Summer Institute in Utrecht Draws Students Internationally

Students from around the world have gathered in Utrecht, The Netherlands, for the fifth annual Summer Institute for Global Justice, co-sponsored by Washington University Law, Case Western Reserve University School of Law, and Utrecht University. The Summer Institute is a six-week intensive summer course that offers students international study in close proximity to some of the world’s most influential international justice institutions in The Hague.

Utrecht University is also a partner law school in the groundbreaking Transnational Law Program and a partner university in Washington University’s McDonnell International Scholars Academy.

The Summer Institute is co-directed by Leila Nadya Sadat, the Henry H. Oberschelp Professor of Law and director of the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute. Michael Peil, associate dean for international programs, is the administrative coordinator for the program, which attracts both U.S. and international students.

Courses focus heavily on comparative law, international criminal law, and human rights. This year’s offerings are: International Criminal Law & Procedure, International Civil Litigation, Contemporary Developments in International Human Rights Law, Whistleblowing in Comparative Perspective, Intellectual Property & International Trade & Development, and The Law of International Organizations.

Institute faculty include:

• Distinguished Visiting Jurist Larry Johnson, Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs at the U.N. from 2006–2008;
• Distinguished Visiting Jurist William A. Schabas, Director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights at the National University of Ireland, Galway;
• Kathleen Clark, professor, Washington University Law, and an expert in government ethics and national security law;
• Charles McManis, the Thomas & Karole Green Professor of Law, Washington Law, and an expert in intellectual property law;
• Cassandra Burke Robertson, professor, Case Western, and an expert in comparative and international procedure;
• Michael Scharf, Summer Institute for Global Justice Co-Director, and professor of law and Director, Frederick K. Cox International Law Center, Case Western;
• Elies van Sliedregt, professor, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and an expert in international criminal law; and
• Tom Zwart, professor of law, Utrecht University, and Director, Netherlands School of Human Rights Research.

Graduates of the Summer Institute have gone on to intern and practice in a variety of spheres of international law, including with the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the chambers of the International Criminal Court, U.S. Court of International Trade in New York, the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, and legal office of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva, Switzerland.