Multinational

Akshaya Kumar and Jehanne Henry, Lecturer-in-Law, 5 credits (2 for seminar; 3 for field placement).  Offered both terms with two sections in the Spring.  

Course Description
The United Nations Externship provides students with an opportunity to learn more about the law and practice of the UN and the processes of making and implementing institutional law at an international organization. The externship will include a placement at one of a variety of legal offices including the UN secretariat, UN funds and programs, country or organization missions to the UN, or nonprofit advocacy organizations focused on influencing the UN’s decision making procedures. The seminar component of the course will offer opportunities to deepen students’ understanding of rulemaking within the UN system and create space to interrogate assumptions about how international organizations function.

Students cannot pre-select their placements and must be willing to extern at any of the potential host employers. The course consists of two parts: fieldwork (3 clinical credits) and a weekly seminar (2 academic credits). While the fieldwork credits are pass/fail, students will be graded for the seminar credits on the basis of a required presentation and group work.

The Seminar
Students will meet together with the instructor for a weekly seminar. Students are expected to reflect on their fieldwork experiences as a part of weekly seminar discussions, Students will examine primary materials focused on the normative context within which the UN functions, developing an understanding of the interaction between law and practice, and identifying avenues for change and reform. It is recommended that applicants should have taken a basic course in public international law or the equivalent. 

Placement
Students will be placed by the instructors according to the needs and decisions of the various offices concerned. It should be borne in mind that there are no guaranteed places in any given office for CLS students and that some host organizations require students to interview or submit additional application materials as part of the selection process. Each student is expected to work at their host office a minimum of two full days a week for the 14 weeks of the semester.
 

Important Information
The externship is available to upper-level J.D., LL.M and SJD candidates.