On July 25, 2022, Bridget Arimond, Director of the LL.M. Program in International Human Rights at the Northwestern University School of Law, completed her two-week visit to Georgia. Professor Arimond is an expert in clinical education and was brought to Georgia by the USAID Rule of Law Program.

Professor Arimond primary focus was her work with the Ilia State University School of Law’s Human Rights Clinic and Human Rights Chair Program, including her participation in their annual strategic assessment and planning meeting with Law School Dean Irakli Porchkhidze. 

Professor Arimond also provided a training workshop to the combined clinic and Human Rights Chair team on how to conduct human rights advocacy before the committees established within the UN human rights system.  Following a similar training during her Summer 2021 visit to Georgia, the Ilia State Clinic put the training into practice by working with the NGO “Platform Salam” to contribute to the UN Human Rights Committee’s July 2022 review of Georgia’s compliance with its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.  

“Through their report and oral participation at the review session, the Ilia clinic and Platform Salam were able to effectively highlight discrimination against the Azerbaijani ethnic minority.  Building on this positive experience, and utilizing this summer’s training, the Ilia Clinic is well positioned to participate the upcoming review of Georgia by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.  I anticipate that the Ilia State Clinic will, more and more, incorporate international advocacy among the strategies they pursue,” said Professor Arimond. 

Another highlight of Professor Arimond’s visit to Georgia was a very successful Conference on Clinical Legal Education held in Batumi on July 18 and 19. The conference included law school clinical faculties from Batumi, Tbilisi, Telavi, Kutaisi and Zugdidi. Twenty clinic faculty representatives came together to share their experiences, learn from the experiences of other clinics, build relationships among clinic faculty, and lay the groundwork for ongoing collaboration. Participants heard a welcome note from the USAID Rule of Law Program Chief of Party Giorgi Chkheidze, who reiterated Program’s support to law schools in Georgia for strengthening clinical legal education.

At the start of the conference, faculty from each clinic had the opportunity to share about their clinic’s successful cases or projects. The following day, after an introductory presentation by Professor Arimond, clinic faculty from around the country participated in panel presentations on how their clinics meet the pedagogical goals of clinical legal education and how they engage in self-assessment and strategic planning. During the final panel, law students from Ilia State University, Batumi State University and New Vision University offered a student’s perspective on how important clinical legal education has been to their own law school experience.  Each student affirmed that law clinics must be seen as an essential part of legal education.  

On July 23, Professor Arimond, together with Ilia Law School representatives, visited Kvareli. She met with local students and professors, and led a public lecture to share the United States’ experience regarding the standards and practices in labor rights. 

About Professor Bridget Arimond: 

She teaches Human Rights Advocacy at the LL.M. level. She also teaches Human Rights Clinical Practice, through which she involves J.D. and LL.M. students in cases and projects applying the norms of international human rights law, international humanitarian law, and international criminal law. Her international human rights work includes representation of clients and preparation of amicus curiae briefs in Alien Tort Statute and Torture Victim Protection Act cases; advocacy before U.S. courts and the UN Human Rights Committee regarding the Guantanamo detentions and military commissions; and preparation of memoranda for the Offices of the Prosecutor of international criminal tribunals. She is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Law School.