With the formal establishment of the International Development Law Center in July 2022, UC Law SF now has a permanent home for international grant activities. The mission of the Center is to share international development expertise while providing research and learning opportunities for UC Law SF students, professors, and graduates.
The Center seeks and implements international projects in a variety of subject areas, including food and agriculture, sustainable development, and legal education. Established with the explicit objective of collaborating across disciplines and cultures, the Center pursues links with other academic and research organizations, increasing the law school’s global footprint while generating international contacts and opportunities for the UC Law SF community.
Past and ongoing projects have benefited from funding by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), Pacific Community (SPC), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) of the US State Department, and the U.S. Embassy in Ghana.
Recognizing that law is a key tool to tackle the world’s problems, the International Development Law Center seeks to inspire and provide concrete opportunities for the next generation of international development practitioners.
As Faculty Director of the International Development Law Center, I am pleased to continue sharing my passion for international development work with UC Law SF
The Center had a busy first year, welcoming law faculty and lawyers from Ghana and Kosovo to San Francisco under two new grants, and deploying several of our faculty and other experts to our partner law schools: the University of Professional Studies, Accra, in Ghana, and the University of Prishtina, in Kosovo. We also hosted a training-of-trainers symposium for representatives of these schools as well as from our partner law school in Haiti.
Future goals for the Center include involving more UC Law SF students, faculty, and alumni in international projects, exposing law students to the world of international grants, and, most importantly, inspiring students and alumni to pursue careers in international development.
I have been gratified to see the interest on the part of our students, faculty, and alumni and to feel the support of the law school. I look forward to another strong year ahead
Sincerely,
JESSICA VAPNEK FACULTY DIRECTOR
Weweredelightedtobeentrustedwith grantfundsfromtheU.S.State DepartmentBureauofInternational NarcoticsandLawEnforcementAffairs inKosovo,theU.S.EmbassyinGhana, theU.N.FoodandAgriculture Organization,theWorldOrganization forAnimalHealth,andthePacific Communitythisyear.Withthissupport, UCLawSFissharingbestpracticesand learningfromitsinternationalpartners. Weworkedonthefollowingprojects thisyear:
EXPANDINGANDIMPROVING PRACTICALLEGALEDUCATIONIN KOSOVO
UNIVERSITYPARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE,GHANA
DEVELOPMENTOFATRIPARTITE ONEHEALTHASSESSMENTTOOL FORAMR-RELEVANTLEGISLATION STRENGTHENINGLEGALCAPACITY OFPACIFICISLANDCOUNTRIES ANDTERRITORIES
The Center would like to thank the US State Department Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) for awarding a competitive grant to UC Law SF to support a partnership with the University of Prishtina in Kosovo In October, UC Law SF's Dean of Experiential Learning Gail Silverstein, Prof Betsy Candler, and an independent expert, Bob Dean, traveled to Kosovo to kick off the project The UC Law SF team met with representatives from three Kosovar law schools as well as with public advocacy groups and law school graduates The team reviewed curriculum, conducted training-oftrainers for Kosovar law professors, discussed incorporating legal analysis into doctrinal courses, and evaluated the legal clinics.
Next, the Dean of the University of Prishtina and two faculty colleagues spent a week in San Francisco in January, observing numerous clinics, participating in roundtables with doctrinal faculty, and debriefing after attending law school classes The group also met with public defenders and prosecutors in San Francisco and with clinical faculty at Berkeley Law School.
In May, two additional faculty, Linda Tam of Berkeley Law School and UC Law SF Associate Dean of Global Programs Binyamin Blum, travelled to Kosovo to continue discussing clinical legal education and incorporating skills into doctrinal classes.
The year's activities culminated in an international training-of-trainers symposium in San Francisco, covering mediation, human rights, and restorative justice. Two faculty members from the University of Prishtina spent a week in San Francisco in May/June participating in the symposium, along with representatives of Ghana and Haiti. A third Kosovar faculty member presented live on Zoom.
The Pacific Community (SPC) is an intergovernmental organization of Pacific nations. UC Law SF continued implementing a generous grant from SPC this year under the umbrella of a memorandum of understanding signed between our two institutions. Faculty Director of the International Development Law Center Jessica Vapnek, with support from several UC Law SF students and two graduates, has been working closely with the SPC this year developing and implementing an online asynchronous legislative drafting course.
Throughout the fall semester, Professor Vapnek, Peter Boaz '14, and Alex Sauerwein '20 graded assignments submitted by fisheries and legal officers from the Pacific Region.
Subsequently, with support from the grant, Professor Vapnek was able to travel to New Caledonia for an international workshop. The workshop brought together the first cohort of government officials from across the Pacific Region who had taken the online legislative ourse. The workshop cemented learning ed sharing of best practices from around n.
al students before her, Current JD iulia Marchi has begun a remote p with the SPC, where she will focus on nd American Samoan legislation on e fisheries,
I feel fortunate to have an externship for the SPC where I can work at the intersection of human rights, gender, and environment.
