Gender Justice Clinic - Cornell Law School

Gender Justice Clinic - Cornell Law School
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Gender Justice Clinic
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Projects and Cases
Participating in the Cinic
News
Student Testimonials
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Projects and Cases
Participating in the Cinic
News
Student Testimonials
Contact
The Gender Justice Clinic engages in local, national, and global efforts to address gender-based violence and discrimination. Issues covered include intimate partner violence, sexual assault, gender-based violence in institutional settings, discrimination at work and in the criminal legal system, and discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation, among others.
"Not only does the Gender Justice Clinic help prepare students to become effective and culturally competent advocates, but it also gives students the opportunity to make a difference in the world on behalf of their clients and the causes they care about.” ~Lindsey Ruff, J.D. ’19
Projects and Cases
The Gender Justice Clinic is representing twenty-seven former service members who were sexually assaulted while serving in the U.S. military in a petition before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, as well as in related advocacy before the United Nations.
The petitioners had faced retaliation from their chain of command for reporting the incidents, and none received sufficient access to judicial remedies. These cases are the first brought by survivors of sexual violence against the United States before an international human rights tribunal.
Learn more about the clinic’s efforts on military sexual assault
The clinic is engaged in a multifaceted project in collaboration with and in support of people working in the sex trades. The clinic works in collaboration with grassroots, sex worker-led organizations such as the Upstate New York Sex Worker Coalition on mutual aid and other community organizing projects. Among other activities, the clinic has partnered with Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic on a legal explainer of the 2018 Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), which criminalized the posting or hosting of sex work ads online, incentivized online suppression of sex worker organizing, and made working in the sex trades more dangerous. The clinic also contributed to an amicus brief in a lawsuit challenging FOSTA, made a submission to the International Commission of Jurists on the harms of criminalization of the sex trades, conducted research and policy analysis to support grassroots responses to issues impacting Asian American and Asian migrant sex workers, and developed harm reduction resources for people in the sex trades responding to stigma and criminalization. Earlier clinic work included policy advocacy, legal training, and fact-finding on issues relating to sex work and human trafficking in India, Tanzania, and Kenya.
The clinic represents individual clients in matters relating to gender rights violations in the workplace. For example, the clinic and Syracuse Disability Rights clinic
settled a pregnancy discrimination case
on behalf of their client, following nearly three years of litigation and negotiation. Clinic members and their community partners have also developed a model
Domestic Violence and the Workplace Policy and Toolkit
, which has assisted public and private employers in supporting employees who are experiencing domestic violence.
The clinic and its partners have engaged in research and advocacy relating to gender discrimination in the criminal legal system and in prison. With its community and Cornell partners, the clinic has published reports focusing on
barriers to justice for domestic violence survivor defendants in New York State
and the
causes, conditions, and consequences of women’s imprisonment in Argentina
. It has supported the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women with research on the causes, consequences, and conditions of women’s imprisonment globally and contributed to studies of these issues in Jamaica and Sierra Leone. The clinic has also collaborated with the Transgender Law Center to develop legal resources for pro se litigants who are transgender and incarcerated.
The Gender Justice Clinic, in collaboration with the Advocacy Center of Tompkins County, successfully advocated for the adoption of six local government resolutions in Tompkins County, New York, declaring that freedom from domestic violence is a fundamental human right (
read the clinic’s policy paper
). In adopting these resolutions, Tompkins County joined a growing number of communities across the United States that have embraced a human rights approach to domestic violence prevention and response. (
Read more about the resolutions and national momentum here
.)
In the years following the adoption of these resolutions, clinic students have undertaken a number of initiatives, including community outreach and education, legislative advocacy, and policy development aimed at implementing the right to be free from domestic violence that was recognized in Tompkins County’s resolutions.
In collaboration with its community partners, Women and Law in Southern Africa in Zambia and the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, in South Africa, the clinic has conducted investigations into and published reports on the problem of sexual violence and harassment against children in schools in Zambia and South Africa. With the Human Rights Clinic at the University of Nairobi, the clinic hosted a high-level workshop on sexual violence against schoolchildren in Kisumu, Kenya. Read the
report on school-based sexual violence in Zambia
and the
report on school-based sexual violence in South Africa
The clinic is collaborating with the Southern African Institute for Policy and Research (SAIPAR) to develop the first-ever legal practice guide for judges and lawyers on anti-gender-based violence law in Zambia. This project builds upon a Cornell-SAIPAR collaboration on a
juvenile law handbook
, which was released in partnership with the Zambian judiciary and distributed to magistrates and prosecutors throughout the country. The clinic also worked with the Global Justice Center in drafting regional anti-GBV legislation for the Karen Women’s Organization and Karen National Union in southern and southeastern Myanmar.
