Students of the Master of Arts (MA) and Master of Laws (LLM) in the National Security Law and Practice programme at the University of Ghana School of Law (UGSoL) attended a five-day Professional National Security Law Seminar at Columbia University in New York, USA.

It formed part of the international component of UGSoL’s legal education for its undergraduate and graduate students.

The seminar was to introduce the post-graduate students to U.S. legal institutions, policies, and practices related to national security. It was also to deepen their understanding of the key elements and actors of US national security law and its interplay with international (humanitarian) laws.

Participants were taken through the organization of U.S. security, surveillance, and cybersecurity law and the use of military force, among others.

Resource persons included Prof. Bobby Chesney, Dean, University of Texas at Austin; Colonel (Prof.) Winston Williams, Head, Department of Law, U.S. Military Academy and Co-Director of the Lieber Institute for Law and Land Warfare; and Prof. Matt Waxman, Director, National Security Law Programme (NSLP), Columbia Law School.

The students were impressed with the seminar and mentioned the insights they obtained from the US National Security Law and how it is deployed, balancing civil liberties with security imperatives, and the global perspectives they got in legal discourse as invaluable.

They also had networking opportunities with experts and peers, which they believe will foster professional growth and collaboration.