Gruber Project for Global Justice and Women’s Rights
The Gruber Project for Global Justice and Women’s Rights supports clinical and experiential learning initiatives at Yale Law School that foster student and faculty participation in direction efforts to advance global justice and/or women’s rights. Currently, the Gruber Project supports five initiatives.
Students in the Beshar/Lehner Gender Violence Clinic represent survivors of domestic violence in Superior Court, in both civil and criminal matters, and also at the Connecticut legislature. The clinic is based at the New Haven Legal Assistance Association (LAA), a non-profit legal services office, whose mission is to secure justice for and protect the rights of those low-income residents of New Haven County who would otherwise be unable to secure legal representation. The clinic is a legal resource for survivors of domestic violence and their families.
The Global Health Justice Partnership (GHJP) is an innovative, interdisciplinary program hosted jointly by Yale Law School and Yale School of Public Health which are working at the interface of human rights, health, and social justice. GHJP seeks to train the next generation of scholars and practitioners to tackle the complex, interdisciplinary challenges of global health justice.
The Yale Immigration Justice Project (YIJP) is the new name for the Asylum Seekers Assistance Project. YIJP stands in solidarity with immigrants in New Haven and across the United States and supports community organizations working on immigrants’ rights issues in the Greater New Haven area. In addition, YIJP works with local, regional, and national immigrants’ rights organizations, including ASAP National, on strategic litigation, direct services, and advocacy surrounding immigrant justice.
The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) organizes law students and lawyers to develop and enforce a set of legal and human rights for refugees and displaced persons. IRAP serves the world’s most persecuted individuals and empowers the next generation of human rights leaders mobilizing direct legal aid and systemic policy advocacy.
Lastly, the Reproductive Rights and Justice Project and Clinic (RRJP Clinic) is a legal clinic open to YLS students starting in the second semester of their first year. Its purpose is to expose the students to litigation and other forms of advocacy in this highly contested area of the law, confronting them with the substantive constitutional law questions as well as knotty procedural problems that arise in our area, an area where established doctrine is under siege. Students learn how to advocate for clients who are often vilified by opponents as well as some members of the press and judiciary, learning the vital importance of client confidentiality, as well as the impact of political movement strategy and management of press and public messaging. Also, as an initiative of the Program for the Study of Reproductive Justice, RRJP organizes lectures, closed working roundtable sessions, as well as panels and conferences that are open to all.
Past projects have also included support to the Veterans Legal Services Clinic that provides litigation and advocacy work on behalf of the Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN). This work is aimed at persuading the U.S. Department of Defense to vigorously address military sexual trauma within the ranks.