The clinic is collaborating with the Kashmir Scholars Consultative and Action Network on a report that considers gender and human rights issues in Kashmir following India’s August 2019 abrogation of Articles 370 and 35 of the Indian Constitution. The clinic has also recently conducted research on gender-based violence for an international criminal tribunal.
The Gender Justice Clinic and International Human Rights Clinic supported the Women’s Organization Network of Myanmar in preparing a report for submission to the United Nations CEDAW Committee on women’s reproductive rights, political participation, and the rights of rural women in Myanmar. With the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), the clinic submitted a report to the CEDAW Committee on the gender-related dimensions of disaster risk reduction and climate change and made a submission to the Government of Nepal on protecting women’s reproductive rights in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake. The clinic and CRR also prepared an amicus brief on access to contraception in support of a public interest litigation case in India and worked together on a regional litigation workshop on access to emergency contraception for sexual violence survivors.
The Gender Justice Clinic has represented survivors of gender-based violence in their claims for asylum or other immigration relief, sometimes in collaboration with the Asylum and CAT Appellate Clinic or Farmworker Legal Assistance Clinic.
"The clinic afforded a hands-on experience and gave me a better understanding of the challenges of translating human rights norms into concrete actions." ~Lilla Osztrovszki, LL.M. ’16
Participating in the Clinic
The clinic contributes to efforts to advance gender justice while preparing students to become thoughtful and effective legal advocates. Under faculty supervision, students work in teams on cases and projects that focus on a variety of issues relating to gender justice. These may include, among others:
Intimate partner violence
Military sexual assault
Gender-based violence in schools, prisons, and other institutional settings
Gender-based discrimination at work
Gender-based discrimination in the criminal justice system
Discrimination based on sexual identity or sexual orientation
Violence and discrimination against people who work in the sex industries
Immigration protection for survivors of gender-based violence
Reproductive rights, maternal health, and obstetric violence
The clinic’s work also addresses the relationship between gender injustice and other multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and violence.
The clinic pursues a diverse range of advocacy strategies, which vary from semester to semester.
Clinic members may provide legal advice and representation to individuals who have experienced gender-based violence or discrimination. They may also participate in regional or international litigation, engage with human rights bodies, advocate for legal or policy change, conduct fact-finding, or contribute to legal training and community education initiatives.
The clinic seeks to contribute to efforts to advance gender justice while preparing students to become thoughtful and effective legal advocates. Over the course of the semester, students will have the opportunity to:
Deepen their knowledge of one or more new areas of substantive law relating to gender-based violence and discrimination;
Develop a critical understanding of gaps in the law or its implementation and of underlying policy debates;
Gain experience in effectively researching and analyzing legal issues relevant to gender-justice advocacy, and in drafting well-crafted and persuasive legal advocacy documents;
Develop and apply other important lawyering skills, such as interviewing, client counseling, fact investigation, trauma-informed practice, case or project management, or trial advocacy;
Examine the role that gender, race, ethnicity, class, culture, and other intersecting factors can play in client representation, our legal system, and society;
Identify ethical issues that arise in gender justice advocacy and understand how to address them;
Learn how to collaborate effectively with other clinic students, clinic supervisors, and community partners; and
Gain practice in evaluating and critically reflecting upon their professional role and work, and in continually learning from their experiences.
Students in the Gender Justice Clinic work as part of a team on one or more cases or projects. They meet with their team and supervisor at a regularly scheduled weekly meeting and at other times as needed. Clinic students often engage in off-campus travel and sometimes travel out of state or internationally to meet with clients, participate in hearings, or participate in factfinding or advocacy. Students also participate in a weekly seminar that includes classes on lawyering skills, substantive law and policy relating to the clinic’s work, and case rounds and other opportunities to reflect critically on our collective work. Students may enroll in the clinic for 4 or 6 credits, depending on the number of projects undertaken, with each credit counting for approximately 42.5 hours of work, including time spent in seminar class and team meetings.
