Sital Kalantry to Join Faculty, Bring International Human Rights Clinic to the Law School

The University of Chicago Law School is pleased to announce that Sital Kalantry, Clinical Professor of Law at Cornell Law School, will join our faculty as Clinical Professor of Law in early 2013.

“I am so thrilled that Sital will be joining us,” said Michael H. Schill, Dean of the Law School. “I have been so proud of our clinical faculty and the programs they run, and Sital’s new human rights clinic will be just the new jewel that this crown needs. Sital and the new program she will create are absolutely essential to my plans for the revitalization of the study of human rights at our Law School. Her new clinic will also be a tremendous opportunity for our students. I cannot wait for her to arrive.”

Professor Kalantry will join the faculty as Clinical Professor of Law and will begin an exciting new human rights clinic at the Law School. She will also help to expand the Laws School’s human rights program and curriculum. She is currently an Associate Clinical Professor at Cornell Law School where she directs the International Human Rights Clinic and is the co-founder and Faculty Director of the Avon Global Center for Women and Justice. Professor Kalantry’s research and clinical work focus on using quantitative and qualitative approaches to understand and promote international human rights law. She has received a Fulbright-Nehru grant to conduct research in India on the use and impact of public interest litigation. Professor Kalantry received her BA from Cornell University, her Masters in Development Studies from the London School of Economics, and her JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

"I am delighted to be a part of the vibrant clinical faculty and excited to interact with such talented students," said Kalantry. "It is a wonderful opportunity for me to develop a human rights program and an international human rights clinic at the University of Chicago Law School." 

Kalantry’s clinical and scholarly work has been intensely focused on international human rights, particularly involving the right to education and access to justice for women. Her clinic works mainly in advocacy and litigation, with students doing field research internationally, drafting position papers and policy reports, lobbying international organizations, and working on in-country legislative reform and litigation. Her clinic at the Law School will engage students in working for the rights of people all over the world, and give them experience working with NGOs, writing briefs, researching and drafting policy arguments, interacting with clients, and transforming communities.

“Sital is already a leader in international human rights, particularly around issues involving women’s rights and the right to education,” said Jeff Leslie, Acting Associate Dean for Clinical and Experiential Learning, Clinical Professor of Law, Paul J. Tierney Director of the Housing Initiative, and Faculty Director of Curriculum. “She is an amazing educator as well.  Joining our clinical program, and having the ability to collaborate with the vibrant advocacy and NGO community that exists here and in our city, will allow her work to grow in new and exciting directions.”

Susan Gzesh, Senior Lecturer in the College and Executive Director of the Human Rights Program, is looking forward to Kalantry bring her human rights expertise to the Law School. “Sital Kalantry is an ideal scholar-practitioner to lead University of Chicago students in understanding and utilizing international human rights norms to deal with complex social justice issues in the US and abroad,” Gzesh said. “Sital Kalantry is the top human rights clinician in the country and we are lucky to have her join us,” said Tom Ginsburg, Leo Spitz Professor of International Law. “She brings to her work a unique combination of rigorous lawyering skills, deep compassion and intellectual range. In addition, she will also deepen our law school and university ties with India.”

Professor Kalantry will join the faculty in January 2013. Martha Nussbaum, Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics, thinks that day can’t come too soon.  “It is tremendously exciting that we will now have a clinic addressing international human rights issues,” Nussbaum said. “Hiring Kalantry is a major coup for our Law School.”

International human rights