LAW 540 - Transnational Offerings I, II and III.

Transnational Offerings I. Transnational Tribunals: This innovative International Law Practicum works with the Defense Support Section and the defense attorneys of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), the Karadzic defense team at the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and prepares case summaries from Transnational Tribunals for an online case reporter. The role of the Practicum is to assist with the right to a fair trial and to support fair trials through effective representation of the accused. W&L students in the Practicum have been undertaking detailed legal research and analysis. For the students, researching a broad range of issues under international law and human rights has been a challenge, as many of the questions involved have not been answered before.

Transnational Offerings II. Transnational Access to Justice: Transnational Access to Justice is currently taught through the Liberia Human Rights Practicum as a joint program at Washington and Lee School of Law and the Louis A. Grimes School of Law at the University of Liberia, Monrovia, Liberia. The Practicum is taught in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, along with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. For the Fall 2010 semester four third-year law students at W&L and eight - ten law students at the Louis A. Grimes participate in the Practicum. The Practicum’s purpose is drawn from key provisions of UN CCPCJ Resolution E/cn.15/2007/L.16/Rev.1 “International Cooperation for the Improvement of Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems, Particularly in Africa.” The Practicum culminates with the four W&L students’ two-week travel to Liberia to work with their Liberian counterparts seeking to fulfill the Practicum’s broad goal of building greater access to justice in Liberia’s criminal justice system.

Transnational Offerings III. Transnational European Court of Human Rights - Serbia: Students will study Human Rights issues through the cases and procedures of the European Court of Human Rights and will review potential cases of individuals for suitability for application to the ECHR. This Practicum will be jointly taught with students from Union University School of Law in Belgrade, Serbia and/or other European Law Faculties by video conference. Travel to Europe for a joint class followed by travel to the ECHR in Strasbourg France is anticipated. We hope to function as a legal clinic for potential clients to present their issues but key issues with this portion are still to be resolved. Our client focus will be on disadvantaged persons such as prisoners, the Roma and national minorities. The potential cases will be reviewed by joint student teams who will be responsible for preparing a case memo and suitability analysis. The case summary and analysis will be reviewed by all students acting as a law firm to make final recommendations to the applicant. Cases found to be suitable for application to the ECHR will be additionally reviewed for possible acceptance into the practicum where we will act as Agent for the Applicant and make the application to the ECHR.Five hours.Rice