Curriculum Guide · Courses

Professors James Bair and Mark Quarterman

J.D. Practicum 1142 | 4 credit hours

This practicum course is designed to teach students the basic principles of international human rights litigation using the North African State of Sudan as a case study. The seminar will include an introduction to fundamental aspects of public international law, including, but not limited to, customary international law, the law of treaties, the rights and duties of States under international law, and diplomatic protection. For the field work portion of the class, using Sudan as a case study, students will then examine possible avenues through which individuals and State and non-State actors may be held responsible before judicial and quasi-judicial venues for human rights abuses committed in Sudan. With evidence gathered by the Enough Project and Satellite Sentinel Project, students will be required to identify possible venues for litigating identified human rights abuses and will devise a litigation strategy for the same. In particular, students will: • Work with international legal instruments; • Use creative approaches to thinking about criminal liability under international and domestic laws; • Identify various judicial and quasi-judicial venues before which corporations and State and non-State actors may be held accountable for human rights abuses under international and domestic laws; • Work with non-governmental organizations; • Weigh the advantages and disadvantages of prioritizing victims’ reparations over holding perpetrators accountable for human rights abuses, and vice versa; and • Develop litigation strategies for human rights cases. The Enough Project and Satellite Sentinel Project will use the products that the students produce in the field work/experiential portion of the seminar to explore possible litigation strategies designed to hold accountable perpetrators of human rights abuses in Sudan. The professors will build off of their own experiences in international litigation and living and working abroad, particularly in Sudan. Public international law practitioners also will be invited to guest lecture.

Prerequisites: Students must complete the required first-year program prior to enrolling in this course (part-time and interdivisional transfer students may enroll prior to completing Criminal Justice, Property, or their first-year elective).

Students may not concurrently enroll in this practicum course and a clinic (except Street Law) or another practicum course. Students may concurrently enroll in this practicum course and an externship. Students who wish to receive credit for the Externship Seminar and a practicum course that has the same field placement may do so only if: (1) the practicum course is taken in a semester following the Externship Seminar; and (2) the student receives permission from the Assistant or the Associate Dean for Clinical Programs. To receive such permission, the student must explain in writing how the practicum course field work would serve substantially different learning goals than did their externship field placement.

THIS IS A PRACTICUM COURSE.

This is a 4 credit course. 2 credits will be awarded for the 2-hour weekly seminar and 2 credits will be awarded for approximately 10 hours of supervised work per week, for a minimum of 11 weeks. The seminar and practicum portions will be graded.

Students who enroll in this course will be automatically enrolled in both the seminar and practicum components and may not take either component separately. A student wishing to withdraw from the course will be withdrawn from both the seminar and field work components.