CLE | Columbia Law School

Continuing Legal Education Programs

The Human Rights Institute builds the capacity of the BHRH Lawyers’ Network membership through an annual continuing legal education program focused on human rights in the United States. Past trainings have focused on The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the human rights to housing in the United States; advocating for human rights in state courts; ethics and domestic human rights lawyering; and engaging with U.N. human rights mechanisms. The CLE trainings are open to all.

Past CLE Programs

Racial Justice, Restoration, and Inclusion:  Human Rights Principles and Local Practice

Friday, May 1, 2020
 

Co-Sponsors:
Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute
Center for Constitutional Rights
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
New York City Commission on Human Rights
Northeastern Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy
CUNY International Human Rights & Gender Justice Clinic
Social Justice Initiatives (SJI)
US Human Rights Network
Columbia Law School Human Rights Law Review

This program explores the relevance of human rights norms in efforts to advance racial justice and address historical and ongoing racism, discrimination, and intolerance.  The day highlights ways to ensure dignity, equality, and accountability in advocacy and decision-making. Speakers examine strategies to shape effective remedies and redress, including reparations, where rights are violated, drawing from international, national, and local examples. Session I distills key concepts related to restorative justice, and components of reparations, and their role in advancing the rights to equality and non-discrimination. Speakers highlight the role that government institutions can and are playing in advancing racial justice, drawing from the United States, as well as global principles and practice. Panelists introduce key human rights principles and highlight how current national and transnational advocacy aims to redress past wrongs and eliminate laws and practices that perpetuate racism and inequity. Session II explores how core human rights principles are currently being operationalized in restorative justice initiatives that strengthen the enjoyment of economic and social rights, including housing, health, and education. Panelists discuss the role of partnerships between community organizations and government, approaches that center the perspective of communities most impacted by rights violations, and explore the transformative potential of participatory justice. 

Videos from the Symposium/CLE

Opening and Keynote Remarks
Session I: Foundational Concepts of Remedies and Reparations For Racial Injustice from Global and National Practice​
Session II: Restorative Justice in Practice: Pathways to Racial Justice at the Local Level

The conference agenda and reading materials are available here.

Securing Fundamental Human Rights & Challenging Criminalization of Poverty

Friday, April 12, 2019
 

Hosted by:
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Co-Sponsors:
Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute
Center for Constitutional Rights
National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty
Northeastern Law School Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy
US Human Rights Network
NYU School of Law Center for Human Rights and Global Justice
Leadership Conference Education Fund & Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

The Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute (HRI) gathered over 100 lawyers, organizers, and government representatives from across the United States to strategize how to address laws and policies that perpetuate poverty and articulate a positive vision for change.  The full-day event marked the 16th symposium on human rights in the United States. The program featured panels addressing the right to housing, leveraging human rights standards and strategies to ensure the fulfillment of basic needs, including water, sanitation, and a healthy environment, and strategies to respect and promote the health and well-being of pregnant people and mothers. Local, national, and international perspectives informed every session, and key themes were how criminalization exacerbates the negative impacts of poverty and leads to disparities across a range of social indicators, as well as the ways in which punitive approaches destabilize families and communities.

The conference agenda is available here.

Advancing Racial Justice and Human Rights: Rights-Based Strategies for the Current Era of Human Rights in the United States

June 1, 2018 
One Liberty Plaza, New York, NY

Hosted by:
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP

Co-sponsored by
ACLU
Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute
Center for Constitutional Rights
Center for Reproductive Rights
Latino Justice PRLDEF
US Human Rights Network
University of Pennsylvania Transnational Legal Clinic

The Symposium, Advancing Racial Justice and Human Rights:  Rights-Based Strategies for the Current Era, aimed to develop U.S. lawyers’ understanding of opportunities and challenges in implementing human rights principles of non-discrimination, equality, and participation.  It was also a space to evaluate lessons learned from the successes achieved by the domestic human rights movement over the past two decades and to chart a path forward at a time when human rights standards are permeating movement-building, litigation, and policy advocacy to address individual and structural racism and discrimination.

The conference agenda is available here.

