Center for Civil and Human Rights welcomes LL.M. Class of 2018
The Center for Civil and Human Rights welcomes its new class of international human rights lawyers for the 2017-18 academic year.
The LL.M. class of 2018 includes 24 lawyers from 17 countries, who have come to Notre Dame to deepen their theoretical foundation and broaden their advocacy skill set. The CCHR-sponsored program continues to attract dedicated human rights advocates from around the world, and this year three new countries will be added to the alumni roster: Afghanistan, Thailand, and Hungary are represented for the first time. The current LL.M. class is the largest in the program’s 30-year history.
The CCHR also welcomes two new student into its J.S.D. program. Carlos Bichet of Panama and Juan Pablo Alban of Ecuador will join four continuing students in the multi-year doctoral program.
Sean O’Brien, director of academic programs at the CCHR, sees the diversity of this year’s group as one of its greatest strengths. “We are thrilled to welcome this year’s class of human rights lawyers to Notre Dame,” he says. "These lawyers come to us with experience working in international tribunals, grassroots human rights organizations, and key governmental positions. With interests ranging from transitional justice and the economic, social, and cultural rights of migrants, to the human rights obligations of transnational corporations and other non-state actors, these lawyers will fully engage our faculty’s expertise and enrich the quality of the classroom experience for all Notre Dame law students.”
The LL.M. Program in International Human Rights Law was founded at Notre Dame Law School in 1987 under the direction of Fr. William Lewers, C.S.C., as a response to the social and political injustices resulting from the apartheid system in South Africa. Now considered among the finest of its kind, and one of the few offering an LL.M. degree focused exclusively on human rights law, the program has educated more than 400 lawyers from over 100 countries.
Originally published by at humanrights.nd.edu on August 21, 2017.