USC Law students will work with asylum seekers and refugees on claims
- By Gilien Silsby
Students at the USC Gould School of Law will receive first-hand experience waging legal battles against human rights violators when its International Human Rights Clinic launches this academic year.
Headed by newly recruited Clinical Assistant Prof. of Law Hannah Garry, the clinic will work with organizations committed to the global human rights movement. The clinic will partner with lawyers in Africa, representing asylum seekers and refugees on their claims. USC Law students will also work on cases before international tribunals.
“The students will work on cases involving prosecution of serious violations of human rights, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide,” said Garry, who joins USC Law in August from University of Colorado Law School in Boulder where she has been a visiting assistant professor of international law. “Our goal is to seek justice on behalf of individuals and groups alleging violation of their human rights, both at home and abroad.”
Domestically, the clinic will help students engage in civil litigation on human rights violations perpetrated abroad and brought as claims under the Alien Tort Statute.
“We want students to understand holistically, through supervised, experiential learning, how to apply international human rights law in practice and give them the best training in legal and advocacy skills,” Garry said.
The International Human Rights clinic is USC Law’s sixth, joining the Immigration Clinic, Post-Conviction Justice Project, the Mediation Clinic, the Small Business Clinic, and the Intellectual Property and Technology Law Clinic.
Because USC Law’s clinics offer real-world experience under faculty supervision, they are in high demand, said Dean Robert K. Rasmussen. The new International Human Rights clinic will develop, expand and complement USC Law’s international law program.
"I am truly excited by the addition of this clinic to our already impressive array of live-client clinics,” Rasmussen said. “USC Law students have for years displayed a passion for justice, and this clinic increases our international scope.”
The new clinic will meet rising demand for human rights legal training and is expected to attract high-caliber students with an interest in learning about or practicing human rights law, said Clinical Prof. Niels Frenzen, who directs USC Law’s Immigration Clinic.
“Not only will the new clinic offer practical skills,” Frenzen said, “it will encourage critical thinking and new approaches to human rights legal work.”
Previous Article
