Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2022

Publication Title

Transactions: The Tennessee Law Journal of Business Law

Publication Title (Abbreviation)

Tenn L. J. Bus. L.

Volume

23

First Page

216

Abstract

During the spring of 2020 through the spring of 2021 of the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the courses at the Florida State University College of Law were moved to Zoom in order to be taught remotely. This transition was painful and inadequate for many of the traditional-style law school courses. However, FSU's International Trade Transactions course, which has operated around a digitized transactional world for twenty years, smoothly transitioned to remote learning. As the teacher of this course, I would like to explore what students learn in that transactional world, and also how that learning helps the students after law school as they build careers during a pandemic.

Even before the pandemic, international business transactions were conducted largely remotely. This was especially true of smaller businesses. One-time commodity import and export transactions are, on the whole, negotiated and the contract drafted and fulfilled by means of emailed communications and express-mailed documents. The participants never meet, or at least, never have to meet in order to initiate and complete the transaction.

Our computer-based platform allows participants from three countries to remotely engage in single commodity import and export transactions with each other. This closely replicates the remote nature of international transactions in real life. The platform allows our students to learn the communication skills and organizational skills they need to function in the largely remote real world of international trade.

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