The Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA School of Law

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Catherine Sweetser

Deputy Director;
Director, Human Rights Litigation Clinic

As the Institute’s Deputy Director and Director of the Human Rights Litigation Clinic at UCLA School of Law, Catherine Sweetser’s primary research and teaching interests are international human rights law, global administrative law, and corporate and government accountability for international law and constitutional violations.

She was previously a Partner and is currently of counsel at Schonbrun, Seplow, Harris, Hoffman & Zeldes LLP where she litigates cases concerning human rights and civil rights.

In particular, she has litigated cases under the Alien Tort Statute and the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, and other matters concerning corporate accountability, police misconduct, conditions of detention, and international and constitutional law violations. Prior to joining SSHH LLP, she practiced at Altshuler Berzon LLP in San Francisco.

Sweetser earned her B.A. magna cum laude with Phi Beta Kappa honors from Yale University, her J.D. magna cum laude (Order of the Coif) and her LL.M. from New York University School of Law. During law school she received the George P. Foulk Memorial Award for outstanding sincerity and distinguished scholarship, and the Jerome Lipper Prize for outstanding work in the field of International Law. After law school, she clerked for the Honorable Judith W. Rogers of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Sweetser’s publications have appeared in the European Journal of International Law, and New York University Law Review.