Asylum Appellate Advocacy Practicum
Will Return in Spring 2026
The Asylum Appellate Advocacy Practicum will examine key appellate doctrines, procedure, and practice through an in-depth look at asylum and immigration petitions for review pending at the federal courts of appeals.
Classroom sessions will address three things.
- First, we will cover key appellate doctrines and procedure, including jurisdiction, justiciability concerns, and standards and scope of review.
- Second, we will discuss the strategic and ethical considerations central to the role of appellate counsel, including client-centered and cross-cultural lawyering, case theory, and amicus strategy.
- Finally, we will ground many of these topics in discussions of the asylum system, and the particular challenges inherent in seeking judicial review of immigration court decisionmaking.
Outside of class, students will then draw upon these substantive conversations to conduct legal research and draft model briefing in support of a petition for review pending at the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
John Harland Giammatteo
Director of Asylum Appellate Advocacy Practicum