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CONTACT INFORMATION

Media Contacts:
Franki Fitterer
Director of Public Relations
Phone: 202-274-4279
ffitterer@wcl.american.edu

Megan Smith
Public Relations Coordinator
Phone: 202-274-4276
megans@wcl.american.edu

Publications & Marketing Contact::
Elizabeth Fisher
Assistant Director, Marketing
Phone: 202-895-4537
fisher@wcl.american.edu

News & Announcements - December 2009

• Founders Celebration 2010 Kicks Off January 11

  The 2010 American University Washington College of Law Founders' Celebration will feature 75 events, seminars, panel discussions, and expert forums covering diverse topics such as international trade, labor rights, military justice reform, domestic violence, privacy issues, climate change, and the global economy. Visit the Founders site for information on all programs and how to register and/or receive CLE credit.

  
  
• Jennifer Dabson Appointed Chair-Elect of AALS Continuing Legal Education Division

  Jennifer Dabson, director of the Office of Special Events & Continuing Legal Education (SECLE), has been named chair-elect of the American Association of Law Schools' Continuing Legal Education Division.  Dabson's additional leadership positions include co-chair of International Section of the Association of Continuing Legal Education, and member of the 2010 Spring Meeting Planning Committee for the ABA Section of International Law.  As director of SECLE, Dabson is responsible for more than 100 programs per year, including the Founders' Celebration during the spring semester. 

  
  
• December Issue of American University Washington College of Law Newsletter Available

  The latest issue of the American University Washington College of Law Newsletter is online now, featuring stories on the LL.M. programs being ranked third by Financial Times, the Impact Litigation Project winning exoneration for a former Venezuelan general, students and faculty blogging from the Copenhagen Climate Summit, and descriptions of the latest faculty honors.  Read the December issue.

  
  
• American University Closed Sunday Due to Weather

  American University is closed Sunday, December 20, due to weather.  WCL offices, including the Registrar's office, are closed.  Papers due on Sunday must be submitted on Monday, December 21.  Pence Law Library is closed as previously scheduled but may be accessed under off-hour policies.

  
  
• Diego Rodriguez-Pinzon Serves as Ad Hoc Judge at Inter-American Court on Human Rights in Hearings Held this Fall in San Jose, Costa Rica

  Proffessor Diego Rodriguez-Pinzón, Co-Director of the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law is currently ad hoc judge designated by Ecuador in the case Salvador Chiriboga v. Ecuador at the Inter-American Court on Human Rights.  This fall he sat in the bench during the hearings held in San Jose, Costa Rica regarding Reparations.  In 2010 the Court will continue to consider the implementation of the decision in the Merits released in 2008.  Rodriguez-Pinzon is the first WCL faculty to sit in the Inter-American Court on Human Rights since former Dean Thomas Buergenthal in the 1980's.  Here is some background information on the case. 

  
  
• International Human Rights Law Clinic Students Secure Freedom for Mentally Ill Immigrant

  As students in the International Human Rights Law Clinic under the supervision of Practitioner-in-Residence Meetali Jain, Erica Morgan '09 and Edmundo Saballos '09 fought to secure the release of I.P., a mentally ill immigrant detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for two years. This fall, their work paid off, and their client was released and returned home to Honduras. "Representing my client before the Immigration Court was, for me, the most rewarding experience I had in law school," Saballos said.  "With the support of WCL's International Human Rights Law Clinic and the Capitol Area Immigrants' Rights Coalition, I was able to become intimately familiar with the challenges out-of-status immigrants face in the labyrinth that is our immigration system.  In addition to gaining first-hand knowledge in an area I hope one day to make my career, I also learned to practice the patience and empathy all client-service cases require." Full Story

  
  
• Professor David Hunter Blogs from Copenhagen Climate Summit

  In his latest blog post from the Copenhagen Climate Summit, Professor David Hunter blogs about the financial resources that will be necessary for assisting climate change adaptation in the developing world.  Hunter and six American University Washington College of Law students  -- Addie Haughey, Blake Mensing, Rachel Kirby, Winfield Wilson, Skye Bougsty-Marshall, and Nicolas Boittin -- are supporting the work of the Center for International Environmental Law and the Climate Law Policy Project, as well as other organizations.  Read his blog post, and a recent Q & A on the summit.

  
  
• Impact Litigation Project Wins Exoneration for Former Venezuelan General

  On Nov. 20, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights found Venezuela guilty of violating the rights of former general Francisco Usón Ramírez when it convicted him of "dishonoring and disrespecting the armed forces of Venezuela."  The ruling follows nearly four years of work on Uson Ramirez's case by the American University Washington College of Law Impact Litigation Project, including work from Dean Claudio Grossman and project coordinator Agustina Del Campo, who took on the case to address the issue of contempt laws that criminalize speech against the government.  MORE

  
  
• War Crimes Research Office Receives MacArthur Foundation Grant to Produce Legal Commentary on Critical Issues Raised by the Decisions of the International Criminal Court

  The War Crimes Research Office (WCRO) of American University Washington College of Law was recently awarded a grant by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in support of the WCRO's International Criminal Court Legal Analysis and Education Project, which aims to produce public, impartial, legal analyses of critical issues raised by the decisions of the International Criminal Court. The WCRO has just released its tenth report in this series, entitled Defining the Case Against an Accused Before the ICC: Whose Responsibility Is It? Learn more about the project here.

