Birmingham Firm Hosts Event with International and Academic Interest
Members of Simpson, McMahan, Glick & Burford in Birmingham recently welcomed judges and attorneys from Brazil with an informal reception. The guests are in Birmingham to attend Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law, where they will earn a Master of Comparative Law (MCL) degree.
The MCL program introduces students to the American justice system and the potential of its basic values for application in other legal cultures as well as an awareness of the use of precedent in American legal culture. As a direct result of this, Brazil’s constitution now provides authority for the Brazilian Supreme Court to establish precedent when deciding constitutional cases.
Scott Simpson and Charles Cole, both with Simpson, McMahan, were integral in the creation and development of Samford University’s MCL program. In 1988, Brazilian judges invited Cole to conduct lectures on constitutional law in Sao Paulo, and in the years following, he continued to lecture in Brazil. He then created the MCL program, which was formally established at Samford University in 1993.
Simpson joined Cole in 2004 for presentations concerning alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in the federal and state courts of Sao Paulo. Their presentations served as the basis for pilot ADR programs, which have now been expanded to on-going ADR use throughout Brazil. Simpson continues to offer classes and support for the MCL program, both in Birmingham and at Samford’s Cambridge University study-abroad program.
