SEE COURSE DESCRIPTION
Professor: Baher Azmy, (973) 642-8291
Offered: Fall and spring semesters. Credits: 5
Introduction
The Civil Rights and Constitutional Litigation Clinic focuses on national security and human rights cases emerging from the "war on terror," including those raising issues related to the lawfulness of extraordinary rendition, torture and indefinite detention. His clinic has been heavily involved in the Guantanamo Bay habeas cases, is involved in litigation to protect the rights of immigrants, prisoners rights and to increase openness in government.
The Civil Rights & Constitutional Litigation Clinic has two complementary portions: a two-hour, one credit, weekly seminar focusing on procedural, evidentiary and ethical rules, as well as skills training; and a four-credit clinical component in which students work on real cases for real clients.
Clinical Law Practice
Students in the Civil Rights & Constitutional Litigation Clinic have interviewed and counseled clients, conducted trials and hearings, drafted pleadings and briefs, argued discovery and dispositive motions in court, engaged in settlement negotiations, and participated in mediation and arbitration. They have also assisted with legal training sessions for non-lawyers and may assist with consumer-related legislative work.
Recent representative cases in the Civil Rights & Constitutional Litigation Clinic are described below:
Clinic students and Professor Baher Azmy, as well as the ACLU of New Jersey, filed an employment discrimination lawsuit in federal court on behalf of a renowned aviation security expert and engineer suspended from the Transportation Security Administration on account of his Arab and Muslim heritage. The lawsuit raises discrimination and civil service protection claims for back wages, as well as Freedom of Information Act claims in order to allow the client to see the classified file supposedly containing the reasons for his termination.
Clinic students under the direction of Professor Baher Azmy and Scott Michelman, as well as the ACLU of New Jersey, filed a complaint against the Newark Police Department and several officers arising out of a series of abusive police efforts to bully, intimidate, and unlawfully arrest a member of the press in order to prevent him from exercising his constitutional right to report on a story that, while potentially embarrassing to the Newark Police Department, was of significant interest to the public. The complaint asserts violations of the First and Fourth Amendments, and New Jersey state law equivalents.
Clinic students and Professor Baher Azmy and Scott Michelman, along with the law firm Lowenstein Sandler, filed a Freedom of Information Act case on behalf of the Brazilian Voice, a Portuguese language newspaper, to compel the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to release documents regarding its practice of executing pre-dawn, warrantless raids of immigrants’ homes throughout the state of New Jersey.
The Seminar
The seminar is expressly devoted to learning the rules governing the process of litigation, from pleadings to post-trial motions. There is a particular emphasis on developing case theory, the strategic implications of procedural rules and their interaction with rules of evidence, substantive rules of law, and the Code of Professional Responsibility. Another component of the seminar is devoted to instruction in actual trial skills, and a substantial portion of the seminar grade is based on preparation for and performance during mock trial simulations. In addition to the seminar, students participate in weekly team meetings concerning the cases for which they are responsible.
The overall goal of both the seminar and clinical portion of the course is to improve writing, communication, negotiation and analytical skills that are critical to effective lawyering; to appreciate the importance of fact development and presentation; to become consistently self-conscious and self-critical about strategic decisions taken throughout the course of the litigation; and to contribute to a sense of responsibility about the capacity of the law and legal institutions to do justice.
Seminar and Clinic Hours
The Clinic requires an average of fifteen hours per week. Litigation demands will vary on a weekly basis, and students must have the flexibility to commit more extended hours in some weeks if necessary to meet court deadlines.