The CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL LEGAL STUDIES - CILS/the CENTER - is a non-profit research, training, and law publications institute, established and operating under Austrian law and with its international headquarters based in Salzburg, Austria since 1976. Its essential purpose is to promote the dissemination of knowledge among members of the international legal community.

CILS holds several seminars, retreats conferences each in Europe, North and South America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. The conferences have been certified for CLE/CPD credit by the Law Society of England and Wales, the General Council of the Bar of England and Wales, the Bar of The Netherlands, the States of California, Colorado, New York, Texas, and West Virginia, and other states based on reciprocity.

The CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL LEGAL STUDIES has coordinated and supervised law publication projects since 1977. The CENTER'S responsibilities in publication projects include development of concept, engagement of authors, administration and editing, and typography. The Center offers a variety of publications, ranging from newsletters to books, online.

Nearly 5,000 lawyers worldwide have been designated as Fellows of the CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL LEGAL STUDIES and almost  500 Fellows have taken membership in the CILS Congress of Fellows. Other esteemed academics collaborate with the the CENTER as full and honorary members and associate members.

The CENTER'S International Legal Practice Internship Program places young lawyers and law students in training positions with law firms in Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa. CILS interns may also receive credit in Suffolk University Law School's JD and LLM programs.

Through its Senior Lawyers’ Program, the CENTER places experienced Common Law practitioners in visiting professorships at institutions in East Europe and the former republics of the Soviet Union. More than 400 senior lawyers have taken up more than 600 appointments in the first seven years of the program.  

In cooperation with Lazarski University, Warsaw, Poland, the CENTER offers an LLM in Transnational Commercial Practice, for law graduates and practitioners. The executive program requires the satisfaction of 21 credits over three cycles in a three-year period. Cycles I and II are taught in Salzburg, Austria and  Cycle III is taught in Warsaw, Poland.

The CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL LEGAL STUDIES has founded, together with  SULS, PULS, DIS and KCL, and administers the FDI Moot, an international moot competition on investor-State arbitration.

The CENTER has founded and administers the International Business Law Consortium (IBLC), an alliance of select independent law firms helping each other's clients do business across the globe.