Vanderbilt Law School has been awarded a $10,000 grant by the Planethood Foundation, a small private foundation that focuses on programs relating to international justice, the rule of law, and conflict resolution, to help fund student externships in the spring and summer of 2007.
According to Professor Mike Newton, who applied for the Planethood grant on behalf of the law school, “The grant will help defray expenses incurred by Vanderbilt students who are working in programs in support of international criminal justice, including students accepted for externships with the International Criminal Court, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the Sierra Leone Special Court, and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.”
Professor Newton directs a program at the law school that offers a number of recurring externships in the international criminal justice field, and he is actively developing additional internship and externship opportunities for Vanderbilt law students. In past years, Vanderbilt students have assisted with the Srebrenica genocide prosecution in The Hague and conducted research to support the trial of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. “Students working in externship programs may be able to benefit from this grant provided that their work is closely linked to human rights accountability mechanisms in other parts of the world,” Newton said.
Established in 1996, Planethood is based in White Plains, New York. Planethood is a member of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, the Peace and Security Foundation, and the Security Funders Group, and the Association of Small Foundations.
The externships the Planethood grant will support are offered through the law school’s International Legal Studies Program, which prepares students to practice law in a global environment by combining classroom exposure to cutting-edge topics in international law with practical experience in their application through the <a title="http://law.vanderbilt.edu/academics/academic-programs/international-legal-studies/international-law-practice-lab/index.aspx
International Law Practice Lab” href=”http://law.vanderbilt.edu/academics/academic-programs/international-legal-studies/international-law-practice-lab/index.aspx”>International Law Practice Lab and summer and semester-long <a title="http://law.vanderbilt.edu/academics/academic-programs/international-legal-studies/internships–externships/index.aspx
Internships & Externships” href=”http://law.vanderbilt.edu/academics/academic-programs/international-legal-studies/internships–externships/index.aspx”>externships. Directed by <a title="http://law.vanderbilt.edu/faculty/faculty-directory/laurence-r-helfer/index.aspx
Laurence R. Helfer” href=”http://law.vanderbilt.edu/faculty/faculty-directory/laurence-r-helfer/index.aspx”>Professor Larry Helfer, the program’s core faculty includes respected scholars with expertise in key areas of international law.
“The Planethood grant will enable more students to take advantage of a unique professional opportunity to work with international criminal tribunals, which are making vital contributions to the development of international law and conflict resolution,” Professor Helfer said. “I am grateful to Planethood for their support of our students’ work on behalf of international criminal justice and to Mike Newton for pursuing this grant on behalf of our students.”