University of the Western Cape Teaching Project

I was delighted to have participated in the New Perimeter Special Economic Zones Teaching Project in September 2014 for the University of Western Cape in Cape Town, South Africa.

The project involved teaching graduate law students, both from the private and public sector, about Special Economic Zones from different parts of the African continent, as part of their LLM in International Trade Law and Investment. This occupied a full week in September 2014, mainly spent teaching at the DLA Cliffe Dekker Hoffmeyer (CDH) office in Cape Town, with a portion of time spent on the university campus.

The teaching team was diverse, made up of Kathleen Smith Ruhland, a partner in the Minneapolis office; Steffen Kaufmann, a partner in the Moscow office; Timothy Lohse, a partner in the East Palo Alto office; myself from the Knowledge Management department in the Dubai office;and Claire Donse from the New Perimeter team in the Paris office. We were also joined by Cézanne Britan-Renecke, a legal director from the DLA CDH office in Johannesburg. When I was not teaching a module, I enjoyed listening to my colleagues lecture on the topics covered throughout the week, which allowed me not only to teach but to learn as well from those more senior and experienced than me.

Personally what I found most enriching from the experience was interacting with the students during the classes, not only in terms of discussing the substantive content of the modules, but also learning about their goals and objectives which led them to undertake these particular studies. The students impressed me by their level of engagement with the topics covered, as well as their eagerness to participate in group activities.

I also liked the way that the classes were taught. If you imagine that it comprised of a large, stuffy lecture theatre, then you could not be further from the truth! The fact that it was a small class allowed us to present the modules in a highly interactive way, providing an environment in which the students felt comfortable to ask questions and to engage easily with us. It also enabled us to make the sessions more dynamic, for example by dividing the group into two and arranging team quizzes - as a result of which the competitive spirit of the students was very clear!

The feedback received from the students was positive, and I'm sure that all the teachers would agree that it was a delight to teach this particular group of students.

university-western-cape-teaching-project-04

On a final note, I found Cape Town to be a charming city. I had never visited South Africa before, and I found the locals to be warm and friendly and the landscape to be stunning - the coastal landscape and the views from Table Mountain were particularly impressive.