News on the Program
SUMMER PROGRAM, LYON 2025
(Université Jean Moulin, Lyon, France, June 1-20, 2025)
All participating students will take all three courses for a total of four credits.
The Program received full Faculty Approval. An information meeting is scheduled for Thursday, February 6, 12:30-1:40 PM (Room 212)
Course Descriptions
Human Rights and the Environment (2 credits)
Professor Nicholas Bryner, Paul M. Hebert Law Center, LSU
In 2022, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution recognizing “the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a human right.” This course explores the relationship and overlap between international human rights law and environmental law.
The course begins with a basic overview of key concepts in human rights law and a brief history of the development of international environmental law. After this introduction, the course examines the question of how environmental harms impact traditionally recognized human rights. It then turns to converse question of how the enjoyment of civil, political, economic, social, and cultural human rights influence environmental protection. Students will consider whether, from a policy and legal perspective, it makes sense to approach environmental issues with a human rights framework, as well as what difference it makes to recognize, as the majority of countries in the world now do, a human right to a healthy environment.
Comparative Data Protection Law (1 Credit)
Professor Ludovic Pailler, University Jean Moulin, Lyon, France
The aim of the course is to provide an introduction to data protection law from a comparative and practical perspective. Students will be invited to identify and address the major issues in relation with technological innovation (AI) and economic growth, which depends on the free flow of data across borders. The course will highlight the different institutional and legal models of data protection that exist, especially in the US and the EU, the level of protection they provide and how they should be articulated to enable the data flow. The reality and extent of EU Law influence on foreign data protection laws (Brazil, Japan for example) will be highlighted. Finally, the need for a global data protection law will be discussed.
Comparative Tort Law (1 Credit)
Professor Emeritus Stathis Banakas, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom
A comparative study of important topical issues of Tort liability. The common law of Tort (American and English) will be compared with the Law of extracontractual civil liability of Civil law systems (French, German, Italian, Spanish). After an Introduction into the General Principles and Functions of Tort Liability in today’s World the course will look at the following issues: liability for personal injury, liability for artificial intelligence, liability for automated vehicle, liability for economic loss, liability for violations of privacy and personality rights, liability for wrongful birth, strict liability and remedies (compensation; punitive damages).
The Faculty
Prof. Nicholas Bryner, Program Director
Professor Bryner was an Emmett/Frankel Fellow in Environmental Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law for 2016-18. He served as Visiting Associate Professor and Environmental Law Fellow at George Washington University Law School (August 2014-June 2016) where he co-taught courses on environmental and natural resources law.
Bryner received his B.A. magna cum laude in Political Science from the University of Utah, with minors in Latin American Studies and Chemistry. He also earned joint degrees (J.D. / M.A.) in law and Latin American and Hemispheric Studies from The George Washington University Law School and Elliott School of International Affairs. At GW, Bryner was elected to the Order of Coif, received the Pro Bono Service Award and the Patton Boggs Foundation Public Policy Fellowship, and was a Presidential Merit Scholar. In addition, he served as an Articles Editor for The George Washington Law Review.
Prof. Ludovic Pailler
Professor Ludovic Pailler joined the Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University Law Faculty in 2017 as an Associate Professor and was appointed Full Professor (Agrégé des facultés de droit) in 2019. He is currently Vice-Dean for undergraduate students and Director of the legal clinic. He was a visiting professor in several universities (Ain Shams, Egypt; Sao Paolo, Brasil; El Salvador, Argentina; French University in Armenia; Bucharest, Romania; Vientiane Laos).
Professor Ludovic Pailler earned his Ph.D. summa cum laude at the Limoges University (2015) and was awarded the René Cassin Prize. He is a member of several academic societies (Comité français de droit international privé; International Law Association; European Association of Private International Law) and is co-president of the Code and Law section of Société de législation comparée. His publications mainly relate to private international law, fundamental rights law, and data protection law. He authored two books, co-authored a digital law book and is preparing a private international law book. He edited two volumes of proceedings from an international symposium he organized, and took part to many conferences, particularly in France and Canada. He regularly publishes articles, notes and reviews in French and English.
