Rising 3L student Erin Haggerty had always dreamed of studying abroad for her post-graduate degree, and after transferring to Chapman’s Fowler School of Law, she realized her wish, spending six weeks as a participant in Fowler’s Cambridge Summer Program at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. Taking a break from her scheduled summer internship clerking at Gates, Gonter, Guy, Proudfoot & Muench, LLP in Irvine, Haggerty got to enjoy the best of a glorious British summer with a few trips to continental Europe for both study and a little sightseeing, ensuring the envy of her friends and peers. 

Haggerty was welcomed to Cambridge and immediately made to feel at home by her helpful, attentive and inclusive hosts, an experience she describes in a word as, “seamless.” The only Chapman participant in a group comprised of Samford’s Cumberland School of Law and Campbell School of Law students, Erin was made to feel right at home in a group of eight 3L students and twenty eager 2Ls filling out their busy classes. First-week classes are mandatory, and the subject is the English legal system, presented by the Solicitor Brian Rose-Smith in an unfamiliar Scottish brogue accent that had Haggerty at sixes and sevens as she scrambled to take notes during classes. Resourceful as ever, Haggerty relied on transcripts and a patchwork of class notes to get by and prepare for the final held at the end of the week. She laughs about the experience now but also notes that adapting to a very different style of doing things in class has broadened her horizons and made her a better student for it. 

“It is hard not to be a little awed by the history of Cambridge University when you are eating your lunch under pictures of Oliver Cromwell and Isaac Newton, both Cambridge alumni,” she adds, “it can be a little surreal at times.” 

The program’s second week opened with an array of elective classes that, Haggerty cautions, “fill up fast!” She narrowly missed snagging a spot in the “Shakespeare Trial Advocacy” class that included trips to the Globe Theatre to watch the classic plays the class drew on. Undaunted, she joined the “Law of the European Union” class delivered by the former EU representative for the Republic of Lithuania, Loreta Raulinaityte, a dynamic and event-filled class that included field trips to Brussels to visit the Council of the EU and parts of the European Commission buildings. It is an experience Haggerty describes as an “incredible introduction to the law of the European Union,” and a really interactive broadening of her perspective on the law. 

The program had a busy schedule and very structured learning outcomes attached to it, but it also managed to include time for weekend visits to Europe with friends from the program and family, as well as a field trip to the Royal Courts and a memorable lunch at Middle Temple. Haggerty remarks at the wonderful sense of community she found with her classmates, sharing meals with the class, her teachers and the Dean of Cumberland, Blake Hudson, as well as Fowler’s own Dean Paul Paton, who made a surprise guest appearance as a Cambridge alumnus himself, and special a presentation to the Summer Program group.  

Exposure to the styles of teaching law in Europe and the US, and a small taste of the EU and English legal systems has left Erin Haggerty feeling both immensely grateful for the trip as well as confident and empowered as she returns to campus and settles into the routine of her 3L year, refreshed and excited to, as she put it, “finish the job.” We are looking forward to seeing great things from this aspirant trial attorney in the future.