the subway to school every day. To be able to commute on the subway was a new experience for me, but like most things in Canada, the underground system was clean and efficient.

The classes I took were excellent, and I tried to choose those that focused on the international trade issues associated with NAFTA and its related agreements. Private International Law with Professor H. Patrick Glenn was one of the highlights of my stay. The substance of the course dealt with jurisdiction and choice-of-law in a hypothetical North American Lawsuit. Law and International Trade with Professor Armand DeMestral examined the panel decisions of disputes between NAFTA members as well as some WTO cases. This class particularly focused on the unique aspects of International Trade Law, with extended discussion of Most Favored Nation and National Treatment status. To round out my program, I decided to take Intellectual Property and even Roman Law. The latter is admittedly not a relevant subject in modern common law jurisdictions, but it was extremely interesting to study it against the background of modem civil law.

All in all, I came away from my NACLE experience with a new outlook. Among the many benefits I acquired include 1) a broader understanding of the common goals between the U.S. and Canada, 2) a clearer notion of why our economies are so closely linked, and 3) a deeper insight into the unique dynamic between Americans and our neighbors to the north. Though we are culturally so similar, in many respects we deal with each other at arm's length."