Human Rights Law

(PICTURED: Professor Tamar Ezer and Gabrielle Wynn, J.D. ’20 participate in Estonia’s review before the UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights in Geneva, Switzerland.)

Students engage with the United Nations, Inter-American Court and Commission on Human Rights, European Court of Human Rights, African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, and other tribunals.

The only one of its kind in the U.S., Miami Law offers a unique and comprehensive International Moot Court Program in which students travel and compete, in Spanish and English, in competitions around the world. Students advocate the different sides of a case and analyze the problem, identify the legal issues, research the law, write the briefs and orally present it to a tribunal. There are opportunities to particulate in human rights moot court competitions, these have included:

• Inter-American Human Rights Moot Court
• Price Media Human Rights Moot Court
• International Criminal Court Moot

Miami Law offers 25+ study abroad options in 13 countries where students can study human rights such as the program with Comillas Pontifical University in Madrid, Spain, know for human rights law.

**List is not exhaustive and is intended to provide examples of past externships and internships.

• AICES’ Family Detention Services Program (Karnes City, TX)
• ACLU (New York, NY and Atlanta, GA) 
• ACLU of Florida, LGBTQ+ Rights Division
• Advocates for Justice in Education (DC)
• American Bar Association Commission on Immigration (DC)
• Americans for Immigrant Justice
• Anti-Defamation League (New York, NY)
• Capital Appeals Project (New Orleans, LA)
• Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition (Washington, DC) 
• Center for Children’s Law and Policy (DC)
• Center for Reproductive Rights (New York, NY)
• Centro de los Derechos del Migrante (Mexico City, Mexico)
• Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales - CELS (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
• Children’s Law Center (DC)
• Children's Rights (New York, NY)
• Council for Children’s Rights (Charlotte, NC)
• Equal Rights Advocates (San Francisco, CA)
• FairVote (DC)
• Florida Department of Children and Families
• Florida Department of Health
• Florida Immigration Advocacy Center
• Florida Justice Institute
• German Institute for Human Rights (Berlin, Germany)
• Human Rights First
• Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (DC)
• International Criminal Court (The Hague, Netherlands) 
• International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (Arusha, Tanzania)
• Lambda Legal (New York, NY)
• Legal Aid (Raleigh, NC and New York, NY)
• Miami-Dade Legal Aid
• Miami-Dade School Board
• Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (Kalamazoo, MI)
• National Women’s Law Center (DC)
• National Youth Law Center (DC)
• Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (DC)
• Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
• Texas Civil Rights Project (Austin, TX)
• The Arc National Center on Criminal Justice and Disability (DC)
• United Nations (New York, NY)
• United Nations Development Fund for Women (London, United Kingdom)
• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Lebanon (Beirut, Lebanon)
• U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (DC)
• U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (Atlanta, GA)
• U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
• Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights (Chicago, IL)

• David Abraham, Professor of Law Emeritus
• Paula Arias, Lecturer in Law, Director International Moot Court Program, is an expert in dispute resolution in Latin America.
• Caroline Bettinger-Lopez, Professor of Law and Director of the Human Rights Clinic, is an expert in human rights, women and children's rights.
• Donna K. Coker, Professor of Law, focuses on criminal law, gender and inequality. She is a nationally recognized expert in domestic violence law and policy.
• Caroline Mala Corbin, Professor of Law's scholarship focuses on the First Amendment’s speech and religion clauses, particularly their intersection with equality issues. 
• Andrew Elmore, Associate Professor of Law, focuses on labor law.
• Tamar Ezer, is the Faculty Director of the Human Rights Program.  
• Elizabeth M. Iglesias, Professor of Law, is a co-founder of the LatCrit movement and has taught international criminal law and international economic law.
• Andrea Jacoski, Associate Director of the Immigration Clinic, was the Director of the Detention Program at Americans for Immigrant Justice.
• Charles J. Jalloh, Richard A. Hausler Professor of Law, is an expert in international human rights law and international humanitarian law.
• Robert Latham, Associate Director, Children and Youth Law Clinic; Lecturer in Law
• Marni Lennon, Assistant Dean, Public Interest and Pro Bono; Director, HOPE Public Interest Resource Center; Lecturer in Law teaches in the area of social justice advocacy.
• JoNel Newman, Associate Professor of Clinical Legal Education and Director, Health Rights Clinic, teaches professional responsibility and civil procedure. 
• James W. Nickel, Professor of Law and Philosophy Emeritus
• Bernard Oxman, Professor Emeritus, is the one of the world's leading experts on the Law of the Sea. 
• Jessica Owley, Professor of Law; is the Faculty Director, Environmental Law Program.
• Bernard P. Perlmutter, Professor of Law is the Co-Director of the Children & Youth Law Clinic.
• Madeleine Plasencia, Visiting Professor of Law/Scholar, teaches in the area of civil rights.
• Ileana Porras, Senior Lecturer, teaches international law and international environmental law.
• Pablo Rueda Saiz, Associate Professor of Law, is an expert in international law.
• Gabriel Scheffler, Associate Professor of Law, works primarily in the areas of health law and policy, administrative law, and occupational regulation.
• Stephen J. Schnably, Professor of Law, writes in the fields of international human rights law, the OAS human rights system, comparative constitutional law, and the relationship of international law to constitutional law. 
• Rebecca Sharpless, Professor of Law and Director, Immigration Clinic, researches and writes in the areas of progressive lawyering, feminist theory, and the intersection of immigration and criminal law.
• Kele Stewart, Professor of Clinical Legal Education, Co-Director, Children and Youth Law Clinic, teaches courses on family and juvenile law and legal practice. 
• Irwin P. Stotzky, Professor of Law, has worked over three decades to improve human rights in Haiti and the status of Haitian immigrants in the U.S. 
• Melissa Swain, Associate Director, Health Rights Clinic; Lecturer in Law
• Craig Trocino, Director of the Innocence Clinic, teaches classes in post-conviction litigation and federal sentencing. 
• Marcia Narine Weldon, Professor of Legal Writing and Lecturer in Law, is an expert in business and corporate law, corporate governance, labor and employment law, compliance, business and human rights, and ESG (environmental, social, and governance).

