INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS CLINIC (LAW548H1F)
Noah Novogrodsky

First Term: 4 credits; 4 hours Schedule:  (T: 6:10 - 8:00; Th: 4:10 - 6:00) Note: In second term there will be a One credit pass/fail practicum available for students working on continuing cases. This additional credit will be determined on an ad hoc basis and will not be available prospectively. To register for this course, you must email a statement of interest to noah.novogrodsky@utoronto.ca by May 31, 2003. Since this course is likely to oversubscribed, please indicate in less than a page why you wish to register for this course, what relevant background or skills you have for the clinic and how you see the international human rights clinic within your overall University of Toronto Faculty of Law experience.

Max. Enrol: 14 14  JD This course is now closed. See instructor for details.

This course offers students the opportunity to litigate international human rights cases under the supervision of an experienced lawyer. The course challenges students to protect and promote international human rights in a variety of fora: before Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board, in provincial court, at regional and UN Treaty bodies and before international criminal tribunals. Students will be expected to examine the role of lawyers in international human rights litigation, their relationship to clients, choice-of-law and the method of advocacy. The clinic will meet twice weekly. The first meeting will be an opportunity to evaluate active cases, discuss challenges and strategy and break up into teams to consider issues particular to each case. Students will be expected to present oral case analyses to the clinic director and to scrutinize the applicable law, the forum for adjudication and the method of advocacy for a given case. The second weekly session, organized as a seminar, will provide an opportunity to review areas of international human rights law relevant to the clinic's work. The weekly seminars will address substantive issues in international human rights law and feature Faculty and visiting experts who will address the clinic on subjects within their expertise in order to build a common skill set and vocabulary among clinic members. The topics for seminars include: the canon of international human rights law, the role of NGOs, emerging doctrines (exceptions to sovereign immunity, command responsibility) and substantive instruction in areas such as international humanitarian law, refugee and immigration law and UN treaty procedures.The casework will include client meetings, case theory formulation, legal research, appellate brief/factum drafting and attendance at hearings.

Evaluation: Students are evaluated on their clinical work and their participation in seminars on an honours/pass/fail basis.