During the summer and fall of 2010, at least 33 Vanderbilt students will engage in experiential learning as part of the International Legal Studies Program.
"Our students have accepted positions with 27 different international organizations, consulates, government agencies, and NGOs, and they will be working in 13 foreign countries and in the U.S.," said Professor Mike Newton, who coordinates a broad range of international and other externship opportunities for an increasing number of interested students. "This is an impressive array of public service and experiential learning, due in large part to the substantive preparation of our students and the intellectual daring it takes to follow their convictions into demanding legal environments.”
Several students are serving externships associated with complex projects they also worked on as part of the International Law Practice Lab Professor Newton teaches each semester. "Dean Chris Guthrie has been generous in funding a special summer stipend program for externships and placements," Newton said. "This program, which is in addition to Public Interest Law stipends, provides financial support and helps defray the costs of overseas travel for some students." Other students benefit from the law school’s Ones Polk Fund, a donor-supported fund that provides financial support for students pursuing international projects.
Summer and fall 2010 externships and placements to date include the following:
Summer 2010
- U.S. State Department, Office of Population, Refugees, & Migration, Washington D.C.
- Global Constitutional Justice Project, Utrecht, Netherlands
- International Civilian Office, International Civilian Office/European Union Special Representative, Pristina, Kosovo
- T.M.C. Asser Institute, The Hague
- Oxford University Press, New York
- OHIM, Trademarks and Designs Registration Office of the European Union, Alicante, Spain
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Washington, D.C.
- Irish Centre for Human Rights, Galway, Ireland
- Childreach Africa, Gulu & Kampala, Uganda
- U.S. Department of State. Office of Development and Finance, Washington, D.C.
- International Criminal Law Network, The Hague
- European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, Berlin
- International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Office of the Prosecutor, Arusha Tanzania
- International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Trial Chambers, Arusha, Tanzania
- No Peace Without Justice, Brussels Office
- No Peace Without Justice, New York Office
- World Intellectual Property Organization, Copyright and Related Rights Sector, Geneva, Switzerland
- U.S. State Department, Office of Global Affairs, Washington, D.C.
- Human Rights Watch, Terrorism and Human Rights Bureau, New York
- The LIST Project to Assist Iraqi Refugees, Immigration Law practice of Mayer & Brown, Washington, D.C.
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of International Affairs, Washington D.C.
- Henry L. Stimson Center, Washington, D.C.
- The Heritage Foundation, Washington, D.C.
- Singapore International Arbitration Center
- International Chamber of Commerce, Paris
- U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps
Fall 2010
- International Bar Association, London
- U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Law and Policy, National Security Division, Washington, D.C.
- U.S. State Department, Office of the Assistant Legal Advisor for Private International Law, Washington, D.C
- U.S. State Department, Office of Policy and Global Issues, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, Washington, D.C
- U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of the Chief Counsel for International Commerce, Washington D.C.