Prof. Monica Eppinger

How long have you been teaching at SLU LAW?

I've been teaching at SLU Law since 2010.

How has your professional legal experience affected your teaching?

My prior experience in the U.S. diplomatic service trained me in studying the legal and political systems of different jurisdictions, as well as in working with political, business, cultural, and intellectual leaders in a variety of negotiation and collaboration contexts. The substance knowledge I gained in diplomacy is manifest in my teaching. More broadly, my diplomatic experience demanded that one keep in mind the bigger picture and longer time horizon, and that perspective frames my approach to teaching and research.

What courses do you teach?

I teach Property, National Security, International Law survey and seminar courses, and comparativelawthroughAnthropologyofLaw. Myresearchprojects,situatedwithinthe discipline of anthropology of law, have studied comparative property regimes, especially in the post-Soviet context; national security and law of war; law as a tool of social change; and formations of the self within different legal systems.

What do you do in your leisure time?

I enjoy bicycling and in addition to frequent rides around St. Louis, I have taken three different week-long bike-trekking excursions. I am also an avid super-fan of the Golden State Warriors basketball team and when I have the opportunity, love to take in a U.S. Women's National Team or Kyiv Dynamo soccer match.

What advice do you have for foreign students?

My advice for international students would be to take in as much as you can that is not available at home. Certainly that includes legal learning and mastering legal rules and doctrines. It also includes becoming steeped in legal institutions, practices, logics, and customs. Our opportunities at SLU Law, both through our doctrinal classes and our clinical offerings, provide foreign students the chance to become thoroughly immersed in U.S. legal culture on all fronts. At SLU Law, you are not an outsider but a full member of our community. As such, international students at SLU Law also have the chance to become embedded in the life of our broader community and to gain an understanding of the challenges and opportunities inherent in the U.S. within an insider's view. Study abroad in its best sense should give one an in-depth understanding of the host country as well as a fresh perspective on one's home country, and to get that perspective, life in the host country should be engaged as broadly as possible. Study at SLU Law offers that experience.