On October 14th, 2025, New England Law | Boston Professor David M. Siegel stood in front of an audience of community members to discuss his experiences in North Macedonia, where he spent a semester as a Fulbright Scholar. The Fulbright Scholar Program provides the opportunity to teach, conduct research, and carry out professional projects in over 135 countries. This was Professor Siegel’s second experience with the program; he previously received a Fulbright senior specialist grant to teach in Chengdu, China in 2009.
North Macedonia, located in the center of the Balkans, a region in southeastern Europe, has an interesting history. Professor Siegel found himself in Skopje, the country’s capital, which he explained had been inhabited for over 50,000 years, giving it a rich and diverse cultural history, with aspects of Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman influence apparent everywhere. He also shared how, of the six countries that once made up Yugoslavia, North Macedonia was the only one to achieve independence without bloodshed.
Professor Siegel arrived in this historic country ready to explore the relationship between civil society and coercive state power in the criminal legal system, something he has spent years researching. While in Skopje, he taught at the Ss. Cyril & Methodius University’s Iustinianus Primus Faculty of Law, where he sought to offer culturally relevant training through education-based approaches, examining real court cases that pit societal norms against formal rules. He blended the country’s more lecture-based methods of teaching with a more typically American approach of discussion-based teaching styles. Students were very receptive to Professor Siegel’s methods, which gave them a hands-on approach; class time focused on technique before students went off to the nearby court to observe. Many students, Professor Siegel says, would return surprised by what they saw because it did not always align what they were being taught. “You’re learning how it’s supposed to be here,” he told them.
Professor Siegel also found time to research topics including judicial reforms in nearby Albania and confrontation in North Macedonia’s hybrid legal setting. The country has been transitioning into a more hybrid criminal justice system, moving away from strictly inquisitorial and adding a more adversarial model. In his research, Professor Siegel discovered the country’s criminal justice system only had two punishments: imprisonment or suspended sentence. He was surprised that the concept of probation seemed foreign to this criminal justice system. During his time, Professor Siegel decided to survey court officials to probe their understanding and use of probation. His findings showed that a significant number of respondents were unclear on what probation was, while many who did understand the concept were outwardly against it.
Professor Siegel’s experiences while in North Macedonia have clearly had a great impact on him, whether he was bicycling to visit the sights or delving into his research. Even now, his work continues as he currently is writing an article on how North Macedonia’s political process can subvert its criminal process, based on incidents in that country’s recent elections. And, if anyone needs an expert on North Macedonian cuisine, Professor Siegel delighted guests to his lecture with an array of authentic foods to accompany the fascinating presentation.
Many New England Law faculty members regularly apply their knowledge to great impact, just as Professor Siegel does. For more information about our distinguished faculty, visit our faculty website today.