Law professor to lead study abroad program

The International Programs Office at WMU-Cooley Law School is pleased that Professor Victoria Vuletich will be leading its study abroad program in Toronto, Canada and Oxford, England this summer. Vuletich is based in Grand Rapids. WMU-Cooley has offered robust foreign study programs for over three decades. In Toronto, the program will be downtown at the University of St. Michael's College in May and June for the 17th consecutive year. The Toronto program is an economical study abroad program for U.S. law students desiring a study abroad experience, and offers Canadians studying at U.S. law schools the opportunity to go home during the summer and earn law credits. In July, the Oxford program returns to England for its third year. The five-week program provides students the opportunity to live and study in the city of dreaming spires, one of the world's great university towns. "I am honored and excited to have the privilege of representing WMU-Cooley and supporting our resident and guest students in their studies at these world renowned academic institutions. They will have the benefit of instruction by leaders of the legal professions in Toronto and Oxford," said Vuletich. Vuletich is particularly keen to introduce the students to the significant structural changes occurring in the U.K. and Canadian legal industries. "Both the U.K. and parts of Canada have changed the ethics rules to allow both lawyers and non lawyers to offer legal services to the public, in different ways than previously allowed," she said. "The goal is to make legal services more affordable and efficiently delivered to the public." Vuletich raises the example of a Canadian law firm that has met with great success in establishing offices in local Walmart stores. "Can you imagine how convenient it is for young, harried parents to go to Walmart on Saturday morning and while they are shopping for cereal, milk, little Bobby's new jeans and Susie's new shoes, they can have a will drafted?" Vuletich believes that these sorts of "store front" law firms are on their way to the U.S. "My talented colleagues at WMU-Cooley like to say that we are preparing our students to be lawyers of the future, not just future lawyers. The next ten years of the legal profession will be a time of great change. We have much to learn from our colleagues to the north and across the pond." In addition to the Toronto and Oxford programs, WMU-Cooley offers a program in the winter in Australia and New Zealand and a student exchange program in Munster, Germany. WMU-Cooley's International Programs Office has welcomed more than 240 guest students representing more than 100 U.S. and foreign law schools in its foreign study programs. Published: Wed, May 18, 2016