In a Pre-COVID world, bilateral partnerships between law schools were a way to deepen ties, internationalize, and of course, welcome foreign-educated students. For most U.S. law schools, it meant visiting universities in other countries, making presentations, going out to dinners, and hosting events. I saw firsthand how hosting a revolving door of U.S. law schools for presentations led to university and student fatigue. So I suggested staying in-country, teaching at partner schools, and having office space in those law colleges. Students who wanted to go to the U.S. would naturally find me. My “Partners Not Poachers” strategy was launched and led to mutually beneficial partnerships at about half a dozen schools where I spent significant time.

In a COVID (and hopefully post-COVID!) world, I think there’s an opportunity to evolve from bilateral partnerships to multilateral partnerships. Google “U.S. Law School Foreign Partners” and a you’ll see lists of partner schools for U.S. law schools across the rankings spectrum. As I learned five years ago, an MOU is just a piece of paper and the activities that actually happen through an MOU are what matter. For foreign law schools, MOU quality can vary! They can range from an LL.M. tuition discount for your students to a dual degree program to yearly international symposia, joint research and faculty exchanges. The partnerships will vary and I’d be curious to hear from schools abroad about their experiences with U.S. partners, especially schools that have multiple U.S. law school partnerships and can compare them.

You’ll notice that U.S. law schools have partners across the world. In a pre-COVID bilateral partnership era, you visited your partners, usually one at-a-time. Ambitious schools may have triangulated activities, but the distance (physical and perceived) made MOUs more individualized (or at least defined) in my experience.

With the COVID shift, bringing your partners together has never been easier. An idea I had a few years ago was for a Partner School Conference on a different legal topic each year to deepen ties between faculty, students, alumni, and staff. The idea never took off for a number of reasons. But in the COVID era, why not bring your partners together. My “Partners Not Poachers” philosophy of mutually beneficial partnerships has room for a 2.0 version: help your partners connect with one another.

Some initial ideas, though I would love to hear more from colleagues at U.S. and foreign law schools. As always, I think schools that avoid thinking just about short-term costs and investment will be the most successful.

• A U.S. law school could host an online course introducing the U.S. legal system to students at their partner schools free of charge. It could be open enrollment (MOOC, asynchronous), or a set group of students from each partner schools, likely synchronous. J.D. students at your school could serve as TAs and connect with self-identifying partner school students who may be interested in studying in the U.S. in the future.
• My virtual roundtable idea. Bring the person responsible for international activities from each partner school together for a discussion. Have breakout rooms. Talk about joint activities. Partners may find their own synergies where they have strengths and thank you for bringing them together.
• If your school has a large number of partners, host a virtual moot court event for students from your partner schools. Look for a topic of strength to your law school so that the students from your partners who like that area of law make the connection to a future degree with you. Without worrying about logistics and travel, you can focus narrowly on drafting the problem and hosting virtual oral arguments. For schools with more capacity, you can also host virtual mixers, engage alumni to judge (especially those from those countries who went back home and want to stay connected), and work on a digital marketing strategy to highlight your partners.
• Connect your students. Student-to-student connection does more to move a partnership forward than any recruitment presentation in my opinion. The reason: students (and their parents!) decide where to study, not your foreign counterpart. They can suggest your school but if the student isn’t interested, you won’t welcome many students from your partners. I’d suggest a sign-up where students at your school can connect with partner school students with similar interests or virtual events around a theme (NBA, skiing, cooking, etc.) where students self-identify as interested and then meet others with similar interests. Liberally use breakout rooms so students can get to know one another!

Junior professionals in U.S. law school administration: Partners Not Poachers launched my career. Use Partners Not Poachers 2.0 to launch yours!