News archive NUI Galway Law School Launch Formal Exchange with Boston’s Suffolk University Law School

After recently signing a memorandum of understanding to establish formal links, Head of NUI Galway’s School of Law, Professor Donncha O’Connell, and Dean of Suffolk University Law School in Boston, Professor Camille Nelson, are delighted to announce that students from each institution are currently undertaking a two months placement, gaining a mixture of deeper academic knowledge and vital practical experience on opposite sides of the Atlantic.

Professor O’Connell noted:  “The exchange offers an extraordinary opportunity for our students to learn about the US law and legal system in Boston, a vibrant city which is renowned for its universities and cultural life and which has very close ties with Galway and the west of Ireland.”

Further, Professor O’Connell commented that: “This student exchange is unique in Irish law schools and reflects the School of Law’s commitment to clinical legal education – the idea that practical, ‘real world’ experience is an important component of legal education, especially as the practice of law in increasingly global in nature. I would like to thank my colleagues, Larry Donnelly, a Boston native who is a graduate of Suffolk Law School, and Dr Conor Hanly, who is leading the School of Law’s internationalisation efforts, for their work in establishing this new relationship and selecting students to take part in the exchange.”

The NUI Galway students who are living, working and studying in Boston until the end of July are Ammi Burke, from Castlebar, Co. Mayo, Patrick Munnelly, from Athlone, Co. Westmeath, Catherine Corcoran, from Ballyconnell, Co. Cavan and Jacintha Hopkins, from Bohermore, Co. Galway.  They will be working, respectively, in the Massachussetts Appeal Court, the Massachussetts Secretary of State’s Office, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, and the Probate and Family Court.

Two Suffolk Law School students are spending the summer in Ireland. Melissa Chen will be working in the Centre for Disability Law and Policy at NUI Galway, while Ana Mora is working at the Law Reform Commission in Dublin. In addition to their academic work, both students will also be taking part in a variety of cultural activities and tours.

Professor Nelson, Dean of Suffolk University Law School in Boston, said: “Suffolk Law School is delighted to partner with the School of Law at NUI Galway to offer our students this unique experience to learn from and work with public interest advocates engaged in truly compelling work.  Likewise, we very much look forward to hosting and welcoming into our Suffolk Law community students from NUI Galway who will be interning in Boston this summer as part of the program. As a school, we greatly value these international exchanges.  The enrichment they bring to our student and faculty life cannot be underestimated.”