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Some lucky law school students have a prime opportunity to take advantage of the Olympic games that will be held in London this summer. Enrolling in the London program, where law school students can go to study law abroad, grants the students a ticket to a buzzing city that will soon be celebrating a mega event.
Yet, with millions of people expecting to descend on the city to watch London host the Olympics for the first time since 1948, competition for rooms is very tight, prices are sky high and some summer programs that intersect with the July 27 to Aug. 12 games are forced to tweak arrangements — or cancel their entire 2012 trip.
That is the case with the Georgetown Law, which blames logistical issues for scratching its near five-week summer program in London next summer, which would typically costs students $4,500 to take up to six credits.
”The overall increase in costs and scarcity of affordable housing in London during the Olympic period were the major factors that influenced the decision not to offer the program in 2012,” said Cara Morris, who is the director of transnational programs at Georgetown Law, also adding that the program will reappear in 2013.
Somewhere around twenty other U.S. law schools have programs in London, making it the most popular city in the whole world to study law abroad. This, of course, comes at no surprise: London is a top place to see the international law and financial law in action, between the presence of Parliament and Lloyd’s of London, which are the world’s leading insurance market. Its position as the publishing and the media capital of Europe also makes it a great place to study comparative, and even international, aspects of intellectual property law.
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Some of the schools, after realizing just how special this opportunity is for its students to study abroad in a city while it’s playing host to the Olympics, pulled out all of the stops in order to make it all happen.
Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles started fighting the logistical nightmare surrounding the Olympics early by kicking off the planning process back in the summer of 2009.
”We expect this summer to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our students,” said Michael Scott, who is a professor and director of the London summer school program in international information technology. ”We have done several things that will (we hope) ensure that this year’s program will not be negatively impacted by the Olympics.”
For instance, earlier than usual, the U.S. professors book their flats ahead of time and tours were finalized.
The school also booked the dorm rooms and classrooms far in advance and altered the program schedule so that it will end two weeks sooner that before, putting the last three weeks before the beginning of the Olympics. Scott hopes the students will take advantage of the smorgasbord of pre-Olympics events, like concerts, art exhibits and athletic competitions.
