Third-year law students Bailey Beauchamp, Kayla Bokzam, and David Scollan spent their summer interning at the U.S. Department of Justice in the Office on Violence Against Women with Senior Advisor on Gender & Equality Caroline Bettinger-López, who is currently on leave from Miami Law.
They attended the United States, Canada, and Mexico's Fourth Trilateral Working Group on Violence Against Indigenous Women and Girls. The meeting brought together representatives of those nations' governments and Indigenous women leaders from across the continent to continue international engagement, best practice sharing, and identifying areas for future collaboration on this critical and often under-reported subject matter.
The students helped prepare for the Trilateral Working Group convening. They also contributed significant research to the first-ever United States National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence.
"Finding policy and legal solutions to reduce violence against Indigenous women is an ongoing passion of mine, and one of the issues that inspired me to attend law school," said Beauchamp. "I researched these issues through Professor Bettinger-López's International Human Rights course and Adjunct Professor Barbara Martinez's Human Trafficking course.”
"The opportunity to meet and hear from Indigenous women leaders from the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, and from government leaders of the three countries working to address these issues was inspiring," said Beauchamp. "Attending an event such as this was an ultimate career goal of mine and achieving it before even graduating law school was so exciting."
In addition to their work on the National Action Plan, the three law students attended the Fourth Trilateral Working Group on Violence Against Indigenous Women and Girls, where they served as White House notetakers and sat in on meetings between representatives of the three countries.
"I was able to provide significant contributions to the U.S.’s first ever National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence," said Bokzam. "Getting to work on this historic document was an amazing experience and I am so proud and honored to have been a part of such important work.”
"Gender justice has been a big focus of my law school career and is something I am so passionate about. Throughout law school, I have worked on issues pertaining to gender inequality, including through my work at the Human Rights Clinic and through my student note on gender-based violence, which is being published by the International & Comparative Law Review this Fall," she said.
Scollan said that the experience allowed him to engage with attorneys and practitioners within the Department of Justice and the federal government, including providing legal research on various topics relating to gender-based violence to The White House's Gender Policy Council.
"It was a great opportunity to apply the legal writing skills I first learned in LComm I with Professor Christina Frohock and have further honed as managing editor of the Inter-American Law Review," Scollan said. "Working for Professor Bettinger-López was a world-class education in the federal policymaking process and intra/inter-agency collaboration. I am very grateful for playing a small part in crafting this landmark federal plan bent on ending the scourge of gender-based violence in America.”
"It was particularly noteworthy to hear U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland's opening remarks and closing remarks from U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco," Scollan said of the meeting in Washington. "Knowing that our efforts as law clerks contributed to the successful execution of this historic and largest-to-date convening of these important government and Indigenous leaders is deeply gratifying and something I will look back on proudly in the years ahead."
Assistant Dean Marni Lennon and Miami Law's Helping Others Through Pro Bono Efforts program play an instrumental role in helping to support many internships, including fellowships that Scollan and Beauchamp were awarded this past summer. HOPE, founded in 1998, provides individualized guidance to help students identify programs, clinics, projects, courses, and opportunities at the law school and beyond. Scollan’s role as a Miami Law Public Interest Scholar also inspired him to pursue this internship opportunity.
Bettinger-López's role at Miami Law is as director of the Human Rights Clinic, part of Miami Law's Human Rights Program. The program works to promote social and economic justice globally and in the U.S. Students gain firsthand experience in cutting-edge human rights litigation and advocacy at the local, national, regional, and international levels. The clinic includes engaging with the United Nations, inter-American Court and Commission on Human Rights, European Court of Human Rights, African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, and other tribunals. Focus areas include gender and racial justice, immigrant and Indigenous women's rights, and the rights to housing, health, and food.
Read more about studying human rights at Miami Law