Prof. Stathis Banakas
Professor Stathis Banakas has a summa cum laude Law Degree from the University of Athens, Greece, and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, England, where he was a Greek State Scholar. He is an Emeritus Professor of Comparative Law at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom. He is an Attorney at Law (Dikigoros), member of the Athens Bar (retired), and has a long association with the London Programme of the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, as an Adjunct Professor (since 1986). He has taught for several years at the International Faculty of Comparative Law, Strasbourg (since 1993), at the Faculty of Law of the School of Business Studies (ESADE) University Ramon Llull, Barcelona (since 1999), the Bucerius law School in Hamburg (since 2005), and at the French Law Faculties of Bordeaux, Rennes, Tours and Bayonne. He was Visiting Professor at the University of Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne (March 2002), and at the Faculty of Law of the University of Savoie in Chambery (April-May 2002). Over a long academic career, he has held numerous other visiting teaching appointments at Universities in several European countries, North Africa, USA (including LSU in 2006) and Russia, and taught in summer Schools (including Duke, Tulane and, twice, LSU Summer schools). He is a member of the International Academy of Comparative law (Common Law Section) and the European Law Institute, member of the editorial Board of the Journal of Comparative law, Journal of Civil Law Studies, English law correspondent of the venerable Italian Law Journal ‘Rivista di Diritto Civile’, and Greek law adviser to the European Review of Contract Law.
Professor Banakas has convened and presented papers in numerous International Conferences, and he has directed several international projects of Academic Research Collaboration with Universities in other European countries, funded by the British Academy, National Governments and the British Council, and regularly represents the UK in European Working Groups on Harmonisation of European Tort law. He has been member of International evaluation panels of Law Schools in France and in Greece, and judge of research funding applications in Austria and Switzerland. He has taught at the French and German Judicial Academies and currently holds regular online seminars of English law and Legal Philosophy for German senior judges. His research in Tort Law has been cited with approval by the House of Lords in the UK, and other Supreme Courts in other common law countries including Australia and Canada, and the Federal Parliament of Germany. He has advised counsel in major International disputes and litigation on Comparative Contract law. He is published extensively in English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Greek and Turkish. His main research interests include Comparative and Global Law, Anglo-American Contract and Tort law, European and Global Private Law and its Harmonisation, French, German and Greek Civil law. and Law and Artificial Intelligence.
Lyon Summer Program 2025
The LSU Summer Program in Lyon is undergoing changes. We are moving from a 6-week duration to a 3-week program. The dates are June 1-20, 2025. Three courses will be offered, with the possibility of earning 4 credits:
- A 2-credit course on Comparative Environmental Law
- A 1-credit course on Comparative Data Protection
- A 1-credit course on Comparative Torts
The program will be posted end of January 2025: stay tuned! You may contact Professor Olivier Moreteau at moreteau@lsu.edu.
Lyon Summer Program 2025: First Information Meeting
You are invited to attend our first information meeting on the Summer Program in Lyon, Wednesday, October 9, 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., Room 212. The meeting will be recorded. The videorecording will be posted on the home page of the Lyon Summer Program, clicking on News.
To view the video recording of the meeting, click here.
The dates of the program will be June 1 to July 11, 2025. If interested in the program, please make sure you attend this meeting or watch the video. You may also contact Professor Olivier Moréteau at moreteau@lsu.edu.
Change to the 2024 Summer Program
US District Judge Judge Brian A. Jackson will not be able to teach in the 2024 Summer Program. where he had offered to teach Contemporary Issues in International Criminal Law. He will be replaced by LSU Law Professor Lisa Avalos who will teach International Human Rights and Gender-Based Violence. The change is about to be finalized. We apologize for any inconvenience and thank Professor Avalos for coming up with an equally exciting course proposal.
You missed the First Lyon Meeting?
Click here to access the video of the first meeting on the Lyon Summer Program 2024, on October 30, 2023. Program dates are June 3 to July 12, 2024.
Lyon Summer Program 2024: First Information Meeting
An information meeting on the 2024 Lyon Summer Program will take place Monday, October 30, 12:40-1:40, Room 110.
LSU Law students have the opportunity to spend six weeks of the summer (June 3 to July 12) studying comparative law in beautiful, historic Lyon, France. Students can earn up to six academic credits (which qualify to meet the requirements of the DCL). Classes are scheduled in the mornings on Monday through Thursday allowing students to take long weekends traveling throughout Europe. Faculty include professors from LSU Law, Jean Moulin University Law School (the host institution in Lyon), an experienced Federal judge, and international faculty specializing in comparative law.
Come hear about the Lyon Program, ask questions, and begin to consider if you wish to join many of your classmates in France this summer!
Information Meeting January 24, 2023
This post gives you access to the January 24 Meeting.
Click here to view the video recording.
Lyon Summer Program 2023 Powerpoint.
Lyon Summer Program 2023 Information Meeting
An information meeting was organized Tuesday, October 4, at 12:40 PM. Click here to view the video of the meeting. Note that you may have to sign in via LSU Moodle to access the video.
To access the slides, click on the link that follows: LYON-KB 19 updated 22
Contacts:
- Professor Olivier Moreteau (moreteau@lsu.edu)
- Professor John Church (jchurch@lsu.edu)
- Professor Randall Trahan (jrtrahan@lsu.edu)
- Professor Robert Lancaster (rlancast@lsu.edu)