Overview
The Owen Fiss Latin American Linkage Program is an informal law student exchange between Yale Law School and seven leading law schools in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. Each January, law students from our partner schools come to spend three weeks at Yale Law School. They live with Yale law students and spend their days observing classes, attending special events, and meeting with faculty, lawyers, and student leaders. They lead discussions about important legal questions currently debated in their countries and learn about the history of legal education in the United States, the role Yale has played in that history, and how it has affected the practice of law itself in the United States.
During our summer recess, groups of Yale law students spend three weeks in Argentina, Brazil, or Chile, where they are hosted by the students who came to Yale in January. Less time is spent observing classes and more time spent with lawyers and scholars who work in fields related to the participants' interests. No academic credit is involved; rather, the dual objectives of the program are improving the participants' knowledge of legal education and practice and the evolution of and challenges facing democratic institutions in the destination country and creating ideal conditions for lasting friendships among the next generation of leading legal scholars and practitioners to take root.
The program coordinator can be reached at bradley.hayes@yale.edu.
In 2024, the Latin American Linkage Program was renamed in recognition of Professor Owen Fiss, one of the founders of the Law School programs in Latin America. The program — now the Owen Fiss Latin American Linkage Program at Yale Law School — was made possible thanks to a generous gift from Alexander Leff ’83.