Localizing Human Rights
in the New Era:
Strategies for State and Local Implementation of Human Rights in the United States

Friday, May 19, 2017
Skadden, Arps

Co-sponsored by:
Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute
Columbia Human Rights Law Review
Northeastern University School of Law, Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy
National Economic and Social Rights Initiative

The 2017 Bringing Human Rights Home Lawyers’ Network annual CLE brought together more than 100 U.S. lawyers, law students, academics, and other international human rights experts to discuss strategies for localizing human rights in the U.S. The 2017 symposium/CLE program explored the relevance and challenges of state and local implementation of human rights, specific strategies for effective and creative implementation, including the women's rights treaty, the role of state courts, and advocacy for the right to water and sanitation in local campaigns.

Video from the Symposium/CLE

Welcome Remarks, Introductory Keynote, and Session I: The Renewed Relevance of Human Rights at the State and Local Level
Session II: Strategies For Effective State and Local Implementation of Human Rights: Bringing Women’s Rights Home
Remarks from Robin Toma, Executive Director, Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission
Session III: Litigating Human Rights, Session IV: Leveraging Successes and Addressing Challenges, and Closing Remarks

The conference agenda is available here.

Engaging with UN Special Procedures to 
Advance U.S. Social Justice

Friday, June 24, 2016
Skadden, Arps

Co-sponsored by:
American Civil Liberties Union
National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
Center for Reproductive Rights
National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty

The 2016 Bringing Human Rights Home Lawyers’ Network annual CLE brought together more than 100 U.S. lawyers, law students, academics, and other international human rights experts to discuss approaches to advancing U.S. social justice advocacy through engagement with UN human rights experts. Panelists explored the opportunities that the special procedures offer to raise the profile of U.S. human rights concerns and advance advocacy efforts to address them. The 2016 symposium/CLE program used examples involving advocacy with the UN special procedures on U.S-related issues including the right to water, criminalization of homelessness, solitary confinement, access to reproductive healthcare, and discriminatory policing practices, among others.

Video from the Symposium/CLE

Welcoming Remarks and Introductory Keynote
Session I: Overview of the UN Special Procedures Mechanism
Session II: Strategies for Effective Engagement
Lunch Keynote Conversation
Session III and Closing Remarks

The conference agenda is available here.

Engaging with the Inter-American
Human Rights System for U.S. Advocacy

Friday, June 12, 2015
Skadden, Arps

Co-sponsored by:
Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL)
International Justice Resource Center
American Civil Liberties Union
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
University of Pennsylvania Transnational Legal Clinic

The 2015 Bringing Human Rights Home Lawyers’ Network annual CLE brought together practitioners and experts to discuss advocacy strategies for engaging with the Inter-American Human Rights System in the United States. Panelists explored the doctrinal and structural framework of the IACHR and examined case studies on a range of issues, including detention, economic and social rights, and women’s rights.  The 2015 symposium/CLE program used examples from the U.S. and the Americas to demonstrate how human rights advocates might improve the efficacy of the Inter-American Human Rights System, and deepen the impact of their advocacy.

The conference agenda is available here.

The Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Racial Discrimination: 
20 Years After US Ratification

Friday, May 2, 2014
Skadden, Arps
                          

Co-sponsored by:
Columbia Law School's Human Rights Institute
Northeastern Law School's Program on Human Rights & the Global Economy
Poverty & Race Research Action Council
American Civil Liberties Union
NAACP Legal Defense Fund
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

The 2014 Bringing Human Rights Home Lawyers’ Network annual CLE on domestic human rights-focused on the 20th anniversary of U.S. ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD). The full-day symposium brought together over 100 lawyers and advocates to discuss the history of the treaty and explore strategies for engaging with the U.S. government and the CERD Committee around the treaty body's August 2014 review of U.S. compliance. 

The conference agenda is available here.

Bringing Economic & Social Rights Home: The Right to Adequate Housing in the U.S.

