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Required Clinic Component: Students enrolled in the fall clinic must enroll in this seminar or the Human Rights Lawyering in Action: Skills, Strategies, and Challengesclinical seminar. Students are not guaranteed their first choice of clinical seminars. Clinical seminar selection and enrollment occurs once a student has enrolled in the fall clinic and is orchestrated by the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs.

Additional Co-/Pre-Requisites: None.

By Permission: No.

Add/Drop Deadline:  August 22, 2025.

LLM Students: LLM students may enroll in this clinic through Helios.

Exam Type: No Exam

Course Description: 

Armed conflict causes physical, psychological, and socioeconomic suffering to civilians caught in its path. Militaries inevitably kill and injure bystanders due to their choice of weapons and/or tactics. Some armed forces intentionally harm noncombatants to advance their goals. Military operations also result in the destruction of homes, schools, hospitals, and infrastructure, large-scale displacement, and myriad long-term consequences for individuals and societies.

Minimizing this suffering presents many challenges for lawyers and advocates. This clinical seminar will explore ways to advance civilian protection during and after armed conflict. Following an introduction to the costs of conflict and the idea of limited war, the course will use recent case studies to examine a wide spectrum of strategies, such as documentation of harm, creating new law, victim assistance, peacekeeping, international criminal justice, efforts to uphold the prohibition on the use of interstate force, and protection of the environment and cultural heritage. Students will assess the promises and limitations of each strategy and consider how to determine the most appropriate one for a specific situation. Through workshops and exercises, students will also learn some of the practical skills needed to work in the field.