Derechos: Human Rights Listings

Pre-registration rates (by November 3, 2006):
Full program: $150 (includes materials and lunch)
Non-credit: $100 (includes materials and lunch)
Low-income: $50 (includes materials and lunch)
Students: $15 (includes lunch)

At-door registration rate:
Full program: $175 (includes materials and lunch*)
*depending on the number of day-of registrants, lunch may not be available.

Register online at http://www.ccr-ny.org/cle

or mail payment to:

ATTN: Lauren Melodia
Center for Constitutional Rights
666 Broadway, Seventh floor
New York, NY 10012

Please note: Hastings International and Comparative Law Review certifies that this activity has been approved for MCLE credit by the State Bar of California.

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The Agenda

Registration & sign-in (8:00-8:45) Coffee and a light breakfast will be served.

Welcome & opening remarks (8:45-9:00)

SESSION I: (9:00-9:50) Overview of the ATS and Other Statutes
Session I will provide an introduction to the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) and other laws used to enforce international human rights in U.S. courts. This panel will review the different requirements of the ATS, the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA), 28 U.S.C. 1331, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), the Anti-Terrorism Act, and state laws, including their respective requirements regarding violations, plaintiffs and defendants.

SESSION II: (10:00-10:50) ATS Case Development from Filártiga to Sosa
This session will trace the evolution of the ATS since the landmark 1980 decision in Filártiga v. Peña Irala, which found that the ATS permitted the Paraguayan family of a torture victim to sue in U.S. courts. This session will discuss constitutionality and interpretive issues of the ATS and review the development of cases brought in the 1980’s and 1990’s. The session will also include a careful review of the Supreme Court’s 2004 decision in Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, which confirmed the right of foreign victims of international human rights violations to sue in U.S. courts. The impact of specific aspects of the Sosa decision on ATS litigation will be emphasized.

SESSION III: (11:00-11:50) Direct and Indirect Liability
Session III will begin the day’s discussion of the theories of defendants’ potential liability. It will address direct liability for individuals and corporations, indirect liability, such as aiding and abetting liability, and command responsibility for both civilian and military officials.

SESSION IV: (12:00-12:50) Government Immunities
This Session will delve into governmental immunity defenses for foreign governments and officials, including diplomatic, head of state and consular immunities, and for the U.S. Government and officials, including the Westfall Act and other efforts to preclude judicial review, such as the state secrets privilege.

Lunch: (1:00-1:50) Roundtable discussion
Box lunches will be provided, and participants will have the opportunity to discuss pending issues facing ATS litigators with CLE faculty.

SESSION V: (2:00-2:50) Issues Particular to Corporations
This Session will closely examine legal issues unique to human rights cases against corporations, including corporate structure issues and theories of liability, such as aiding and abetting, conspiracy, joint venture, and agency. Specific issues relating to military contractors and suits against corporate officers will also be discussed.

SESSION VI: (3:00-3:50) General Defenses
Session VI will provide an in-depth review of the most common defenses to ATS and related claims, including the political question, act of state and comity doctrines, exhaustion of domestic remedies, forum non conveniens, and statutes of limitations.

SESSION VII: (4:00-4:50) Considerations in Preparing a Manageable Case
This Session will discuss practical issues pertaining to bringing an ATS case, including issues unique to representing victims of human rights abuses living in other countries, bringing class actions, gathering evidence, funding the litigation, and enforcing judgments.

RECEPTION (5:00-7:00) Please join us for more discussion, cocktails, and hors d’oeuvres.

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The Faculty

William Aceves is Professor of Law and Director of the International Legal Studies Program at California Western School of Law and a cooperating attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights. His latest book is The Anatomy of Torture: A Documentary History of Filártiga v. Peña-Irala (2006).

Almudena Bernabeu is the International Attorney at the Center for Justice & Accountability, where she focuses on the investigation and preparation of cases including those against Honduran and Salvadoran perpetrators.

Judith Brown Chomsky is a civil and human rights lawyer for the past 30 years and a cooperating attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights. She was lead counsel in Doe v. Karadzic and Doe v. Unocal, and is currently lead counsel in Wiwa v. Royal Dutch Petroleum.

Cindy Cohn is Legal Director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which handles impact litigation in the area of digital technology and civil liberties. She is co-counsel in Bowoto v. Chevron.

Rhonda Copelon is a Board Member of the Center for Constitutional Rights and Professor and Director of the International Women’s Human Rights Law Clinic at CUNY School of Law. She litigated Filártiga v. Peña-Irala and has contributed significantly to the recognition of international women’s rights.

Moira Feeney is a Staff Attorney and Media Coordinator for the Center for Justice & Accountability, lead CJA attorney in Doe v. Constant, and counsel in Jean v. Dorelian.

Katherine Gallagher is a Staff Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. Before joining CCR, she worked at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the trial section of the Office of the Prosecutor.

Jennie Green is a Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights and, for the past 15 years, has specialized in international human rights legal actions in U.S. courts and international bodies against multinational corporations, foreign officials and U.S. officials.

Matt Eisenbrandt is Legal Director of the Center for Justice & Accountability. He was lead counsel and a member of the trial teams in Doe v. Saravia and Chavez v. Carranza, as well as counsel in CJA suits concerning Haiti, Honduras and China.

Paul Hoffman is a partner in the law firm of Schonbrun, DeSimone, Seplow, Harris & Hoffman LLP and a cooperating attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights. He has been at the forefront of ATS litigation for the last 25 years and argued Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Maria LaHood is a Staff Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, where she works on cases seeking to hold government officials and corporations accountable for human rights violations, including Maher Arar v. Ashcroft et al., the first case to challenge "extraordinary rendition."

Naomi Roht-Arriaza is a Professor of Law at Hastings Law School, where she teaches international human rights, torts, and domestic and global environmental law and policy. She is the author of The Pinochet Effect: Transnational Justice in the Age of Human Rights (2005).