The Department of Legal Studies Goes to Washington

BOCCONI'S DEPARTMENT WILL BE THE ONLY NONAMERICAN SCHOOL TO PARTICIPATE IN THE FACULTY RECRUITMENT CONFERENCE ORGANIZED BY THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN LAW SCHOOLS

This year the 76-page Placement Bulletin of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) displays a new section, Positions at schools located outside the United States, consisting of a single entry: Bocconi University searching for an Assistant Professor in Business Law. In a bold and unprecedented move, Bocconi Department of Legal Studies will participate for the first time in the job market (Faculty Recruitment Conference) organized by AALS on October 3-5 at Washington, DC with a 3-strong Recruiting Committee including the Department’s Director, Marco Ventoruzzo and two Full Professors recruited last year from British universities: Eleanor Spaventa and Roger O’Keefe.
 
“In legal studies national legislation and national language play a greater role than in other disciplines”, says Professor Ventoruzzo, “and internationalization has to be a multidimensional process. We don’t aim to homogenization, but to the coexistence of diverse models. In Washington, we will have eight interviews with candidates with an interdisciplinary attitude; last year we recruited in Europe, even if the lack of something similar to the AALS Faculty Recruitment Conference and the differences in the parameters used in valuating young academics in different countries don’t make it as easy as it may seem”.
 
“In the last few years, the publication record of our Law Faculty in international journals, including some very prestigious ones, has improved dramatically”, Prof. Ventoruzzo says, “and our metrics, from citation indexes to visibility on SSRN, a repository for rapid dissemination of research in social sciences, are also blooming. Internationalizations, for jurists, is a long-term project, with the need to balance it with the equally important goal of remaining a leading national school, able to have an impact on Italian policy makers, courts and practitioners. But the road we have undertook is already paying off”.
 

by Fabio Todesco