Search All Courses

Asylum Law

Course Description

This seminar addresses the United States’ humanitarian endeavor to provide legal relief and protection to victims of persecution and torture. The seminar is both substance- and skill-based. It will be co-taught by two attorneys with extensive asylum litigation experience: a leading immigration attorney from the private bar and a recently-retired U.S. Department of Justice Senior Litigation Counsel. Students will grapple with the following fundamental questions:

  • what are the international bases of U.S. humanitarian protection law?
  • what are the contours of the protection the U.S. provides?
  • how does procedural access affect the scope of protection?
  • is there a need for cross-border relief and protections?
  • is current U.S. law adequate to meet the need for protection and the country’s protection obligations?

    Seminar students will demonstrate mastery of asylum law issues by writing and refining a mock appellate brief and by presenting mock oral argument in a federal court case before a panel of practicing attorneys. Additionally, each student will serve as a class expert as to a particular aspect of asylum law. There will not be a final examination. This course complements the immigration law survey course, administrative law, and the work of the Chacón Center immigration clinics.

    • Current and Previous Instructors

    Key to Codes in Course Descriptions

    P: Prerequisite
    C: Prerequisite or Concurrent Requirement
    R: Recommended Prior or Concurrent Course

    Currently Scheduled Sections

    CRN: 93084

    • Fall '26
    • 3
    • Tues: 12:00-2:00
      Thurs: 12:00-12:55

      Day

    • Margaret Kuehne Taylor

    • 8 openings. (Limit 15).

    • 539u

    • Bryan A. Garner, The Winning Brief, Third Edition , Oxford University Press , Print, 1999

      ISBN: 978-0199378357

      Students will be responsible for only the following excerpts -- Tip 9, pages 67-70; Tip 10, pages 71-72; Tip 11, pages 73-76; Tip 13, pages 80-82; Tip 20, pages 108-109; Tip 30, pages 157-159

      Dree K. Collopy, AILA's Asylum Law Primer: A Practical Guide to U.S. Asylum Law and Procedure, Ninth Edition , American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) , E-Book, October 2023

      ISBN: 978-1-57370-511-0

      E-Book is available to students free of charge through the school library at AILA link. Paper copy is also available for purchase through AILA.

      Recommended/Optional: Bryan A. Garner, The Winning Oral Argument, Second Edition , West Academic Publishing , Print and Kindle, July 2008

      ISBN: 978-031419885-3