The International Legal Studies Program at Vanderbilt University Law School prepares students to practice law in a global environment by combining classroom exposure to cutting-edge areas of international law with practical experience in their application through the International Law Practice Lab and summer and semester externships. The program's core faculty includes respected scholars with expertise in key areas of international law. Students interact with international legal practitioners and policymakers who come to Vanderbilt to participate in lectures and scholarly conferences.
The International Law Practice Lab is the most innovative aspect of the program. It exposes students to cutting-edge questions in international law and teaches essential lawyering skills. For example, students learn the psychology of treaty negotiations and then apply those insights during in-class negotiations using actual treaty proposals. Students work in groups on high-profile legal projects and serve the needs of real-world clients. Past clients have ranged from international organizations such as the International Bar Association and the United Nations Development Program, to non-governmental human rights organizations, to other governments, to branches of the U.S. government such as the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense. Students have provided support to ongoing treaty negotiations and helped to shape pending legislation in foreign countries. Other recent projects have included providing support to the Iraqi High Tribunal, the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, the Law Library of Congress, the ICTY, and the Sierra Leone Special Court. In some cases, students have continued to work in externships for clients that they first encountered in the Practice Lab.
During the Fall 2007 semester, Vanderbilt law students participated in the following externships:
- The United States Mission to the United Nations
- The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Office of the Prosecutor,
- The Office of the Prosecutor, Special Court for Sierra Leone (Charles Taylor trial team)
- The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Judicial Chambers
- The International Criminal Court, Judicial Chambers,
- Coalition for the International Criminal Court
- Office of Legal Counsel, The United States Embassy in The Hague
During the Summer of 2007, Vanderbilt law students participated in the following externships:
- British Institute of International and Comparative Law, London, England
- Federal Bureau of Investigation, Office of General Counsel, Washington, D.C.
- International Association of Genocide Scholars annual conference in Krakow, Poland, and Sarajevo, Bosnia
- International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, New York, NY
- International Institute of International Humanitarian Law, San Remo, Italy
- International and Operational Law Division, Office of the Judge Advocate General, United States Army, Washington, D.C.
- Irish Centre for Human Rights, Galway, Ireland
- The Legal Aid Clinic of Kampala, Uganda
- Legal Assistance Center, Windhoek, Namibia
- Special Court for Sierra Leone, Freetown, Sierra Leone
- World Intellectual Property Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
- United States Embassy, Rome, Italy
- United States Mission to the United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland
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