The International Human Rights Field Placement and Seminar considers various responses of the law, including international human rights law to historical and contemporary human rights violations. It also encompasses a comparative study of enforcement under various domestic legal systems, ranging from the role of investigation and fact-finding to individual criminal sanctions and individual and collective civil sanctions and remedies. Through the field placements, presentations, and papers, students gain an opportunity to bring theoretical materials about the law’s role together with prevailing practices. Field Placements include international human rights organizations, public interest organizations, firms, and foundations working in the area of international human rights. Students should expect to devote at least ten hours per week to their placements, meet with supervising faculty and placement mentor, attend and participate in the seminar, and produce a paper or other substantial written project. Students must apply to this course and admission is contingent upon an interview and selection process.

This upper-level offering is a two-course combination that explores various uses of the law and conceptions of justice in the area of international human rights. The graded seminar covers substantive law in the practice area and the workshop is a supervised placement with international human rights organizations, public interest organizations, firms, and foundations working in the area of international human rights. The Field Placement is supervised by a mentor attorney and is marked pass/fail.

Note: A student may be admitted to the two-hour seminar without undertaking the field placement only with the permission of the instructor.

Approved for the Experiential Learning Requirement. Enrollment is limited. Registration is binding. Application and interview are required, and the application can be found in Student Resources on the NYLS Portal.

Recommended for the following Professional Pathways: Civil Rights/Civil Liberties; Government/Public Sector; Immigration; International Law/Human Rights

Prerequisite: International Law

4 Credits: 2 credits for the supervised placement (Pass/Fail); 2 credits for the seminar (Graded)

This course includes an optional externship placement component. Only those students who have enrolled in the placement will receive experiential learning credit for the course. Students who are not enrolled in the placement will receive non-experiential course credit.