LAW 0788: Temple Law Asylum Project
Fall 2024 • Section 21

Course Description

In this three-credit skills course, students will work in conjunction with the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), a preeminent research and advocacy nonprofit that works to advance human rights in the Americas, to draft annotated tables of contents tailored to specific asylum claims. The practicum will begin with a short overview of the asylum process in the United States and a breakdown of the legal elements of an asylum claim. Students will then learn various methodologies of country conditions research, and how to evaluate the accuracy and reliability of such research as well as the weight that immigration adjudicators will accord different sources. Working in teams, students will conduct in-depth country conditions research, some in Spanish, and compile that information into annotated tables of contents. Each annotated table of contents will be organized in accordance with a legal argument developed by its respective team. By using the annotated tables of contents as an organizational tool, students will learn how to tailor their facts through substantial, thoughtful, and careful editing to most effectively support their legal arguments. Students will gain a deeper understanding of the sociological, psychological, and ethical issues implicated in their work.

Book List/Materials