Renowned human rights scholars, lawyers and advocates from around the world regularly visit Miami Law, giving public lectures, attending conferences and meeting with students and faculty. Miami Law faculty and the student-led Human Rights Society further organize various human rights events each semester. (PICTURED: Professor Tamar Ezer, Conor Arevalo, J.D. ’21 Melanie Ng, J.D. ’21 David Stuzin, J.D. ’21 present at the Petty Offenses Symposium: Challenging Criminalization of Poverty and Marginalization.)

Sample past Human Rights Symposia and Conferences have included:

• Food, Housing, and Racial Justice Symposium - Thursday, April 13 & Friday, April 14, 2023
• The Right to a Healthy Environment: From Recognition to Practice - Thursday, February 23, 2023
• Screening & Virtual Panel - Legacy, Power, Voice: Movements in Black Midwifery - Tuesday, February 28, 2023
• Gender Justice and Human Rights Symposium - April 21-22, 2022
• Screening and Virtual Panel - Nothing Without Us: The Women Who Will End AIDS - February 16, 2022
• International Law & COVID-19 - April 12, 16 2021
• Petty Offenses: Challenging Criminalization of Poverty, Marginalization, and Gender Non-Conformity - September 20-21, 2019
• Defending the Human Rights of Migrants Lecture Series
• A New Kind of “War on Poverty” – The Trump Administration’s Policies Toward Vulnerable Immigrants - February 18, 2020
• Careers in Crimmigration - January 22, 2020
• Family Separation and Immigration Detention in the US - November 7, 2019
• SB 168: Florida’s New Anti-Immigrant Law - September 16, 2019

See all current and past Human Rights Program Events.

My participation in the Human Rights Clinic was an important part of my education at Miami Law and has helped position me to work as a lawyer in a range of different spaces. Not only did I have the opportunity to work with and learn from incredible instructors and colleagues, I had the privilege of collaborating with members of diverse communities and made lasting connections with networks of legal professionals. While doing global human rights work on HIV and gender as a fellow at Georgetown Law’s Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellowship, I was able to use the substantive knowledge, interpersonal skills, and experience and understanding of international institutions and processes that I gained through my study of human rights at Miami Law. The Human Rights Clinic also helped me develop critical thinking, legal writing, and organizational skills that I have used during my judicial clerkships and continue to use in my current position in private practice, where I focus on appellate and constitutional law.

Rachel A. Oostendorp, J.D. ‘13
Attorney at Law, Carlton Fields
Miami, FL

HOPE Public Interest Resource Center - Home to many opportunities to do human rights work nationally and internationally, HOPE also regularly hosts information sessions on landing a job, fellowship or internship in the public interest and in human rights and supports students looking to work in the area of human rights and offers these programs:

• Miami Scholars Public Interest Program
• Summer Public Interest Fellowship Program

“Miami Law, first and foremost through the HOPE Public Interest Resource Center, has given me the ability to fund life-changing fellowships both my summers in law school. Without that funding, I would have never been able to do the work I did. I also gained irreplaceable experience from both the Human Rights and Immigration clinics, especially the Time's Up Project that took me out of the law school and into different parts of Miami-Dade County, working alongside community advocates. Of course, nothing beats having experience with real clients.”

Alexis Bay, J.D. ‘20
Fellow, Texas Civil Rights Project