Transnational Disputes Clinic

About the Clinic

Students in the Transnational Disputes Clinic learn to use strategic litigation to influence the progressive development of the law. Clinic clients and partners include those appearing before international investor-state arbitral tribunals, national courts, such as U.S. federal courts, and other fora. Students learn key skills through acting as counsel for parties as well as for amici curiae in disputes that implicate the protection of fundamental rights.

"Helping students think like strategic litigators, working with partners and clients around the world to advance fundamental rights, is at the core of our clinic’s mission." - Ian Kysel, Founding Director of the Transnational Disputes Clinic and Assistant Clinical Professor of Law

Our world is deeply interconnected across countries and cultures and the law and legal practice is increasingly transnational. Students in the Transnational Disputes Clinic learn skills vital to successful lawyering and collaboration across borders through immersion in a strategic litigation practice aimed at promoting the progressive development of the law, and in particular law protecting fundamental rights. Depending on the individual or organizational client or partner, a Clinic matter might give students an opportunity to develop proficiency in international treaty law (such as a bilateral investment treaty, the International Covenants on Civil and Political and Economic Social and Cultural Rights, or the Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees), cross-border contracts and/or jurisprudence (such as a U.S. federal administrative agency interpretation of a treaty, the practices and policies of United Nations agencies, or the rulings of national courts around the world) alongside extensive work with a client or partners in order to craft a strategic litigation position or pleading aimed at expanding the protection of fundamental rights. Clinic matters show students through experiential pedagogy that the law is dynamic and that transnational legal practice can shape its development, with corresponding normative and ethical consequences.
Clinic students learn key legal skills, reflect on what distinguishes a strategic litigator, and practice integrating critical reflection on lawyering and the law into their clinical work. Clinic seminar sessions and case team supervision reflect a focus on:
- Adapting arguments to the substantive and procedural law applicable in different fora;
- Persuasive writing for transnational legal audiences;
- Interviewing and conducting factual research in multiple jurisdictions;
- Legal ethics and client-centered lawyering in transnational context;
- Strategic planning and case selection in work across legal systems;
- Understanding litigation risk across borders;
- Representing and coordinating with movements, coalitions, and networks;
- Funding strategic litigation campaigns;
- Legal ethics and client-centered lawyering in transnational context;
- Leveraging litigation for global and national policy impact, and to shift the public debate;
- Critical perspectives on international law and legal practice; and,
- Team work, self-care and work-life balance.
Students in the Transnational Disputes Clinic can also work with their clients for additional semesters through participation in an advanced clinic course and develop close relationships and new skills as matters move through multiple phases.

If you have a matter you would like to propose for clinic representation, please contact the Clinic’s Founding Director, Visiting Assistant Clinical Professor of Law Ian M. Kysel via email.

Projects and Cases

Clinic matters focus on advancing fundamental rights in strategic litigation in two areas. First on the clinic’s docket are matters drawn from a global collaboration advancing the rights of refugees through strategic litigation, the Global Strategic Litigation Council for Refugee Rights, cofounded by Professor Kysel in 2021 and supported by the Law School’s Migration and Human Rights Program. This includes ongoing litigation in U.S. federal court and recent interventions in the United States Supreme Court, courts in Mexico, Kenya, and the Inter-American Court on Human Rights.

Also on the clinic’s docket are matters before international investor-state arbitral tribunals, an area of the law that is rapidly developing. This includes an ongoing partnership with an organization contemplating bringing a treaty-based claim as well as a recent nondisputing party intervention on behalf of several human rights NGOs in a case pending at the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes.

Participation in the Transnational Disputes Clinic is open to 2Ls, 3Ls, and LLMs. The clinic includes a seminar component as well as extensive, supervised work as part of a case team. Beginning with a mandatory, intensive, presemester bootcamp, seminar sessions provide students with a foundation in substantive law, key lawyering skills, and the many ways to tackle strategic puzzles at the heart of complex transnational litigation — all while working as part of a small team staffed on a clinic matter. This approach gives students exposure to key skills at a pace that facilitates learning and deep engagement. A separate set of regular case rounds exposes students to a mode of collaborative legal work akin to that in a small transnational disputes practice, as do regular case team supervision meetings. Some matters may require travel, though any travel is optional and not guaranteed.
Students can apply to be part of the clinic through the Law School clinic registration process, which is organized by the registrar twice each year (usually in April and in October). Applicants must submit a resume, official transcript, unedited writing sample, and statement of interest indicating why they would like to practice in the clinic (this is particularly important) as part of the course registration process for a given semester. Students from communities and backgrounds underrepresented in transnational legal practice are encouraged to apply.

In addition to prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion, the clinic values students who are passionate, curious, committed, and ready to learn and work in teams on transnational matters. Students who have a demonstrated commitment to international law and legal practice (not limited to that shown by prior coursework, as past study is not mandatory), including in the areas of international human rights law, international refugee law, and international investment law are encouraged to apply. Foreign language proficiency can be helpful for certain matters.

In February, students in the Transnational Disputes Clinic filed a case in federal court against the Department of State, the FBI, and the CIA on behalf of their client, Ms. F. For more than ten years, Ms. F., a U.S. citizen whose family fled Afghanistan when she was a child, has sought to reunite in the United States with her husband, Mr. R, an Afghan citizen. Their family, which includes four U.S. citizen children, have suffered through war, displacement, and years of separation across three continents.

After the family was detained at Camp Bondsteel, a U.S. military base in Kosovo, for nearly a year, the U.S. government informed the family that Mr. R’s immigrant visa application—which had been in Administrative Processing for years—was denied. The boilerplate visa denial notice only referenced a broad statutory ground of inadmissibility without any further information.

This filing is the first step towards reuniting this family and ensuring they can live safely together in the U.S. Pictured from left: Ammar Inayatali ’24, Olive Monye ’25, Ifrah Qadir ’25, Professor Ian Kysel, Lucy Liu ’25, and Federica Fischetti ’24.
Cornell Transnational Disputes Clinic students Maria Giovanna Jumper ’24, Ifrah Qadir ’25, and Ammar Inayatali ’24, traveled to Washington, D.C. in April to watch the U.S. Supreme Court hear argument in United States v. Muñoz. The case raises the legal question of whether U.S. citizens are entitled to due process – including meaningful notice and judicial review – to challenge consular denials of immigrant visas to their spouses. The clinic filed an amicus brief in the case, which is contrary to the Biden administration’s arguments that affording U.S. citizens due process in visa denial cases is impractical, and would jeopardize the United States’ foreign relations and national security interests. If the Court accepts the Government’s arguments, the US would become a outlier on this issue internationally.
Maria Giovanna Jumper ’24 went to Warsaw, Poland, in fall 2023 to present work from the Advanced Transnational Disputes Clinic at the European Consultation on Strategic Litigation & Legal Advocacy for Refugee and Migrant Rights. Jumper presented select projects from the clinic, including the amicus work in Mexico last spring on the implementation of the Title 42 border policy and work advocating on behalf of Afghani detainees at Camp Bondsteel. The consultation involves litigators from around Europe, representatives from refugee groups, and representatives from NGOs and other advocacy groups working to support migrant and refugee rights. The consultation is sponsored by the Global Strategic Litigation Council, which is cohosted by Cornell.