The Klau Center for Civil and Human Rights welcomes the new class of international human rights lawyers to Notre Dame Law School for the 2017-18 academic year.
The LL.M. class of 2019 includes 18 lawyers from 16 countries, who have come to Notre Dame to deepen their theoretical foundation and broaden their advocacy skill set. The Law School program, with support from the Klau Center, continues to attract dedicated human rights advocates from around the world, and this year two new countries will be added to the alumni roster: Mali and Kyrgysztan are represented for the first time.
Also beginning their Notre Dame experience this year are three new students in the J.S.D. program, who join six current doctoral candidates to make this the largest group of J.S.D. students in the program’s history.
The human rights lawyers from both programs are Graduate Student Affiliates of the Klau Center, and will participate in the life of the center throughout the academic year.
Sean O'Brien, director of the LL.M. Program in International Human Rights Law and member of the Klau Center's faculty advisory committee, celebrates the intellectual and regional diversity of this year's group as among its greatest strengths. "We are thrilled to welcome this year's class of human rights lawyers to Notre Dame," he says. "These lawyers come to us with experience working in international tribunals, grassroots human rights organizations, and key governmental positions. With interests ranging from state obligations for truth and justice to the human rights obligations of transnational corporations and other non-state actors, these lawyers will fully engage our faculty's expertise and enrich the quality of the classroom experience for all Notre Dame law students.”
The LL.M. Program in International Human Rights Law was founded at Notre Dame Law School in 1987 under the direction of Fr. William Lewers, C.S.C., as a response to the social and political injustices resulting from the apartheid system in South Africa. Now considered among the finest of its kind, and one of the few offering an LL.M. degree focused exclusively on human rights law, the program has educated more than 400 lawyers from over 100 countries.