For Students

The Center for Human Rights and Global Justice helps students develop the knowledge and experience needed to play meaningful roles in international organizations, governments, advocacy groups, and movement work in the years to come. It promotes cutting-edge scholarship and substantive engagement by offering multiple avenues for students — both of NYU School of Law and from programs around the country and the world — to explore a vast array of options in the field of human rights.

These include one of the most innovative human rights clinics in the country; a widely acclaimed human rights fellowship program that places students in established human rights and international law organizations around the world; a robust full-time summer internship program; and many opportunities to produce scholarship for publication. Read on to learn more about opportunities offered, and contact the Center’s Program Manager Lauren Stackpoole if you have questions not answered here.

Academic Year Summer & Post-Graduate
Courses
Take full advantage of NYU's deep bench of international law faculty by enrolling in one of the school's many doctrinal and clinical human courses relating to human rights. Cross-register for courses on other NYU campuses to broaden your perspective and expand your toolkit.
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Human Rights Scholars Program
Join CHRGJ as a paid research assistant for faculty and staff in this year-long program. Open to all NYU Law students, including 1Ls. Additional RA positions with faculty are also posted throughout the year.
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Transitional Justice Leadership Program
Apply to become a Transitional Justice Scholar and engage with renowned transitional justice experts through coursework, scholarship, and facilitated internships. Open to incoming NYU Law LLM students.
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Emerging Scholarship Conference
Submit a paper to our annual International Law and Human Rights Emerging Scholarship Conference, organized with the Institute for International Law and Justice. Open to NYU Law students in all programs and years.
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Moots
Compete in one of the exciting international moot contests coordinated by CHRGJ for NYU Law. Eligibility varies by competition, but options are available for LLMs and JDs, including 1Ls.
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Internships
Intern in the New York office of a human rights organization through opportunities facilitated by CHRGJ. Programs include a paid, part-time position with the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission.
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Law Students for Human Rights
Find community and shape your own human rights experience by joining this student-run organization, which organizes mentorship, internship, and educational programs.
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Partner Centers and Institutes
CHRGJ is one of many centers and institutes at NYU. Our close partners include the Robert L. Bernstein Institute for Human Rights and the Institute for International Law and Justice.
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ILHR Fellowship Program
Apply to a program that offers summer internship placements with excellent human rights organizations, specialized training, and the opportunity to hone your research skills. Open to NYU Law 1L, 2L, LLM, and JSD students.
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Summer Legal Internship Program
Join CHRGJ for a full-time, 10-week summer internship working with Center faculty and staff on a wide array of advocacy and research projects. Law students or recent law graduates from any university eligible to apply.
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Arthur Helton Fellowship
Design a project that puts your legal education to work on timely issues in a country where your efforts are most needed and where there are insufficient resources for human rights protections. All NYU Law graduating students eligible to apply.
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Human Rights Watch NYU Fellowship
Spend one year monitoring human rights developments in various countries, conducting on-site investigations, drafting reports on human rights conditions, and engaging in advocacy. Open to graduating JD NYU Law students.
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Masiyiwa Bernstein Fellowship
Apply for the opportunity to spend one year working full-time with an innovative human rights organization. Open to graduating JD NYU Law students.
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Human Rights in China Bernstein Fellowship in International Human Rights
Devote a year to full-time human rights, working closely with HRIC lawyers and advocacy staff and contribute to HRIC’s interrelated advocacy, casework, research, and outreach. All NYU law graduates eligible to apply.
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International Court of Justice Clerkship
Clerk for a judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague through this highly selective 10-month clerkship program. Recent NYU Law graduates eligible to apply.
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Engaged Learning
  • Professor Satterthwaite on the philosophy of the Global Justice Clinic

    “One of the most important things is turning the human rights-based approach on ourselves to make sure that we do our work in a way that advances the human rights of the people we’re working with.”

  • Professor Alston on integrating NYU students into his UN work

    “One of the great advantages for me in being involved in United Nations human rights is that I am based here at NYU [with] students who are very keen to work on the relevant issues, who want to get the exposure, get the experience.”

CHRGJ Alumni
  • Emerson Sykes
    Class of 2011

    Emerson Sykes always knew he wanted a career in international human rights. After studying Political Science, African History, and French at Stanford University, he pursued a joint JD/MPA from NYU School of Law and the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, and today works as legal advisor for Africa at the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law.

  • Merryl Lawry-White LLM
    Class of 2013

    Merryl Lawry-White, a former Transitional Justice Scholar, now works as a Juriste Adjoint to a Judge at the International Court of Justice. This involves working with the Judge on all disputes that come before the Court, implicating a broad range of international law issues, including questions of the use of force, environmental law, human rights law, humanitarian law, the law on genocide, reparations, and other areas.

  • Wade McMullen
    Class of 2011

    Wade, a former clinic student and current Staff Attorney at the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, talks about his experience at CHRGJ.

  • Elizabeth Ashamu Deng
    Class of 2011

    Elizabeth, a former clinic student and current Researcher at Human Rights Watch, talks about her experience at CHRGJ.

  • Amanda Klasing
    Class of 2008

    Amanda, a former clinic student and current Researcher on Women’s Rights at Human Rights Watch, talks about her experience at CHRGJ.

Prominent organizations where CHRGJ alumni have worked
  • Amnesty International
  • American Civil Liberties Union
  • Australian Human Rights Commission
  • Center for Constitutional Rights
  • Council on Foreign Relations
  • Danish Institute for Human Rights
  • Empire Justice Center
  • Feminist Majority Foundation
  • GMHC
  • Human Rights Watch
  • Human Rights Institute at Columbia Law School
  • The Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti
  • International Center for Transitional Justice
  • International Disability Alliance
  • International Human Rights Clinic at Duke University School of Law
  • Leitner Center for International Law and Justice
  • Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights
  • Secretariat for Human Rights of the Presidency of Brazil
  • Security Council Report
  • South African Institute for Advanced Constitutional, Public, Human Rights and International Law
  • South Sudan Law Society
  • United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
  • World Bank
Information for CHRGJ Alumni

CHRGJ plans to continue to promote alumni accomplishments and foster bonds between its staff, students, and alumni. Please email alumni@chrgj.org if you have news you would like CHRGJ to feature online or if you are going to be in New York and are available to meet with students or give a talk.

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