GIULIA MARCHIThe UC Law SF community and the International Development Law Center are grateful to the U.S. Embassy in Ghana for awarding us a grant under the University Partnership Initiative. Through this grant, the young and dynamic law school at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) has partnered with UC Law SF. Clinical legal education is one area of collaboration: UC Law SF has a robust and mature clinical program, while UPSA's is only just being launched.
This year, Professor Linda Tam of Berkeley Law School, a clinical legal education expert, and Professor Victor Ayeni of Adekunle Ajasin University in Nigeria, an expert in African human rights, travelled to Ghana in February under the auspices of the grant. Both lectured to faculty and students, while also reviewing curriculum. Professor Tam evaluated the school's existing plans for legal clinics and shared best practices for establishing, managing, and evaluating legal clinics. Professor Ayeni gave a public lecture on LGBTQI rights in Africa.
In April, UC Law SF Professor Stefano Moscato travelled to Ghana to support UPSA as it shifts toward a more analytical skills-based curriculum, while in May, UC Law SF affiliated expert Dyann Heward-Mills gave a public lecture co-sponsored by UPSA and the Ghana Bar Association on data privacy trends in Ghana, Africa, and the world.
In May/June, two UPSA law professors travelled to San Francisco for the international symposium on restorative justice, mediation, and human rights. While here, they signed, on behalf of the UPSA law dean and UPSA vice chancellor, an agreement between our two law schools. Chancellor and Dean David Faigman of UC Law SF signed on behalf of UC Law SF.
The International Development Law Center was particularly pleased to work closely with the Indigenous Law Center this year. Professor Jo Carrillo, Faculty Director of the Indigenous Law Center, commissioned a video documentary to profile the first four students awarded restorative justice summer fellowships by UC Law SF to support their work with Native American tribes in Northern California. Faculty Director of the International Development Law Center Jessica Vapnek helped produce and edit the video, which is now playing on a permanent loop in the Commemorative Space on the ground floor of the 200 McAllister building.
The video can also be viewed on the webpage of the Indigenous Law Center: https://www.uchastings.edu/academics/centers/indigenous-law-center/
In January, the International Development Law Center supported a reception and launch party for the video, held in the Skyroom of the 100 McAllister building Attendees, including UC Law SF faculty and staff, members of the UC Law SF Board of Directors, and visitors from Kosovo and Ghana, were welcomed by Assistant Chancellor and Dean Jenny Kwon, Indigenous Law Center Faculty Director Jo Carrillo, and Associate Dean of Experiential Learning Gail Silverstein, who established the summer placements for the UC Law SF students.
The International Development Law Center looks forward to continuing its partnership with the Indigenous Law Center on other initiatives in the coming year.
In January, UC Law SF enthusiastically welcomed a few of our partners from Kosovo and Ghana to our campus. The delegation participated in a variety of activities over the week-long visit, including observing UC Law SF's clinics and lectures, attending roundtable discussions with doctrinal faculty, participating in training-of-trainer sessions, and visiting with U.S. prosecutors and public defenders. These activities provided the delegation with additional insight into the workings of the U.S. legal education system, information about American students’ clinical and experiential opportunities, and potential strategies for designing legal clinics and teaching legal analysis pervasively across the curriculum.
Throughout their visit, the delegation was accompanied by UC Law SF Adjunct Professor Geralyn Busnardo, who has extensive overseas experience including in the Balkans, generally, and in Kosovo, specifically. Current UC Law SF JD student Jillian Guernsey also worked alongside the delegation during the program.
Following the success of the January visit, the Center began to plan the more formal training-of-trainers symposium that took place in May/June 2023.
In June, UC Law SF was delighted to host our law school partners from Ghana, Haiti, and Kosovo for the International Human Rights, Mediation, & Restorative Justice Symposium The symposium took place under the auspices of generous grants from the U S Embassy in Haiti, the U.S. Embassy in Ghana, and the U.S. State Department Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) in Kosovo. For our Haitian partners, the symposium was the last activity under a U.S. Embassy grant (spearheaded by Prof. Kate Bloch) that the International Development Law Center has also been supporting
Throughout the 5 day symposium, representatives from the three countries shared information about the human rights situation, the approaches to restorative justice, and the uses of mediation in their legal systems. UC Law SF faculty and other experts provided models and strategies for developing clinical curriculum in these three substantive areas, and participants outlined their plans to implement - once they returned to their home institutions - what they found useful from their symposium experience
At the end of the symposium, we had built an uncommon friendship with others and also acquired considerable knowledge from the program, listening to various scholars on each subject.
PROFESSOR MAVIS KWAINOE UPSA LAW SCHOOL (GHANA)SpecialThanksTo:
SpeciDalThanks
