Rebecca Pendleton
Lecturer
Faculty Director, Two-Year LLM
PhD(c), Universidad Externado de Colombia
JD, City University of New York, School of Law
BA, Stephens College
Biography
Professor Rebecca Pendleton’s work focuses on the education of internationally trained lawyers and on how differences in language, legal systems, and educational traditions shape the study and practice of law. Her academic interests include international human rights, corporate responsibility, transitional justice, and bilingual and multilingual legal education. She especially interested in the intersection of language, artificial intelligence, and access to justice, including how emerging technologies can both reduce and reinforce barriers to understanding and navigating legal systems.
As Faculty Director of BU Law’s Two-Year LLM Program, Pendleton oversees a two-year degree program designed for internationally trained lawyers seeking to strengthen their command of U.S. law, legal analysis, and professional communication while earning an LLM in American Law, Intellectual Property, Banking and Financial Law, or Tax Law. She works closely with students throughout the program and leads efforts related to curriculum and program development, academic advising, faculty coordination, student support, and international recruitment and outreach. Her work is particularly focused on helping lawyers navigate differences in legal systems, language, and educational traditions as they pursue their academic and professional goals in the United States.
Fluent in Spanish, Professor Pendleton spent nearly a decade in Colombia, where she taught law students and worked with students from a wide range of legal, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds. She also pursued doctoral studies in law at Universidad Externado de Colombia, where her academic work further developed her interests in international law and human rights.
Professor Pendleton is a recipient of the Boston University School of Law Dean’s Teaching Award and has received support from BU’s Shipley Center for Digital Learning & Innovation for her work on artificial intelligence and legal language learning.
- Profile Types
- Faculty, Full-Time Faculty, Professors & Clinical Instructors, and Two-Year LLM
Stories from The Record
Activities & Engagements
No upcoming activities or engagements.