United Nations Diplomacy Clinic

Course Description

This clinic places students in the Permanent Missions of small island developing states at the United Nations to act as legal policy advisors. In this role, students will assist these Permanent Missions in their engagement in international diplomacy, with a specific focus on international and environmental law.

Fieldwork

Two students will be placed in each mission where they will each work 15-20 hours per week, providing legal assistance, drafting and negotiation support on resolutions, as well as assisting the Missions in their conduct of international diplomacy. In addition, students will assist the Missions in the consideration of international law through the International Law Commission, the advisory opinions before international courts, and in international negotiations on oceans and sustainable development that are occurring at UN headquarters.

Seminar

The UN Diplomacy seminar will focus on the substantive knowledge of the organizations, procedures, and issues necessary to provide legal and policy assistance to Permanent Missions at the UN and participate in UN processes. The seminar will be taught by the professor and include guest speakers from the United Nations, Permanent Missions and private practice.

Supervision

The work of the student legal advisors will be supervised by the professor in weekly meetings. The purpose of these meetings will be to discuss particular issues of law relevant to the Mission that could not be discussed in the larger class, discuss progress on the legal research and feedback from the Mission, review any written material, discuss interactions with the Mission and other clinical skills, and plan recommendations for the Mission on next steps.

Evaluation

Students will be evaluated in multiple ways. For the field work, evaluation will be based on written work, self-evaluation, evaluation by Permanent Mission staff, and the professor. For the seminar, evaluation will be based on preparation for the seminar, participation in discussion, journals, and legal writing assignments.

Application Procedure

Students should submit via CAMS the standard application, resume and unofficial transcript, as well as a writing sample. 3L applicants will receive a preference over 2Ls. Students will be contacted by the professor to arrange interviews.

The Global Justice Clinic and United Nations Diplomacy Clinic occasionally work on similar legal issues but for and with different types of clients. As such, there is a potential for conflicts of interest that may not allow students to participate in both clinics. Students that are interested in participating in both clinics (as a 2L and then as a 3L, respectively) should be in touch with the clinic professors for both to ensure that there is no conflict in the relevant year.

The UN Diplomacy Clinic welcomes LLM enrollments. There is a separate application form for LL.M. students. The deadline is different than for JDs, and is posted on the Clinic Application Timelines page. Selected LL.M. students will be contacted for interviews in the summer as part of the selection process.  NOTE: LL.M Students that are employed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (or equivalent ministry) of their home government will not be able to enroll in the UN Diplomacy Clinic because of the conflict of interest that it will raise.

* 3L applicants will receive a preference over 2Ls. The UN Diplomacy Clinic welcomes LL.M. enrollments. See information in text about LL.M. applications.

** 6 credits comprised of 3 clinical credits and 3 seminar credits. There is also a possibility of developing some Clinic projects into written work as a directed research project for 2 credits in the spring semester that can satisfy the J.D. written work requirement.

*** Students enrolled in the Clinic will need to have taken or be taking a course in international environmental law, public international law and/or international organizations or have relevant practical experience. Please address any questions about these requirements to Professor Rudyk.