News

The United Nations Human Rights Council has appointed Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, University Regents Professor and holder of the Robina Chair in Law, Public Policy, and Society, as the U.N.’s Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism.

The University of Minnesota Board of Regents has named Fionnuala Ní Aoláin a Regents Professor of Law. The designation, granted earlier this month, is the highest level of recognition given to faculty by the University.

“Professor Ní Aoláin’s contributions to the human rights field around the world have not only been extremely impactful, they’re inspiring,” said University President Eric Kaler. “She exemplifies the qualities of teaching, research, and scholarship that this honor requires, and I congratulate her on this well-deserved distinction.”

A team of Law School students won the 2017 Clara Barton International Humanitarian Law (IHL) Competition, which is conducted by the American Red Cross. Students Peter Grenzow, Brendan Delany, and Amanda McAllister, all 3Ls, traveled to Washington, D.C., for the competition.

The Law School team defeated UCLA in the semifinals and the U.S. Air Force Academy in the finals. The semifinal topic centered on the legality of autonomous weapons. In the finals, participants simulated a war crimes trial at the International Criminal Court.

Five students from the Human Rights Litigation and International Advocacy Clinic—Amanda McAllister (’17), Mary Beall (’18), Myounghee (Denise) Choung (’18), Kathryn Marquis Hirsch (’18), and Jonathan Mansker (’18), along with Professor Jennie Green—recently travelled to Geneva to observe and participate in the periodic review of Sri Lanka during the 66th session of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.

Third-year Law School students Rachel Molsberry and Katie Ziomek have each been awarded two-year postgraduate fellowships through Equal Justice Works, a nonprofit organization whose mission is “mobilizing the next generation of lawyers committed to equal justice.” Molsberry will spend the term of her fellowship at Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid’s office in Willmar, Minn., working to develop a medical-legal partnership. Ziomek will work for the Battered Women’s Justice Project in Minneapolis.

Third-year Law School students Shannon Jankowski and Amanda McAllister have been selected to receive 2016-17 Benjamin B. Ferencz Fellowships in Human Rights and Law. The fellowships, which are awarded by World Without Genocide, an organization based at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, are named in honor of international human rights advocate Benjamin B. Ferencz.

The Law Library’s Stefan A. Riesenfeld Rare Books Research Center has opened a new exhibit, “Transitional Justice in Historical Perspective,” that illuminates theories and moments of transitional justice from high medieval Europe through the war crimes trials that followed World War II. The exhibit was created as part of the Human Rights Center’s recent Transitional Justice Week and will be open through spring.

Anne Dutton (’16) has been awarded a two-year postgraduate fellowship through Equal Justice Works, a nonprofit organization whose mission is “mobilizing the next generation of lawyers committed to equal justice.” Dutton will spend the term of her fellowship working at the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies at UC Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, representing child asylum seekers in jurisdictions that deny children's claims at rates significantly above the national average.

Executive vice president and provost Karen Hanson has announced that the University of Minnesota’s first Grand Challenges Grants, totaling $3.6 million in support, have been awarded to 29 teams of faculty from across the Twin Cities campus. The interdisciplinary teams include five principal investigators (PIs) from the Law School faculty: Professors Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Myron Orfield, Hari Osofsky, Francis Shen, and Susan Wolf. Working in alignment with Driving Tomorrow, the campus’s overarching strategic plan, the teams will address critical challenges facing Minnesota and the world.

Brendan Delany (’17) has been named the winner of the 2016 Admiral John S. Jenkins Prize for Excellence in Military Studies for his essay “Just Wars with Unjust Allies: Use of Force and Human Rights Considerations on the Russian Intervention in Syria.” The essay competition is conducted by the National Institute of Military Justice and is open to all students of military law who have not yet completed their J.D. studies. Submissions are judged by a committee of law professors and practitioners.