Student Opportunities

International Law Internships

With the support of its nearly $4 million special endowment, every year the Cox Center awards over $60,000 in internship grants to defray travel and living expenses for 25-30 summer internships, semester externships, and postgraduate fellowships with international organizations, foreign law firms, government agencies, or nonprofit organizations.

In addition, through the Klatsky Fellowship in Human Rights program, two law students are awarded $4,000 summer fellowships to work with Human Rights Watch in New York City or Washington, D.C.

We have dozens of dedicated internships all over the world. They include Interpol in France, the UN Office of Drugs and Crime in Vienna, international tribunals in The Hague, and the International Trade Center in Geneva, to name a few.

International Externship Program

Case Western Reserve University is one of the few law schools that allow students to obtain a full semester’s credit for interning at an international organization, NGO, or government agency on five continents, including several international criminal tribunals.

To date, more of our students (120) have interned at these tribunals than students from any other law school, and six of our students have obtained jobs in the Office of the Prosecutor, Defense, and Chambers of the Tribunals after graduation.

International Law Moot Court Teams

The world’s premier international law moot court competition is the Philip C. Jessup Competition—featuring 600 law schools from over 100 countries arguing a fictional case before the International Court of Justice.

In 2008, Case Western Reserve became just the second U.S. law school in the past 25 years to have won the Jessup World Championship. In 2011, Case Western won the award for the Best Brief in the World. The Case Western Reserve team has made it to the Final Round of the Regional Competition earning a trip to the international rounds seven of the past ten years.

Case Western Reserve also participates in the Willem Vis International Arbitration Moot Court Competition in Hong Kong and the International Criminal Court Moot Court Competition in The Hague.

Societies and Groups

International Law Society sponsors international law career and internship panels, international potluck dinners, international movie and music nights, and roundtables on breaking news topics.

The National Security and Law Society sponsors speakers, debates, and activities that offer students the opportunity to explore in depth all areas of national and global security, from immigration regulations to the USA Patriot Act.

The Canada-U.S. Law Institute Student Committee assists in all aspects of in the institute's programs, including meeting with distinguished speakers and practitioners; attending events in Ottawa, Washington D.C., Vancouver, Toronto, and Chicago; organizing the annual Experts Meetings and the annual conference; and hosting workshops to develop research papers and scholarly articles on Canada-U.S. relations.

The Henry T. King, Jr. Greater Cleveland International Lawyers Group has more than 100 active members and is one of the largest groups of U.S. lawyers engaged in international practice. Students are invited at no cost to attend monthly noontime presentations by leading lawyers in international and foreign legal practice at the renowned City Club of Cleveland. These gatherings offer students networking opportunities, show them the real world of international legal practice, and augment their scholarly pursuits with practical and contemporary information from a variety of global experts.