Friday, April 26, 2013
Skadden, Arps 

Co-sponsored by:
Columbia Law School's Human Rights Institute
National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty
Northeastern Law School's Program on Human Rights & the Global Economy

U.S. lawyers are increasingly engaging international human rights law and strategies in their domestic social justice advocacy efforts.  A strength of the human rights framework is its ability to address the intersection of economic, social, cultural, civil, and political rights. Yet the pursuit of economic and social rights presents special challenges in the U.S. legal context.  This symposium explores strategies for advancing economic and social rights advocacy in the U.S., focusing in particular on the right to housing.  Participants will examine legal developments pertaining to the right to housing and related rights, both internationally and in the U.S.  And, drawing on international human rights, participants will explore promising approaches to establishing the right to housing in U.S. courts and through other advocacy efforts.

Click here to view the conference agenda.

The U.S. & the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: 20 Years After Ratification

Friday, March 16, 2012
Skadden, Arps

Co-sponsored by:
Columbia Law School's Human Rights Institute
American Civil Liberties Union
University of Pennsylvania School of Law Transnational Legal Clinic

The United States ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1992. As the U.S. government and civil society prepare for the fourth periodic review of the United States’ compliance with its obligations under the covenant, this program will examine the history and impact of U.S. ratification and engagement with the U.N. Human Rights Committee, which monitors its compliance with the covenant and will look ahead at the possibilities for ensuring U.S. accountability for its human rights commitments.

Click here to view the conference agenda.

Engaging with UN Human Rights Mechanisms 

Friday, June 3, 2011
Skadden, Arps

Co-sponsored by: 

Columbia Law School's Human Rights Institute
Human Rights Watch
American Civil Liberties Union
United Nations Association of the USA

This program explored strategies for U.S. lawyers to effectively engage with UN human rights mechanisms as a means of furthering domestic social justice advocacy efforts. Participants received a grounding in the international human rights system and mechanisms as well as an understanding of strategies for engagement with civil society and government and challenges of local implementation and follow-up.

Click here to view the conference agenda.

Ethics & Domestic Human Rights Lawyering

Friday, June 4, 2010
Skadden, Arps

Co-sponsored by:
Center for Constitutional Rights
Center for Reproductive Rights
National Economic and Social Rights Initiative

This training explored whether and how the adoption of a human rights framework in the domestic advocacy setting shapes a lawyer’s ethical responsibilities.

Click here to view the conference agenda.

Human Rights & State Law: New Strategies for Economic Justice Advocacy

April 17, 2009
Skadden, Arps

Co-sponsored by:
Northeastern Law School, Program on Human Rights in the Global Economy
National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Social Welfare Committee
The American Society of International Law

This training explored the use of transnational standards in developing state law jurisprudence to protect economic and social rights such as health and housing, as well as non-litigation human rights legal strategies in advocating for economic justice. 

Click here to view the conference agenda.

Please see below for copies of the PowerPoint presentations used at the conference.

Kyle Courtney, Session V: 'Introduction to International and Foreign Legal Research'

The United States and the Inter-American Human Rights System

April 7, 2008
Skadden, Arps

Co-sponsored by:
Center for Justice and International Law
American Society for International Law

When advocacy in civil and human rights cases is unsuccessful in U.S. courts, lawyers sometimes turn to the Washington, D.C. based Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) as an alternate forum to air their clients’ grievances. This CLE training focused on how this tribunal affects U.S.-based advocacy.

Click here to view the agenda.

Comparative Foreign Law in US Courts & Advocacy

April 19, 2007
Columbia Law School

Co-sponsored by:
Northeastern Law School, Program on Human Rights in the Global Economy
The American Society of International Law

Over the past few terms, the Supreme Court and other U.S. courts have shown a growing interest in comparative foreign law arguments. This all-day CLE program was designed for domestic public interest lawyers considering when and how to incorporate foreign sources into domestic litigation and advocacy. The program provided an overview of the Supreme Court’s use of foreign law, considered the controversy and debate around the use of such sources arguments, and examined case studies of legal strategies using foreign sources. The session concluded with a skill-building session on how to conduct foreign law research.

Experts on the use of foreign legal sources led the sessions, providing insight into judicial attitudes towards such sources and strategic considerations in their use in different U.S. forums. Click here to view the conference agenda.