Feminism & Gender Studies

Students interested in these areas can gain experiential training in clinics focused on domestic violence and women’s human rights. In the Domestic Violence Clinic, students represent victims of intimate abuse in civil protection order cases that often involve safety and housing provisions and temporary child custody, visitation, and support. Students learn the extensive family law provisions applicable to their cases, as well as civil procedure, legal ethics, and how to navigate the criminal justice system by working closely with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in prosecutions against their clients’ abusive partners.

The International Women’s Human Rights Clinic advances women’s human rights globally through partnerships with local women’s rights NGOs. Many of its partners are African lawyers who have completed their LL.M. degrees as part of Georgetown University’s Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa (LAWA) Program. Students have worked with local lawyers on projects such as constitutional challenges to sex discriminatory laws, human rights reports documenting abuses against women’s human rights, and proposed legislation to bring previously discriminatory laws into conformity with regional and international human rights law.