The Southwestern Institute for International and Comparative Law (SWIICL) is part of The Center for American and International Law (CAIL) and has a prominent place in international legal education. 

CAIL was founded in 1947, as the Southwestern Legal Foundation, with the aim of improving the quality of justice through the education of lawyers, business leaders, and law enforcement officials in the United States and throughout the world. The Foundation was established by Robert Storey while Dean of the Southern Methodist University Law School and after he had returned from serving as the U.S.A. Executive Trial Counsel at the Nuremberg Tribunal.

CAIL now operates out of its beautiful Learning Center and Headquarters in Plano, Texas, but also conducts programs throughout the U.S. and world. It consists of various institutes in addition to SWIICL, including the Institute for Law Enforcement Administration, Institute for Energy Law, Institute for Transnational Arbitration, and Institute for Law and Technology. CAIL has reached participants in more than 130 countries. In addition to education, CAIL develops professional communities for lawyers, law enforcement officials, and other professionals.

Established in 1963, SWIICL offers annual programs that focus on international business transactions, business organizations, human rights, and the rule of law. SWIICL began hosting the Academy of American and International Law in 1964. An Academy has been held every year except 2020 and 2021 when the pandemic made international travel impossible for many. The Academy has attracted over 3,300 participants from 121 countries during its rich history. Past participants have gone on to be President of the General Assembly of the United Nations, Prime Minister of Peru, Chief Justice of the Philippines, and many other significant leaders positions. They have also become leaders of the legal profession in the world and their countries. 

The current Chair of the Institute is Frédéric G. Sourgens, James McCulloch Chair in Energy Law at Tulane University Law School in New Orleans, Louisiana.