Advanced clinic students are students who have participated in the Gender Justice Clinic in a previous semester or over the summer. These students participate in case and project work and provide guidance and leadership to new clinic students. Advanced clinic students may take the clinic for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 credits, the number to be determined in consultation with the clinic instructor(s), depending on the work undertaken, with each credit counting for approximately 42.5 hours of clinic work. Advanced clinic members are required to attend weekly team meetings and are asked to attend certain meetings of the Gender Justice Clinic (about four per semester), course schedules permitting. In case of scheduling conflicts with the Gender Justice Clinic seminar or in a semester where the Gender Justice Clinic is not offered, separate case round meetings may be scheduled for advanced clinic students.
To apply, students may submit a CV, transcript, and brief statement of interest in the
online application process on the current student community site
On March 8, 2024, International Women’s Day, Cornell Gender Justice members Cailley Silbert ’24 (left) and Pilar Gonzalez Navarrine ’24 (right), along with Professor Liz Brundige, spoke to more than 50 high school students at the Charles O. Dickerson High School in Trumansburg, NY, about using human rights to advance gender justice. The event was hosted by the high school’s Global Humanism Club under the leadership of its advisor, English teacher Jane George, and its president, Greta Garrison (center), who is also a volunteer RA for the Gender Justice Clinic.
Clinic students Reese Tintaya ’24 (right) and Pilar Gonzales Navarrine ’24 (left) exploring the Palais de Nations, headquarters of the U.N. in Geneva, during a fall 2024 trip. The students — along with faculty Liz Brundige and Lorelei Lee — presented
recommendations on advocacy for victims of military sexual assault and sex workers’ rights in hearings before the U.N. Human Rights Committee
Professors Lorelei Lee (left) and Elizabeth Brundige (right) at the
Gender Justice Clinic’s trip to Geneva, Switzerland
, in fall 2023.
Clinic members raise awareness about the experience of domestic violence and the role of community members in domestic violence prevention and response.
Clinic student Florence Seaman, J.D. ’16 (foreground center), with clinic client Stephanie Schroeder (foreground left), presenting on the issue of military sexual assault during the U.N. Committee Against Torture’s review of the United States in Geneva, Switzerland.
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Student Testimonials
“Contributing to the Gender Justice Clinic was the most meaningful aspect of my law school career. I really enjoyed working in a collaborative environment and gaining practical experience on behalf of issues of personal importance to me, including gender-based violence, sex workers’ rights, and the rights of trans folks who are incarcerated. Not only does the Gender Justice Clinic help prepare students to become effective and culturally competent advocates, but it also gives students the opportunity to make a difference in the world on behalf of their clients and the causes they care about.”
~Lindsey Ruff, J.D. ’19
“Working with the Gender Justice Clinic has been a highlight of my time in law school. It has given me the chance to see how I can do legal work in a way that fully incorporates the values and commitments I brought to law school, and to work in service to the communities I come from. Professor Brundige’s careful and thoughtful guidance has helped me understand how to develop a project that best serves client goals while grappling with the many ambiguities that can arise when doing legal work. This kind of community-focused work is exactly the experience I sought in pursuing a legal career. Further, clinical work has vastly improved my legal reasoning, analytical skills, writing, and ability to shape a project with a group and to see it through from start to finish. I’m tremendously grateful to have had this opportunity at Cornell.”
~ L. Lee, J.D. ’20
“My experience in the Gender Justice Clinic played a pivotal role in deepening my understanding of international human rights in the context of the U.N. system. I worked on a project in which the clinic and the International Human Rights Clinic collaborated to assist a women’s organization in Myanmar to prepare a submission to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. The clinic afforded a hands-on experience and gave me a better understanding of the challenges of translating human rights norms into concrete actions. The work that I did in the clinic allowed me to proceed seamlessly from law school to a summer fellowship and then my current position with the Mission of Hungary to the United Nations. The Gender Justice Clinic also provided a supportive community that you can turn to with questions, concerns, and ideas, which is so valuable in learning how to be an effective lawyer.”
~ Lilla Osztrovszki, LL.M. ’16
Contact the Clinic Faculty
Elizabeth Brundige
Clinical Professor of Law
Email:
eb456@cornell.edu
Phone:
(607) 254-4768
Type:
Permanent
Cornell Law School
156 Hughes Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853-4901
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