International Organizations Clinic
| LW.12165 / LW.12166 Professor Grainne de Burca Professor Angelina Fisher Open to 2L, 3L and LL.M. students Maximum of 8 students |
Fall semester |
Introduction
"Thinking like a lawyer” may be more demanding today than it has been in the past, but it is particularly demanding for lawyers who want to work in an international context. Given the increasing interdependence of legal and economic regimes across countries, lawyers (including domestic lawyers) need a broad set of tools to solve increasingly complex, and sometimes novel, legal problems. There is increasing demand for lawyers with a sound understanding of the institutional, socio-political and economic contexts within which legal issues arise and are addressed: how do markets function? How do bureaucracies behave? How do technologies shape change? How do domestic laws interact with international regimes? How do international legal and regulatory regimes and institutions interact with each other?
The aim of the clinic is to assist students in developing a fuller set of skills required to address increasingly complex global (meaning both international and transnational) problems. The seminar portion of the Clinic will introduce students to a range of the different legal, political and regulatory theories informing legal norms, practice and policy. It is designed to help understand the relevance of inter-disciplinary perspectives to law in global settings, and to learn the ways in which core cognitive lawyering skills (i.e. the skills needed to perform the tasks of mastering legal research tools, developing an ability to integrate factual and legal knowledge, strengthening analytical and reasoning skills, and exercising judgment based on the understanding gained) matter in the practice of international law.
Course Description
Fieldwork
The students will work with the Professors of the clinic on projects with international organizations on a broad range of topics related to global governance (e.g., relations between UN sanctions and aid policies, use of indicators in development funding, role of amicus briefs in trade regime, etc.). Students will be involved in interviewing clients, drafting, negotiating, researching and analyzing problems that arise in the context of international organizations. The fieldwork will provide students with an opportunity to engage first hand in the work of international organizations, and thereby to see the relevance of the theory learned to practice.
Seminar
Drawing on existing scholarship and ongoing research at NYU, the seminar will focus on themes that intersect with projects in the areas of global governance, such as inter-institutional cooperation; the role of lawyers and private actors in the creation, evolution and interpretation of international legal norms; the relationship between branches/offices of international organizations; the diffusion of ideas and legal norms; the North-South relationship in international law, amongst others.
Students will be encouraged to think about the implications of their project for the people affected by it, or by broader actions or policies that relate to the project, and to consider the perspectives of under-represented or non-represented constituencies. They will also be asked to consider the role of an international lawyer in development of international law, to discuss the professional legal responsibility of lawyers working with international or foreign laws, and to examine the ethics of international law. To this end, the seminar might also feature the occasional participation of members of the U.N. community and lawyers working in the international organizations.
In addition to the written work product that students will be required to produce as part of their project, Clinic students will be required to write a 15-page reflection paper that integrates their field work experience with the themes discussed in the seminar. Student papers will be presented during the Spring International Legal Scholarship Conference.
Application Procedure
Students interested in applying for the clinic should submit the standard application, resume, and transcript online through CAMS. To arrange an interview, please use the CAMS as well. The application deadline for LL.M. students is August 15, 2012. (Please note there is a separate application form for LL.M. students.) If you have questions regarding the application procedure, please contact Angelina Fisher at fishera@exchange.law.nyu.edu.
* 5 credits includes 3 clinical (fieldwork) credits and 2 academic seminar credits.
** Preference will be given to those who have taken (or are taking concurrrently with the clinic) International Organizations with Jose Alvarez.