  
  
• Dean Grossman Issues Statement on 25th Anniversary of Convention against Torture

  Dean Claudio Grossman, chair of the United Nations Committee against Torture, issued a statement on the occasion of the 25^th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. "We cannot say that torture has decreased," Grossman said. "I call upon all Member States of the United Nations to ratify or accede to the Convention, and upon all States parties to the Convention to fully implement the Convention's provisions…" MORE

  
  
• War Crimes Research Office Releases New International Criminal Court Report

  The War Crimes Research Office (WCRO) has released a new report, Defining the Case Against an Accused Before the ICC: Whose Responsibility Is It?, which examines the respective authority of the Prosecutor and the judges to determine the appropriate charges in cases tried before the International Criminal Court.  The report is the tenth in the WCRO's ICC Legal Analysis and Education Project, an initiative aimed at producing public, impartial, legal analyses of critical issues raised by the ICC's early decisions.  View the report.

  
  
• Law Students Head to Copenhagen Climate Summit

  Beginning on Sunday, Professor David Hunter will serve as a credentialed non-governmental observer at the Copenhagen negotiations. Hunter and six American University Washington College of Law students  -- Addie Haughey, Blake Mensing, Rachel Kirby, Winfield Wilson, Skye Bougsty-Marshall, and Nicolas Boittin -- will be supporting the work of the Center for International Environmental Law and the Climate Law Policy Project, as well as other organizations. They will be looking at issues relating to the future financial architecture for responding to climate change; the reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation; measurement, reporting and verification requirements; and implications of the climate regime on other sustainable development goals such as human rights and the conservation of biological diversity. Professor Hunter is also blogging from the summit.

  
  
• Dean Grossman Participates in Human Rights Consultation at the Organization of American States

  Dean Claudio Grossman and Visiting Professor Juan Mendez will present at a two-day program hosted by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Dec. 8-9 at the Organization of American States. The program -- "Enhancing Cooperation Between Regional and International Mechanisms for the Promotion and Protection for Human Rights -- A Regional Consultation for the Americas" -- will feature many of the world's foremost leaders in international human rights. Mendez will participate in a panel discussion on "The Role of the International and the Inter-American Human Rights System in Implementation of Human Rights Standards" Tuesday.  Grossman, as chair of the UN Committee against Torture, will discuss  "Complementarity in Complaints Mechanisms: Jurisdiction, Admissibility and Jurisprudence" Wednesday on a panel with Elizabeth Abi-Mershed '91, deputy executive secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and Pablo Saavedra, executive secretary of the Inter-American Court on Human Rights.

  
  
• PIJIP and Center for Social Media Release Report and Film on Barriers to Documentaries in South Africa

  The Progam on Information Justice and Intellectual Property and the Center for Social Media are releasing a groundbreaking report and film on the experiences of South African documentary filmmakers with copyright clearance obligations. The report and film, sponsored by the Ford Foundation, will be simultaneously released at a film screening and workshops with filmmakers December 10-12, 2009, in Johannesburg, South Africa, and on the web here.  Read the press release.

  
  
• Susan Lewis-Somers Elected as Treasurer of American Association of Law Libraries

  Susan Lewis-Somers, associate law librarian at the Pence Law Library at WCL, has been elected as treasurer for the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL).  AALL has over 5,000 members, and works to promote and enhance the value of law libraries to the legal and public communities, to foster the profession of law librarianship, and to provide leadership in the field of legal information.   Lewis-Somers has been active in the AALL, having chaired the Recruitment Committee and the Developing Law Librarians for the Future Special Committee, and has held many other positions.  Her term as treasurer is from July 2010 - July 2013. 

  
  
• Students Receive Scholarships to Participate in Academic Exchange Conference at Waseda University in Tokyo

  Yujin Kim, 2011 JD candidate, and Danielle Kukwa, 2010 MA candidate at the AU School of International Service, have been selected to receive scholarships for travel and room and board to participate in the Washington College of Law-Waseda University Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies conference on "Legal Developments Promoting Economic Harmonization in the Pacific Rim." Kim and Kukwa will explore the impacts of harmonization of economic and legal systems in the Pacific Rim within the individual states, the region, and the world at large with top students from around Asia.  MORE

  
  
• LL.M. Programs Rank Third on Financial Times List

  American University Washington College of Law ranks third on the Financial Times' 2009 list of LL.M. programs in North America with 260 combined LL.M. students for the 2008-2009 academic year.  Only NYU and Georgetown have larger LL.M. programs.  This listing includes the law school's LL.M. Programs in International Legal Studies and Law and Government which offer specializations in areas such as administrative law, financial regulation, international business law, international environmental Law, gender and the law, health law, intellectual property, and international human rights.

  
  
• Law School Mourns the Loss of Mike Petit

  Mike Petit, head of cataloging and a tenured member of the Pence Law Library Faculty at American University Washington College of Law, passed away on Thanksgiving Day. Mike was a well known, well liked, and greatly respected member of the profession. He had worked at several law libraries in the Washington, D.C. area as well as at the University of Miami law library. His contributions to the profession and his scholarly work are numerous - he was an active member of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), having previously chaired the Advisory Committee on the Indexing of Periodical Literature and AALL Technical Services Special Interest Section. He was also past president of the Southeastern Chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries (SEAALL). His love of baseball and all things Chicago, except for the hated Cubs, will be a treasured memory of all those that knew him. See Mike's faculty page for information about upcoming services.

  
  
• Angela Davis Recognized with AALS Clyde Ferguson Award

  Professor Angela Davis has been named the winner of the 2010 Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Minority Groups Section Clyde Ferguson Award.  The award is named in honor of Professor C. Clyde Ferguson, Jr.—the second tenured African American on the Harvard Law School faculty—and is granted to an outstanding law teacher, who in the course of his or her career has achieved excellence in the areas of public service, teaching, and scholarship. The award will be presented at the Minority Section luncheon at the AALS Annual Meeting in New Orleans on Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010.