WHITE PLAINS – Six Pace Law School students were awarded Human Rights in Action 2007 Summer Internships at War Crimes Tribunals. The students will travel overseas for three months this summer to intern in The Hague , Cambodia , Sierra Leone , and Tanzania .

Nicole Trivlis, 2L, and Kristina Ivtindzioski, 2L, will be interning, respectively, in Trial Chamber I and the Office of the Prosecutor in the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague . Ashley Belin, 1L, and Kristen Wagner, 1L, will both be interning in the Office of the Prosecutor in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), located in Arusha , Tanzania .  Howard (Mani) Beckford, 1L, will be interning in the Trial Chamber in the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SC-SL) in Freetown , Sierra Leone . Beckford will be working at SC-SL this summer with Pace alumnus Christopher Boies ‘06, our first Pace/Planethood Foundation Fellow, who has been working full time in the Trial Chamber since September. Richard Thomas, 1L, will be interning in the Office of the Defense in Cambodian Tribunal (ECCC), in Pnomh Penh , Cambodia . In preparation for Thomas’ internship, Jo Ann Harris, member of the Pace Judicial Clerkship team and former head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division during the  Clinton administration, met with Thomas to brief him on the ethical issues facing a defense counsel representing major war criminals charged in the Cambodian genocide. The seventh nominee, Carla Federis, decided to take an International Summer Internship Abroad placement in Hong Kong , due to the delay of notification by the ICC.

The Pace Human Rights in Action Committee nominated seven students this year after a rigorous application and interview process. The Pace nominees then had to pass an equally rigorous competition in each tribunal’s own selection process. Two of the tribunals approved two Pace interns for the summer, a terrific compliment to the performance of past Pace Nominees.  

Professor Gayl Westerman and Amy Gewirtz, Esq., established the Human Rights in Action Program in 2005 to provide internship opportunities at War Crimes Tribunals for students entering law school with a deep interest in and commitment to the protection of human rights. Through the unique Pace Selection Committee process, one or two students are nominated for each tribunal each year. 

The 2007 Pace Human Rights in Action Committee was composed of Tom McDonnell, Sasha Greenawalt, Gayl Westerman, Lisa Lancia, Amy Gewirtz, Mona Walewangko, Sandra Brown, and Kathy Lambert.   

Founded in 1976, Pace University School of Law has nearly 6,500 alumni/ae throughout the country. It offers full- and part-time day and evening JD programs on its White Plains, NY campus. The School also offers the Master of Laws in Environmental Law and in Comparative Legal Studies. The School, which has one of the nation's top-rated environmental law programs, also offers the SJD program in that field. The School of Law is part of a comprehensive, independent, and diversified University with campuses in New York City and Westchester County. www.law.pace.edu. 

Pace is a comprehensive, independent university with campuses in New York City, Pleasantville and White Plains, N.Y., and a Hudson Valley Center at Stewart International Airport in New Windsor, N.Y. More than 14,000 students are enrolled in undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs in the Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, Lubin School of Business, School of Computer Science and Information Systems, School of Education, Lienhard School of Nursing and Pace Law School. www.pace.edu