Legal Empowerment and Judicial Independence Clinic - for JDs

Introduction

In many places around the world, the rule of law and the integrity of the judicial system is eroding, with “frequent attacks on the independence of judges, lawyers, prosecutors,” (UN HR Council Res. 44/8) and grassroots justice advocates. Judges are summarily transferred or expelled following key decisions, lawyers are attacked for defending the rights of groups targeted for abuse, and community paralegals are unable to advance rights when their role defending communities is not formally recognized. As climate change advances, democratic backsliding continues, and deep inequalities endure, justice systems are increasingly tested.
 
This clinic will explore how established principles concerning the independence of judges and lawyers can best respond to contemporary challenges facing judicial personnel, lawyers, and communities impacted by injustice. The clinic will examine ways to strengthen protective mechanisms for those targeted due to their work to uphold the rule of law—including, centrally, judges and lawyers, but also community justice advocates, paralegals, and others who use the law to advance human rights.  
 
In addition to addressing attacks against judges, lawyers, and community justice advocates, the clinic will examine the intersecting ways that discrimination and stigma attach to judges and lawyers from groups that experience historical marginalization, resulting in unfair suspicions of partiality or bias. The clinic will endeavor to puzzle through innovative ways to respond to new threats such as digital attacks and unlawful surveillance of judges and lawyers, pressure to use untested algorithmic decision tools, and barriers to innovations such as alternatives to incarceration and transformative justice.
 
The clinic will also examine best practices for engaging trained non-lawyer justice advocates in the judicial system. The field of legal empowerment has demonstrated that the rule of law is enhanced when those most directly impacted by injustice have a key role in seeking remedies. A system that encourages the active engagement of those who have too often been excluded is made stronger and more resilient to the ongoing threats of democratic backsliding and disaffection with the judicial system. Finding ways to make legal systems more transparent, accessible, and comprehensible to everyday people will increase the credibility of systems meant to ensure equal justice for all.

Course Description

Fieldwork

Students enrolled in the Legal Empowerment and Judicial Independence Clinic will:

• Document, investigate, and verify information concerning attacks on judges, lawyers, and grassroots justice advocates
• Analyze legal frameworks concerning the independence of the judiciary, the ability of lawyers to fulfill their crucial role protecting human rights, and the capacity of community justice workers to extend the reach of legal protections
• Research thorny issues related to judicial independence, access to justice, and legal empowerment
• Consult with affected communities, legal advocates, judges, and other key actors in the legal system

Seminar

Clinic seminar sessions will be time for participatory and highly interactive community discussion and learning. The seminar will include substantive readings on theories of judicial independence, the role of lawyers, and the rule of law, as well as access to justice, legal empowerment, and international human rights.

Participation is required, and all community members should attend every session, unless circumstances prevent such attendance for specific sessions communicated to the instructor in advance. We will utilize a wide variety of asynchronous tools and activities in preparation for the time we will share together in seminar. Student use of these tools and participation in the asynchronous activities will be required but not onerous. They will be aimed at making our time together more meaningful and energizing.

Clinic Approach

The Legal Empowerment and Judicial Independence Clinic endeavors to work in a critical, rights-based manner and to use methods from a variety of disciplines. The Clinic seeks the views of judges, lawyers, community justice advocates, and their organizations to ensure the views of rights-holders are at the center of its work. Seeking to both uphold the rule of law and expand access to justice, the Clinic embraces intersectional anti-racist practice and views human rights through a decolonial lens.

Learning Outcomes

Through participation in the Legal Empowerment and Judicial Independence Clinic, students will:

• Learn about ways to pursue effective human rights advocacy through practice and take responsibility for their role in the real-world work they take on during the Clinic. This will include honing their skills in the following areas:
  • Problem solving;
  • Collaboration and effective team work; and
  • Research and writing, in particular by embracing the imperative to make legal writing accessible and transparent for all.
• Learn how to manage a project alongside clinic partners and allies, including by developing cross-cultural competence.
• Explore the ethical, political, and legal rules and frameworks relevant to their role as a human rights lawyer, especially those of rights-based lawyering, legal empowerment, decolonial practice, and anti-racist advocacy, improving their ability to recognize and address bias and racism in legal systems.

Course Materials

Course materials will be drawn from the following:

• Writings and other materials created by those directly affected by injustice
• Human rights legal materials, including case materials, treaties, court and commission jurisprudence, treaty body documents, and reports from Special Rapporteurs
• Scholarship on human rights, access to justice, movement lawyering, legal empowerment, authoritarian resurgence, and democratic backsliding
• Critical readings presenting feminist, intersectional, anti-racist, and decolonial approaches to human rights and access to justice
• Multi-methods materials, including tutorials and handbooks concerning participatory, qualitative, and quantitative methods

Qualifications for Applicants

A course in International Law or its equivalent is highly recommended. A course in International Human Rights Law is not a prerequisite for the clinic, but it is recommended. Fluency in a language in addition to English is useful; please note the languages you speak and write—and at what level—along with other qualifications in your application.

Credit Structure and Time Commitment Expected

The clinic’s seminar plus fieldwork components are to be taken together for a combined total of 12 credits (6 credits for each semester). This clinic is time‐intensive. Students will be expected to devote at least sixteen hours (often more) per week to their clinic fieldwork in addition to the time allotted to reading, written, and simulation assignments for the seminar. Students applying to the clinic should ensure that they are able to make such a time commitment. Projects often require student work during winter and spring breaks. We strongly recommend that students speak to prior clinic students to get a sense of the workload and requirements.

Application Procedure

Students should submit the standard application, a resume and a grade transcript via CAMS and follow the clinical program’s timeline for JD applications. Selected student applicants will be contacted by Isha Rodriguez for an interview.

For further application instructions, or if you have any questions, please contact Isha Rodríguez.

* 12 credits include 3 clinical credits and 3 academic seminar credits awarded each semester.