Program Overview

Introduction to the INHR Program

The INHR Program offers Berkeley Law J.D. students the opportunity to participate in a unique experiential education experience in Geneva. This program is designed to provide students with hands-on experience working with the United Nations and the Human Rights Council.

Program Details

• The program takes place over two semesters, with a 1-unit seminar taught by Eric Richardson, president of INHR, in the fall of the student's 2nd or 3rd year of law school.
• During the fall semester, students learn about the United Nations and the Human Rights Council.
• Each student is assigned a country and works with that country's UN delegation during the subsequent spring semester in Geneva.
• Students draft interventions, statements, and reports for their delegation and represent their respective country at the Human Rights Council, held annually in February and March.

Eligibility and Application

• Eligible students can earn 8-12 units of law school credit while conducting a field placement.
• Interested students must take the INHR seminar offered every fall before participating in the away field placement.
• Applications are due on a specified date, and students should start by scheduling an advising appointment.

About INHR

• INHR is a non-profit organization that helps small and mid-sized states gain access to the United Nations.
• The organization aims to level the U.N. policy playing field by building the capacity of smaller organizations and delegations so that they can better advance their perspectives.

About the Instructor

• Eric Richardson is a lawyer, a former diplomat, and INHR's Founding President.
• He has served the U.S. Government working in and on China, North Korea, Libya, Tunisia, New Zealand, and Israel, and headed the U.S. team at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
• He draws on his education at Stanford and his work as a regulatory attorney in Washington, D.C. to lead INHR's artificial intelligence (AI) mediation efforts and teaches law at the University of Michigan and University of California Berkeley Law Schools.

Field Placement Program

• The Field Placement Program is governed by ABA Standard 304: Study Outside the Classroom and Berkeley Law Academic Rule 3 – the 295 Series – (c) Limitations.
• The program includes:
  • Testimonials
  • How to Apply
  • Judicial Externships
  • Civil Field Placements
  • Criminal Field Placements
  • Away Field Placements
    • The Hague
    • INHR Program
    • UCDC Law Program
  • For Supervisors and Host Organizations
    • BACE: Bay Area Consortium on Externships
  • Administrative Rules
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Field Placement Program Evaluation Database

Previous Participants

• Previous students have worked with the ambassadors of Afghanistan, The Bahamas, Fiji, The Marshall Islands, The Maldives, Costa Rica, and Sierra Leone.