LL.M. Students - New York

LL.M. Students - New York

Human Rights Opportunities

NYU School of Law offers a myriad of human rights opportunities for LL.M. students.  Since many of these offerings go beyond the formal course listings, we briefly outline here some of the most important opportunities. 

• LL.M. students are eligible for the Center’s prestigious International Law and Human Rights Student Fellowship program.  LL.M. students are chosen each year to complete a coveted internship with an international body or human rights organization such as the International Law Commission, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the OHCR, Peoples’ Watch, the Legal Resources Center in South Africa, and the International Center for Transitional Justice.  These internships, which commence following graduation, are fully funded. For more information, please visit the IILJ website.
• LL.M. students are an integral part of the International Human Rights Clinic. The Clinic, co-taught by Professors Smita Narula and Margaret Satterthwaite, explores multifaceted approaches to human rights advocacy in both domestic and international settings. Through seminar discussions, simulations, and fieldwork, the course emphasizes practical skills, including investigating and documenting human rights violations; advocating before United Nations, regional, and national human rights bodies; and engaging with global human rights campaigns. Students also address questions of ethical, political, and professional accountability related to human rights work.  Fieldwork focuses on a wide range of issues, such as economic and social rights, human rights in the "war against terror," the accountability of non-state actors for human rights abuses, and the human rights of groups marginalized on the basis of caste, ethnicity, race, gender, and sexuality, among other categories. These projects give students an opportunity to assist in formulating policy and legal responses to current human rights problems.  The clinic reserves spaces specifically for graduate students who can devote 6 credits per semester to the clinic. 
• Graduate students with particular interest in specific Center advocacy or research projects may enroll in Directed Research under the supervision of one of the Center’s Faculty Directors.  LL.M. students may receive credit for their work on such projects. This provides an ideal opportunity to develop an in-depth scholarly analysis of an issue under the direct supervision of Professors Alston, Narula, or Satterthwaite, or another faculty expert in the relevant area.
• LL.M. students are invited to participate in the Center’s annual Emerging Human Rights Scholarship conference.  The conference encourages scholarly inquiry into human rights topics at the Law School and assists students in developing significant contributions to human rights research. Inaugurated in 2003, the Conference provides a unique opportunity for NYU School of Law J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. students to receive substantive feedback on their human rights work from Center Faculty, Staff, and Global Visitors. Several students are selected each year to present their papers at the half-day conference, and the best paper from each Conference is selected for publication in the Center’s Working Paper series. 
• LL.M. students may participate in one of several International Moot Competitions.  In the last few years, students at NYU have participated in the Concours Jean Pictet and the new International Criminal Court Moot Competition, among others. 
• LL.M. students can participate in Law Students for Human Rights (LSHR), NYU's largest and most active student organization.  LSHR engages in exciting advocacy projects for human rights organizations around the world. LL.M. students with particular expertise often supervise teams of J.D. students on projects of their choosing.  Graduate students also participate in LSHR’s "Alternative Spring Break" program, which affords the opportunity to participate in a week-long internship with a public interest organization.