Engage in strategic advocacy with Disability Rights International to promote the de-institutionalization and full community integration of persons with intellectual and psycho-social disabilities in Mexico. Visit/monitor institutions in Mexico City; work with Mexico City Human Rights Commission on creation of pilot program for community integration; prepare for eventual litigation and promotional work before the Inter-American Human Rights system. Engagement in Mexico City; Washington; and Buffalo, N.Y.
Archives
De-Institutionalization for Persons with Disabilities Litigation/Advocacy in Guatemala
Engage in strategic litigation initiatives before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to support the de-institutionalization of persons with intellectual and psycho-social disabilities in Guatemala and their full integration into the community, on an equal basis with others. Includes a successful precautionary measures petition to attend to gross abuses, regularized rapes, sex trafficking, discriminatory neglect, and unjustified use of medical and physical restraints in the National (Federico Mora) Psychiatric Hospital; regularized hearings thereon; and a contentious individual complaint filed on behalf of all non-forensic detainees in the institution. Engagement in Guatemala City, Guatemala (visits to institution, meetings with government officials); Washington (for hearings before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights); and Buffalo, N.Y. (drafting of litigation-related documents, international strategy meetings and preparation for hearings).
Human Rights Lawyering: Advocacy, Impact and Influence in Washington, DC (Bridge Course)
In recent years, more SUNY Buffalo Law School graduates have sought employment in the field of human rights law and increasingly located to Washington, a market that presents unique opportunities and challenges for new attorneys. Through the lens of international human rights law, this bridge course will introduce students to governmental bodies, intergovernmental bodies, law firms and human rights organizations that are engaged in the practice of international law and rights-based advocacy. Students will be exposed to a variety of strategies used in Washington to exert influence, impact policymaking, and meet other legal and policy ends. Topics that the course will explore are: (1) advocacy through lobbying and legislation; (2) advocacy through monitoring, reporting, publicity and awareness-raising; and (3) advocacy through litigation and case-based engagement and settlement negotiation. Students spend 10 days in Washington, and attend meetings with officials and representatives in government (Congress, State Department, Department of Justice, Homeland Security, White House); inter-governmental organizations (World Bank, OAS, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights); non-governmental human rights organizations (Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, ACLU, CEJIL, Open Society Foundations, Human Rights First, Disability Rights International, National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, Due Process of Law Foundation, RFK Human Rights, UN Foundation, Solidarity Center, Free the Slaves, International Corporate Accountability Roundtable, Council on Global Equality, Earth Rights International); and law firms (LeClair Ryan, Sidley Austin). These meetings are supplemented by classroom discussions, daily debriefings, professional networking opportunities with alumni and an opportunity to explore Washington’s many historical and political landmarks and attractions, including the U.S. Supreme Court.
Global School on Socio-Economic Rights
The Global School on Socio-Economic Rights seeks to train a new generation of advocates across the globe in the skills necessary to advance the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights for all people. Each year I join human rights experts from around the world in teaching “The Advanced Course on the Justiciability of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,” which takes place each November in Finland, at the Åbo Akademi University. This intensive course offers participants (approximately 40, from at least 20 different countries) an opportunity to develop specialist-level knowledge in the field of economic, social and cultural rights, with a particular focus on justiciability at the national, regional and international levels. It draws on a wealth of material from across the world in order to analyze existing institutionalized practices of interpretation and implementation of economic, social and cultural rights, and focuses on theoretical questions and practical issues, such as effective strategies and the impact of adjudication. The program is co-organized by the Åbo Akademi Institute for Human Rights, Åbo Akademi University; the Socio-Economic Rights & Administrative Justice Research Project (SERAJ), Stellenbosch University (South Africa); and the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, University of Oslo.
Research on foster care funding
Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) study of impact of source and type of funding on outcomes for kids in foster care in Ohio.
Bureau of Maternal and Child Health, Advisory Board Member
Attend regular meetings and webinars to comment on and assist work of Bureau of Maternal and Child Health, NYS Department of Health.
Attorneys for Children Program, NYS Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial District, Advisory Committee Member (Board Service)
Serve as member of Advisory Committee for Attorneys for Children Program in this part of NYS. Student research from Attorneys for Children externships is also made available through the Attorneys for Children Program.
LSAC Discoverlaw.org Prelaw Undergraduate Scholars Program (Summer Scholars)
Four-week program to encourage students from under-represented populations to apply to and attend law school. This program consists of substantive courses, legal skills courses, LSAT preparation, a writing course and an ethnography course. Students also participate in extensive trips to several different courts and area law firms.
Extension Learning Experience at the Chautauqua Institution
Students spend seven days at the Chautauqua Institution (Chautauqua, N.Y.) with off-campus experiential learning trips to the Robert H. Jackson Center (Jamestown, N.Y.) and the New York State Supreme Court, Chautauqua County (Mayville, N.Y.). We explore the role of lawyers as counselors and agents of social change in local, national and global contexts. For the theme of Emerging Citizenship or Immigration, our focus is on the socio-historical context of the pre- and post-WWII national and global citizenship, the Nuremberg Trials and current legal issues. We discuss the social, political, legal and human rights aspects of these issues. Students listen to oral arguments, dissect primary legal documents and read context narratives to prepare them for their experiential learning modules. We explore how different communities and belief systems influence laws and legal institutions. We also take time to recognize the achievements and impact of a local lawyer on the national and global scale and discuss how each person has the ability to advocate for and participate in social change.
Erie County Family Court Help Desk
Advise indigent, unrepresented litigants on family law matters at a Help Desk at the Erie County Family Court in Buffalo, N.Y. Also prepare community educational materials and legal research and writing projects for nonprofit community partners.