Summer Internships

Michigan Law provides various opportunities for non-credit international experience, in internships with NGOs in Cambodia, with leading refugee law agencies around the world, and with the AIRE Centre, a human rights organization in London.

Program in Refugee and Asylum Law

Prof. James Hathaway, Director of the Program in Refugee and Asylum Law

Established in 1998 by Professor James C. Hathaway, the Program in Refugee and Asylum Law offers the world's most comprehensive curriculum in this field. It provides for in-depth study of international and comparative refugee law, and for direct engagement with the process of international refugee law reform. The curriculum includes classes, a series of advanced seminars, an advanced refugee advocacy workshop, and a biennial Colloquium on Challenges in International Refugee Law, which brings leading scholars to the Law School to collaborate with student researchers. Top students in the program are awarded a Michigan Fellowship in Refugee and Asylum Law, which provides funding for a summer internship at one of the program's partner institutions (Amnesty International, London; Human Rights Watch, New York; Jesuit Refugee Service, Lilongwe, Malawi; and the New Zealand Refugee Status Appeals Authority, Auckland). Interested students should contact Prof. James Hathaway at jch@umich.edu.

Program for Cambodian Law and Development

The Program for Cambodian Law and Development provides an academic forum for the interdisciplinary study of Cambodian legal institutions and the role of law in the development process. The program's Pro Bono Cambodia Project provides supervised research assistance to groups working in Cambodia. Projects have included preparing a comprehensive election law report and drafting national legislation. The program offers summer internships in Cambodia, and in the last few years, students have worked with the UN Human Rights Center in Phnom Penh, Legal Aid of Cambodia, Cambodian Defenders Project, Cambodian Association for Human Rights, Cambodian Women's Crisis Center, and the Ministry of Commerce. Interested students may contact Prof. Nick Rine, program director, at nickrine@umich.edu.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

AIRE Centre

Established in 1993 and located in London, the AIRE (Advice on Individual Rights in Europe) Centre provides students with a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience litigating before the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union. The Centre focuses on all aspects of individual rights in Europe under international Law, particularly immigration and asylum law, related social assistance issues, family law, trafficking and domestic violence, and children’s rights. The Centre hosts interns from Michigan, Georgetown and Columbia law schools as well as from across Europe. Non-credit summer internships and externships for academic credit are available in the summer, fall and winter terms. Students interested in applying should contact Virginia Gordan, Assistant Dean for International Affairs, at vgordan@umich.edu.