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April 24, 2006 -- Najwa Nabti a nominee from the University of Virginia School of Law, has been selected to clerk for the International Court of Justice, or World Court, in The Hague. Nabti will also receive the inaugural Orrick International Law Fellowship, which provides up to $40,000 for housing, living expenses and relocation costs.
Nabti, a 2002 graduate of the U.Va. School of Law, was one of nine candidates from universities in the United States, Europe and Australia chosen to clerk for the Court. Last year, Jamey Harris, a 2005 U.Va. law school graduate, served as a World Court clerk. He is planning to clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit this year.
The Orrick International Law Fellowship is sponsored by Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, an international law firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Japan, and is administered by the U.Va. School of Law at the invitation of the World Court. U.Va. law students and recent graduates may apply for nomination by the School of Law; if the nominee is offered a clerkship, the Orrick International Fellowship underwrites their success.
“It is an honor for the World Court to recognize the University of Virginia as a leading international law center, and it pleases us even more that Orrick, one of the truly global law firms, has so generously partnered with the law school to sponsor this opportunity,” said School of Law Dean John C. Jeffries, Jr.
After graduating from the School of Law, Nabti clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Stephen M. McNamee in Arizona. She then joined the law firm Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault in Boston, where she worked on pro bono cases in immigration and criminal law. In her current position at the Department of Justice’s Board of Immigration Appeals, Nabti drafts decisions in administrative appellate immigration cases, a role she’s had since July 2005.
“I became interested in international law and immigration issues as a result of my background. My father emigrated from Lebanon, and my family lived abroad and traveled globally for a four-year period during my childhood,” said Nabti. “In several countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, I was exposed to civil conflict and human rights abuses that motivated me to study foreign affairs and history at U.Va. as an undergraduate [Class of ’96], and then international, human rights, immigration and refugee law during law school”.
Nabti plans to return to the Board of Immigration Appeals after her clerkship, but her long-term hopes for a career related to international law range from teaching as an adjunct law faculty member to pursuing long-term work in The Hague. “There are so many things I’m interested in, but this opportunity definitely sets me out on the right path. Working over there is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.”
The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It settles disputes submitted by states and gives advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized international organs and agencies. The School of Law’s connection to the International Court of Justice began with law professor and former dean Hardy Cross Dillard, who served as a justice on the court from 1969 to 1979.
"International law is an essential element of global commerce. The ICJ, in turn, is critical to the effective application of international law," said Ralph Baxter, chairman and CEO of Orrick and a 1974 graduate of the U.Va. School of Law. "We are delighted to sponsor University of Virginia students as they experience the ICJ first hand."
For more information about the Orrick International Law Fellowship or the U.Va. School of Law, please contact Mary Wood, Web and communications manager, at (434) 924-3786.
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