IIIL Certificate Program

To recognize those students who have demonstrated a deep interest and scholastic achievement in the areas of international law or immigration law, the faculty of Thurgood Marshall School of Law has approved the implementation of a Certificate Program in International and Immigration Law.

The law school will award the Certificate in International Law and Immigration Law to graduating students who pursue and successfully complete a balanced course of study combining the procedural, substantive, and practical aspects of either international law or immigration law.

In order to complete a concentration and receive a certificate a student must complete at least 15 hours of international/immigration law while maintaining an overall GPA of 2.75 and a GPA of 3.00 in the concentration courses.

Required courses:
In addition to all required law school courses, concentration students will be required to take one of two core curriculum classes: Law 760 International Law or Law 755- Immigration Law. In addition to the core courses students must take at least one other courses from the following list**. Course credit hours are in parenthesis:

• Foreign Policy and the Constitution
• International Litigation (2)
• International Tax (2)
• International Human Rights (3)
• Comparative Law (2)
• International Economic Law (3)
• International Law (3)
• International Business Transactions (3)
• Immigration Law (3)
• Asylum and Refugee Law (3)
• Employment-Based Immigration (2)
• Criminal Law and Immigration (2)
• Defending Foreign Clients (2)
• International Criminal Law (2)
• Treaty Law (2)
• NAFTA (2)
• Naturalization and Citizenship (1)
• Family-Based Immigration (2)
• Introduction to U.S. Law for Foreign Lawyers (2)
• Basic Mexican Business Law (2)
• Immigration Seminar (TBA)
• Human Rights Seminar (TBA)
• Africa and International Law—issues (TBA)

** This is a partial list. Check with Directors for additional courses qualifying for certificate program.

The Institute also accepts limited credit from credit hours earned in the following clinics:

Civil Externship Clinic: Consulate of Mexico Program (Law School credit: 4, Credit toward certificate: 2)
Students will register in the Civil Externship Program and specify Consulate Clinic in registration materials.

The clinic is administered in conjunction with the Consulado General de Mexico. Students learn about the operations of the Mexican Consulate and assess legal problems of the Mexican community. Spanish language proficiency a plus.

Administrative Law Clinic: Immigration Law Concentration (Law School credit: 4, Credit toward certificate: 2)
Students will register in the Administrative Law Clinic and will concentrate in Immigration Law.

Students will provide immigration services to the Houston area; including representation in deportation proceedings and application for legal benefits. A faculty member will supervise the clinic with the assistance of practicing attorneys. Clinic students will prepare and file cases with the INS. This provides legal expertise to the communities impacted by immigration laws.

The Hague Program/Diplomatic Clinic (Law School Credit: 6, Credit toward certificate: 3)

Students taking part in this program are selected by a faculty panel to study and write on international criminal law and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. The program includes study of international criminal law and research in The Hague Netherlands.

In addition to the above clinics, students may take part in the American and Caribbean Law Initiative program as an extra-curricular activity. Thurgood Marshall along with the Eugene Dupuch Law School in the Bahamas, the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad and Tobago, Howard University School of Law, the Faculty of Law at the University of the West Indies in Barbados, Norman Manley Law School in Kingston, Jamaica , Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville, Florida Shepard Broad Law Center of Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida have formed a consortium dedicated to the study of domestic, international and comparative law issues involving several countries of the Caribbean. The Initiative allows for the networking among law schools as a resource for reviewing and evolving the law of participating nations, creating an innovative learning and high impact public service opportunity for students, create a means for the government officials, lawyers, judges and legal educators to learn from their diverse experiences, and create forums that bring experts from participating nations together regularly to address common interest and concerns. The work of the Initiative involves providing Caribbean legal authorities with a legal resource for information, analysis, and strategies in substantive areas of the law. Attorney Generals of various nations refer projects and legal issues to students to solve through research and collaboration. The Initiative also sponsors forums addressing international and comparative legal issues facing the Caribbean nations. The first was held in July of 2004 in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. The Official web-site of the American and Caribbean Law Initiative is www.fcsl.edu/acli/description/.

Completion of the IIIL Program
Students completing the IIIL program will be recognized at the Hooding Ceremony and receive a certificate signed by the Dean of the Law School and the Directors of the IIIL.