Africa and Asia Field Placements

Faculty:  Professors Karen Tokarz, Kimberly J. Norwood, Michael Koby, Michael Peil, Leila Sadat 

Overview 

Students may elect to participate in the Africa and Asia Field Placements in one of two ways:  as non-credit granting internships funded through the public interest stipend program, or as externships taken for credit through such courses as the Lawyering Practice Externship, Supervised Practicum, and Supervised Research.  

For more information on Washington University Law’s International programs, click here. 

Africa Public Interest Law & Conflict Resolution Initiatives

The Africa Public Interest Law & Conflict Resolution Initiatives is a student and faculty project developed in 2002 to advance human rights, conflict resolution, and access to justice in Africa; to foster study, research, and professional experiences in Africa for Washington University Law students and faculty; and to offer educational programs on Africa at the School of Law. [view brochure] 

Since summer 2002, 80 Washington University Law students have spent their summers working for legal aid and public interest law organizations in Africa.  Students have worked in South Africa for six summers with assistance from Professor Tokarz, and in Ghana and Kenya for two summers beginning in 2006 with assistance from Professor Kim Norwood.  Students have also worked in Rwanda, Zambia, and Madagascar.  [view South Africa Summer Internship Guide]

Recent field placements include:

• Legal Aid Board in Durban, South Africa, which provides legal assistance on civil and criminal matters to indigent individuals in South Africa.
• Lawyers for Human Rights in Durban, South Africa which provides legal services and policy research for refugees and immigrants.  In this placement, students engaged in client interviewing and counseling, community education, negotiation and dispute resolution, human rights research and policy reporting, prison visits, trial preparation, and appellate brief writing.
• Legal Resource Centre in Accra, Ghana, which works with communities to ensure human rights, social progress, and economic development, especially in the areas of civil liberties, health, employment, education, and housing.  In this placement, students engaged in client advocacy, community education, human rights research and policy reporting, and dispute resolution projects.
• Several human rights and social justice non-profit organizations in Kenya, including the Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA Kenya). 

Asia Public Interest Law & Conflict Resolution Initiatives

Recent field placements include:

• Office of Civil Parties of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), the tribunal charged with prosecuting crimes committed during that country’s Khmer Rouge era.
• Beijing Children's Legal Aid Center, working on migrant worker and children’s rights issues
• Intellectual Property Court in Taiwan.
• United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking in Bangkok, Thailand. 

The Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute’s Dagen-Legomsky Fellowship program supports students who work and study abroad.  In the summer of 2009, recipients of this Fellowship worked with the Church of Northern India in Nagpur, a non-profit dedicated to the prevention and punishment of human trafficking and the advancement of human rights, and on trafficking issues as an intern at the Mekong Region Law Center in Bangkok, Thailand.  

For more information on The Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute, click here.