Spotlight on International Law: School of Law Promotes Justice Worldwide
Through teaching, research, and action, faculty and staff at the Western New England University School of Law model the values integral to upholding the rights and liberties of all people — whether they are located in the Commonwealth, the nation, or throughout the world.
School of Law Dean Zelda Harris, Professors Bridgette Baldwin, Rene Reich-Graefe and Tim Webster, Assistant Professors Luwam Dirar and Tolulope Odunsi-Nelson, and Clinical Assistant Professor Lauren Cerasik are actively working with international advocacy agencies, human rights organizations, and foreign governments. Their work includes teaching trial advocacy, advocacy in collaboration with international non-governmental organizations, developing foreign policies that promote constitutional change, examining international legal scholarship, transnationalism, global governance, and war reparations litigation.
These experiences translate to the classroom and provide WNE students with insight and access to compelling global problems that can be applied locally, regionally, and nationally.
Just weeks prior to beginning her tenure with the School of Law in August 2023, Dean Harris led a group of 60 inmate participants in Naivasha, Kenya, in trial advocacy training with the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA), Jones Day, and Justice Defenders.
“Students should be encouraged to have an international experience,” Dean Harris said. “I think I can certainly offer that to the students because I do travel to other countries to do this type of advocacy training, and I see how students can benefit from that experience too.” This summer, Dean Harris will resume advocacy training in Naivasha.
