Global Justice Clinic - for JDs
LW.10679 / LW.11210
Professor Ellie Happel
Professor Sienna Merope-Synge
Project Supervisors: Gabrielle Apollon, Sukti Dhital, S. Priya Morley, and Tyler Walton
Open to 2L and 3L students
Maximum of 8-12 JD students
Year-long course
12 credits*
No pre- or co-requisites
Course Description
The Global Justice Clinic (GJC) seminar is a collaborative effort to learn about, reflect on, and apply domestic and international human rights and social justice strategies to respond to global injustice. The seminar teaches core skills involved in human rights work, including engaging with international and regional human rights bodies; power mapping and other tools to identify advocacy targets and determine strategy; research methods to advance human rights including social science methods, community-led data collection, and open source investigation; report writing; engagement with the media; and legal empowerment strategies. The seminar provides thematic overviews on key issues in human rights that relate to the GJC docket, including racial justice, climate injustice, and migrant rights. Students also address questions of ethical, political, and professional responsibility.
Qualifications for Applicants
Fluency in Spanish, Haitian Creole, and/or French is useful, but not required. While courses in International Law and International Human Rights Law are helpful, neither is required to apply. We in fact encourage students without traditional human rights backgrounds to consider GJC.
Credit Structure and Time Commitment Expected
This clinic is time-intensive. Students will be expected to devote approximately sixteen hours per week to their clinic project work in addition to the time allotted to preparing for the seminar, which includes written and audiovisual materials. Students also participate in a simulation exercise, a pitch to journalists, and submit short reflective pieces and self-assessments in writing. At times, projects may require student work during winter and spring breaks. We recommend that students speak to prior clinic students to get a sense of the workload and requirements.
Application Procedure
Students should submit the standard application, a resume, and a grade transcript via CAMS and follow the clinical program’s timeline for JD applications. Please note the languages you speak as well as other relevant skills in your application. Selected student applicants will be contacted for an interview.
The Global Justice Clinic and United Nations Diplomacy Clinic occasionally work on similar legal issues but for and with different types of clients. As such, there is a potential for conflicts of interest that may not allow students to participate in both clinics. Students that are interested in participating in both clinics (as a 2L and then as a 3L, respectively) should be in touch with the clinic professors to ensure that there is no conflict in the relevant year.
* 3 clinical credits and 3 academic seminar credits are awarded each semester. The total for the year is 12 credits.