Human Rights Courses

Instructor: Eric Stover

This seminar will provide an opportunity to write a paper suitable for publication. The written product could examine topics within the broad categories of legal accountability, transitional justice, war crimes, health and human rights, climate change, gender-based violence, the rights of LGBTI persons, counter-terrorism policies, gun violence, forensics, human trafficking, and migrant and refugee rights. The seminar will begin with a discussion of how to create the architecture and content for excellent scholarly writing. For the bulk of the semester, we will host a range of guest lecturers including legal scholars, journalists, and editors who will advise students on engaging writing techniques and how to prepare their work for publication. Students will also present drafts of certain sections of their papers for in-class feedback and discussion. Over the semester, participants will draft a 30-page piece of academic writing, such as a chapter for a Masters or Ph.D. dissertation, an article for an academic journal, or a long-form journalistic piece. The course is designed for JD, LLM, JSD and Ph.D. candidates from the JSP programs, as well as graduate students from other departments and schools. The final product can be used to meet Berkeley Law’s writing requirement. The course requirements will be weekly readings, including a careful reading of the works-in-progress of their classmates, active class participation, and the submission of a final, polished paper (with at least one complete revision). Students should have a topic(s) in mind for the writing workshop. Please feel free to reach out to Professor Eric Stover (stovere@berkeley.edu) during the registration period.