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Enrollment in this clinic will fulfill the HLS JD pro bono requirement.

Required Class Component: Human Rights Lawyering in Action: Skills, Strategies, and Challenges OR Armed Conflict and Civilian Protection (both 2 fall classroom credits). Students who enroll in the fall clinic will be enrolled in one of the required courses by the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs. Students are guaranteed a seat in one of these two required courses, but are not guaranteed their first choice. Students enrolled in either course under a clinical seat will lose their seat if they choose to drop the clinic..

Additional Co-/Pre-Requisites: None.

By Permission: No.

Add/Drop Deadline: August 22, 2025.

LLM Students: LLM students may enroll in this clinic.

Placement Site: HLS.

IHRC trains leaders in human rights. Our work is carried out in partnership with international, grassroots, and movement-based organizations across the globe, as well as communities and individuals directly affected by abuse. Our students become part of this community of advocates working to create a more just and equitable world.  

Through clinical projects and classroom seminars, students learn and practice a variety of skills deployed by strategic and creative human rights advocates. Students work in small teams under the close supervision of expert clinicians, who provide guidance, mentorship, and continual feedback. Students are involved in all aspects of their projects—conceptualizing goals and formulating strategies, researching and drafting reports and legal briefs, interviewing witnesses and stakeholders, and presenting findings before courts and international bodies. Students deploy multiple strategies and innovative techniques to promote and protect human rights, and will also critically reflect on their work and the human rights movement more broadly.

IHRC’s docket draws on clinicians’ established expertise and networks in six broad areas, while remaining dynamic and responsive to emerging needs and the evolving field. Our primary areas of work are: (1) accountability and remedies; (2) armed conflict & civilian protection; (3) climate justice & the environment; (4) gender, race & non-discrimination; (5) protecting fundamental freedoms; and (6) social & economic justice.