The Earth Rights Research and Action (TERRA) Clinic
LW.12825 / LW.12826
Professor César Rodríguez-Garavito
Professor Ashley Nemeth
Project Supervisors: Jacqueline Gallant and Ashley Nemeth
Open to 3L and 2L students
Maximum of 8 students
Year-long course
14 credits*
No prerequisites or co-requisites.
Course Description
The Earth Rights Research and Action (TERRA) Clinic combines the tools and tactics of international environmental law and human rights to preserve the conditions for life on Earth for current and future generations of humans and non-humans. Working closely with NGOs, scientists, lawyers, social movements, UN agencies, and grassroots communities from around the world, TERRA students work on cases and projects involving creative legal actions in multiple jurisdictions, transnational advocacy campaigns, and strategic research and communications.
In line with the clinic’s collaborative and global approach, TERRA projects are conducted in close partnership with organizations, communities, and individuals in different regions of the world. All TERRA projects involve students in immersive fieldwork in diverse regions of the world.
Learning Outcomes
As studies in social innovation and creative lawyering show, solutions to the increasingly complex threats to life on Earth require interdisciplinary tools, effective collaboration across national and organizational borders, and systemic approaches that capture the interconnections between environmental and social challenges. Upon successful completion of the seminar and clinical components of the TERRA Clinic, students should be able to demonstrate the following knowledge and skills.
- Knowledge of environmental and human rights law
- Strategic building and prototyping of legal actions
- Identification of issues in emerging legal contexts
- Translation of science into legal arguments
- Interdisciplinary collaboration
- Design-thinking
- Legal / advocacy writing
Clinical Credit Structure and Time Commitment Expected
This clinic is time intensive. Students should make a time commitment commensurate with the full credit load for the course.
Application Procedure
Please submit the standard application, transcript, a recent writing sample, and resume on-line via CAMS. Selected students will be contacted for an interview via email. While there are no pre-requisites or co-requisites, experience with environmental law, international law, or human rights law is preferred (be it through classes or work) and should be communicated in the application if not otherwise obvious.
* 4 clinical credits and 3 academic seminar credits are awarded in the Fall; 4 clinical credits and 3 academic seminar credits are awarded in the Spring. The total for the year is 14 credits.